Here we will go over some of the recent new product releases coming out of SHOT Show. Some of these were announced prior to 2020 SHOT, but they are new to me and I wanted to cover them here.
Accompanying this SHOT Report is an updated Powder Burn Rate Chart, which can be found here.
Alliant Powders
Herco – Shotgun Propellent
This powder is a flake powder and is very similar to Herc 356, a OEM only powder that has been available to manufacturers for a long time. This powder performs extremely well in low pressure cartridges, such as 45 Colt and most all of your shotshell loads. It is not as bulky as some of the powders that are designed to fill the old black powder cases (I.E Tin Star, Trail Boss) but it typically yields better velocities.
Sport Pistol – Pistol Powder
At the time of this report (1/2020) Alliant has only published load data for Sport Pistol on 40 S&W. The charge weights are comparable to Bullseye, averaging slight less powder but yielding a few extra FPS. I believe these two powders will perform very similarly. With the rise in the popularity of Powder/Epoxy Coated cast bullets, it will be interesting to see if this powder does as advertised and help preserve the coating. To be fair I have never heard of an issue with a powder such as Bullseye disturb the polymer coating, so it may be very difficult to prove out this claim.
Electrochemical Products Inc.
EBrite Cu-PB
If you have been casting bullets for a while undoubtedly you have asked yourself, “I wish I could copper plate my bullets.” As anyone in the plating business can tell you, it is a bit of work to plate bullets for a cost effective sum. Part of these costs are dealing with some potentially dangerous chemicals such as Sulfuric Acid, and Cyanide.
This new plating chemical looks to eliminate the Cyanide from the equation, and makes this process more friendlier to the small business. It would be interesting to see if this could be scaled down to permit the serious hobby caster to plate their own bullets. If so, there likely could be a strong case be made to invest in your own bullet plating equipment over investing in bullet swaging equipment.
Hodgdon Powders
Winchester Powder
This powder was released in 2018, looks to be a bit faster then WSF or AutoComp. As with most new powders being released this powder includes a copper defouling agent. Suitable for use in most pistol loads.
Also released in 2018, this powder is marketed as primarily a shotgun powder, however it has some use as a pistol powder. Pistol loads all seem to have similar grain weight to WSF, and AutoComp loads, but tends to get a little higher velocity.
Again playing a bit of catch up, this powder was released in 2019. Specifically adapted for 6.5 Creedmoor, and other similar type cartridges. If Hodgdon is to be believed this powder will outperform Reloder 16 when it comes to temp stability and velocity in a 140gr load. With it being a ball powder, we can expect it to meter excellently, which is a challenge with other similar extruded powders especially on automated loading equipment.
Hernon Manufacturing
Bench Top Ammunition Sealer
Hernon manufactures a wide array of sealants, some that are specially developed for ammunition. The sealant is typically used to seal around primer pockets and case necks to add water proofing, and can also add neck tension. Most of the sealants are UV cured.
If you are looking to get into offering ammunition that has been waterproofed, or would like an alternative to crimp to increase the primer pocket/neck tension. This benchtop machine is likely a good place to start for small scale operations and test batches.
Will be offering the 73gr Hornady ELD in .223 Remington. This load will be an excellent choice for those looking to excel at CMP shoots in the service rifle category.
The ELD bullet line are Hornady’s Extreme Long Range bullets and boast high BC values.
Sig Sauer
.277 Fury
This was announced prior to SHOT 2020 and there has been a lot written about this cartridge, including mentions on this site. Undoubtedly this will be submitted to SAAMI for review during its 2020 biannual meeting which is held at SHOT. We will have to wait until June 2020, to see if it is accepted and the details for the cartridge.
There are some unique challenges that a cartridge with a 80,000psi service pressure presents. For example, most of the pressure measuring equipment is rated for 80,000 to 100,000psi. The 80kPSI service pressure is pushing the upper limits of what we can safely measure pressure for. Proof loads are going to be higher still, usually about 25% more pressure. This puts it well over the rated pressure for some of this equipment.
I am certain these challenges will be overcome pretty easily, but it will be interesting to see if SAAMI does anything to address these potential issues directly. Certinatialy we can expect more cartridges based on the same 3 Piece design to come out in the future, so the sooner this is addressed the better.
Wrap Up
It is a little tricky to sit back and report on SHOT From a distance. The vast majority of the news is focus on the new and exciting products that will catch the attention wide swaths of the shooting world. In our case, we wanted to try and hone in on the products that caught our eye that may have relevance to the ammunition manufacturing industry. These products don’t get the attention of the general consumer, but are often of some interest to the small business.
We are already working on arrangements to make it to SHOT 2021 where we hope we can be on the front lines and bring first hand accounts of new products aimed specifically at ammunition manufacturing.