Rounds Downrange: The Showdown Between H110 and Hercules 2400 For .357 Magnum Hunting Loads

Well, even though hunting season is a quite a ways off, here in the Pine Tree State it's never too early to start preparing for the cold mornings traipsing through the woods looking for that monster buck.  It's an exhilarating pastime, to say the least. Even if you don't see anything, you still have fun usually (unless you make a misstep and end up knee-deep in swamp water). In preparation for hunting season and wanting to use my reloading equipment to craft some high-quality, low-quantity hunting ammunition, this segment of Rounds Downrange involves an experiment; a showdown between Hodgdon's H110 magnum pistol powder, and Hercules 2400 (Hercules Powder is now known as Alliant Powder, fyi.) Both are the quintessential magnum pistol powders, and are also applicable in a few other calibers as well.

Hercules 2400 powder, now known as Alliant 2400, has a rich history when it comes to powering magnum cartridges. Elmer Keith, the noted firearms writer and experimenter utilized Hercules 2400 in most, if not all of his revolver loads. He began pushing the .38 Special cartridge harder and faster than it was ever intended, eventually paving the way for the development of the .357 Magnum as a result of his tinkering with the power of the .38 Special. (Side Note: When I first started reloading, an old 1 pound can of Hercules 2400 was one of my few powder choices. I tried a 6.7 grain load under a 158 grain Lead Semi-Wadcutter bullet, as per the reloading manuals suggested starting load. Let's just say that with such low pressure, the powder charge did not fully ignite, and left my Model 66 caked with unburnt powder residue. Stick to .357 Magnum or above to get a full powder burn.) Unlike H110, Hercules 2400 does not require a Magnum primer for reliable ignition. However, in the sake of uniformity, for this experiment we will be using magnum primers, with the powder charge reduced accordingly.


H110 is Hodgdon's premier magnum pistol powder. It is used primarily in the .357, .41, .44 Magnums and the .30 Carbine cartridge. It is a fairly more energetic powder than Hercules 2400. H110 does not typically like working well with reduced charges, and there tends to be very little deviation between minimum and maximum charge weights. Therefore, while caution during reloading is always a prudent idea, it is especially so when loading with H110. H110 is also different from Hercules 2400 in that it requires the use of a magnum primer.

The Model 66 isn't too friendly with .38 Spl loads of 2400

Cumulative Overall Length (COL) is very important

So, for this experiment, I will load eight .357 Magnum cartridges for each of the powders (H110 & 2400). Each cartridge will use the same Starline brass, and will all use the same Hornady 158 grain XTP jacketed bullet. I will start 1/10th of a grain above the minimum starting load and slowly work up increasing charge weights until we are close to maximum. Each round will be seated with a heavy crimp in the cannelure of the XTP bullet, and will be at a COL of 1.580". I will casually evaluate cartridge performance on a few different targets, and choose the one that best fits my needs for small scale production.



Stay tuned for pictures once I start loading the H110 rounds (the 2400 rounds are already done) and for video and pictures along with an update once I make it to the range for the test.

-Michad