Need help with"little gun"

[farmerjohn]

Have loaded at least 32lbs of little gun in 410s when I was shooting skeet, best powder I ever used for that. Then found out that it really works great in magnum hand gun loads, high velocity and lower pressure and very accurate. Then I left some in my rcbs charge master and the darn stuff melted into the plastic inside the dispenser and ruined it. Called rcbs and was told, yeah, some powder does that and no it's not warrented against that. Also I should check around and I will find out that after 500 or so rds it would eat the rifling out of the barrels of my S&W revolvers! Sure nuff, a good number of people who are supposed to know said it was true. Need to know if that is BS or not. Any comments with knowledge would be appreciated, thanks
Farmer

 

[Larryh128]

Big difference between plastic & steel. I use Lil gun in my 300 BO & several like size rounds. No issues. Still have a good amount of rifling. There is mearly something in the powder that is reacting to the plastic. A different type of plastic probably wouldn't be affected. (like the can it comes in)

 

[farmerjohn]

Probably didn't make myself clear as i should have, besides fighting the idiotic spell correct and my old stiff fingers, I really wasn't thinking that the powder screwing up my powder dispenser had anything to do with it being hard on barrels. The guy at RCBS just suggested that I might not want to be using it because it worked fine in smooth bores but for some reason it would take out rifling pretty fast in revolvers. The other fokes I talked to who were working up loads in lever action rifles chambered in .357, 44 mag, 45 Colt,ect said it worked really well but was hard on rifling for some reason and discouraged my using it. I can't imagine how and thought maybe on this site some one could cut through all the BS and make a diffintive statement on yes, no, or maybe, thanks for your help.
Farmer

 

[Homerange]

Did it affect the clear powder dispenser tube or the green CM plastic ?

 

[Peebles24]

I use it in 500 S&W mag. Makes for a really potent 300gr ftx load. I have not shot enough of them out of my handi rifle for rifling damage nor will i ever. The thing is just absolutely punishing to shoot, and now certain rifle calibers are deer leagal here in Indiana.

I can see it being corrosive though, it did the same thing to a lee powder charger of mine. I think with cleaning after shooting it shouldnt be harmful to a barrel. I have been wrong before though.

 

[dellet]

Lil'Gun seems to shoot at a higher temp for the same velocity of other magnum powders. Lot's of speculation about this and throat erosion in rifles.

In revolvers part of the thinking is the added oxygen between cylinder and barrel caused more of a flame cutting effect.

I quit using it because of the noticeable heat and decreased accuracy with even moderately sustained fire. I found above problems were pretty widely discussed across a lot of pistol forums.

 

[Mad_Charlie]

They were talking about erosion at the forcing cone in revolvers. apparently it has an effect similar to a "hot sandblast" in that area. It doesn't seem to have that effect in long guns due to not having a barrel/cylinder gap. It DOES run quite a bit hotter than other powders, for not that much increase in velocity. I tried it in my .357 rifle and the accuracy didn't get it for me, as compared to H110. I am not going to run it in my M19 or M29. I read that Freedom arms highly recommends not using it.

 

[shoot4fun]

I found myself using AA1680 in place of Lil Gun for 17 Ackley Hornet, 300BLK and 460 S&W.

 

[Bojo]

Alot of powders can and will eat /melt into a and ruin the plastic hoppers in your dumpers. I only leave mine in a few hours at the longest.
I'm sure someone here with way more smarts than me will know what it is in the powders that eats up the plastic.
I believe the OP has 1 concern about little gun eating up his hopper and then someone else added a second concern about whether or not it was a good choice of powder for his application. Two separate issues going on here !!!!

 

[JayHHI6818]

I remember reading a post on graybeard forum about Lilgun causing forcing cone damage and Bob Baker of Freedom Arms commented on it. I’ll try and find his post and share it


I cannot answer your question exactly, but I would bet that your problem stems from your use of LilGun. Bob Baker is the top gun of Freedom Arms, and he has posted over on the Greybeard Outdoors forum that he has seen bad erosion from the use of LilGun in the .454 Casull. This is with a surprisingly small number of reloads. He caught a lot of flak from the LilGun true believers, but he has no personal axe to grind so I would give his observations a lot of weight in the issue.
Your photos are great and show the problem beautifully. Baker did not post any photos with his thread at the time, if I recall correctly, but you might check the thread out.
Also, Hodgdon hadn't weighed in on the issue at the time of Baker's posting. You might send them copies of your photos and see what kind of response you get.
Baker's comments included that LilGun makes the barrels really hot, much hotter than other powders, and a number of the respondents over on Greybeard supported that observation. IIRC, Baker suggested that users of LG shoot slowly to keep the barrel temps down. From your description of how you use your SRH, it sounds like you are the poster boy for the problem.
Even though you are not shooting a Freedom Arms gun, you might try contacting Bob Baker and send him copies of your photos along with a description of how you use your gun and see if that is what he was talking about. As I said, I suspect that Hodgdon would also be interested and, if the powder is the problem, you would be doing all of the shooting fraternity a big favor.
Keep us posted on what you learn

 

[farmerjohn]

Thanks to all of you for your help,
Farmer

 

[Rsadams]

I may be completely wrong here but I think it was in the instructions from RCBS that said leaving powder in the thrower can damage the plastic hopper if left for long periods.... I learned that from somewhere over the years... If so that's why they won't warranty it....

 

[JSH]

Lilgun runs pretty hot from my experience with it. As mentioned above it was more with the revolver than with a closed breach system.
I have shot a lot of it in 357 magnum in a TC barrel with no ill effects. It is a great performer in the 22 Hornet.

The 454 suffered from it as a lot of loads are running a some what light bullet.

FYI I quit using it in wheel guns,though I never saw an issues, nor did I want to see any.

I contacted Hodgdon and talked to a tech. Conversation was of little help. The guy acted like he had just gotten out of bed. And, of coarse he said he had NEVER heard anything about it causing issues. Two big guns in the firearms world such as FA and Hodgdon, I am sure they would communicate on such issues?
Seems awful silly to me if they didn't. Yet the tech I spoke to didn't act like he cared one way or the other.

Reminds me of the issue with the 357 max and its demise. All because guys could not handle the recoil and went to a light bullet traveling at warp speed, trying to make up for weight and mass at the target. Then it cut the top strap, but only so much. They all cried foul and that was the end of that. Now today every third person wants a 357 maximum.

I will try and keep an eye on this thread. I am curious as to your results of what Hodgdon has to say.

Jeff