Xmp-5744 ?

[Na-vah-duh]

Found an 8lb jug of xmp-5744 Anyone have info on it? Can aa5744 load data be used safely?

[sargenv]

Same stuff from what I understand.. this is a bulky powder, used for reduced rifle and cast bullet loads..

[CGT80]

Yes. I use it for mid range 460 S&W revolver loads. It works with jacketed and cast bullets. It will run from 1,000-1800+ fps in 460. I didn't find a lot of powders to fill this use. I haven't tried it in anything else. The company is now Accurate Powders and is owned by Western Powders. It is no longer referred to as AA, but as long as the numbers match, you can use the data.

From the Accurate web site:

It can best be described as a fast burning Rifle or slow burning Magnum handgun double base “hybrid” powder, having the typical chemical composition of handgun powders i.e. 20% NG – and the geometry of a typical extruded single perforated rifle powder.
Rifle applications:
This makes the powder very ignitable, which makes it ideal for low loading density applications, such as reduced loads on bottle neck rifle calibers, and low performance “straight case” designs, such as the old “black powder” calibers i.e. 45-70 45-110 50-110 etc.
The powder is virtually insensitive to powder position, and there is no need for “fillers”. It will deliver consistent results at low performance levels. Although there will be some un-burnt powder (see paragraph below) the performance will remain consistent.
Due to its ignitability, any strength rifle primer can be used.
Handgun applications:
This powder makes for an excellent powder in large capacity handgun calibers such as 44/45 “Magnum” types or “std” cases with similar capacities. With some of these calibers full power or close to full power is achievable, usually at full case/maximum loading densities. The powder can also be at reduced levels in handgun calibers, but with same effect re un-burnt powder. (See paragraph below)
Un-burnt powder granules:
Although, this is a powder recommended for reduced/low performance loads, it cannot be completely efficient (clean burning) at very low Pressure/performance levels of <18000psi.
It still is a modern, high-density, smokeless powder, with limitations regarding complete combustion at very low chamber pressures. With nitro-cellulose based “Modern” powders, the burn rate and pressure are directly proportional.
This means that some level of un-burnt powder will be present, constituting the remainder of some of the powder granules. This cannot be improved with primers or crimp etc, the only way to eliminate this, is an increase in chamber-pressure.

[Cowboy T]

Wow...this XMP-5744 (or AA-5744, as it apparently goes by now) looks like it'd be really good for reduced loads in the 7.62x54R with cast boolits. Having a Mosin, this idea interests me greatly.

I've got a Super Redhawk in .454 Casull, and the full-house .454 round is a bit too stiff for me to fire comfortably on a regular basis. Hence, the load I use is closer to .44 Magnum-level power using 2400, in the .45 Colt case. Based on the books, I estimate the pressure to be in the ballpark of 30,000 PSI or so.

In your experience with your mid-range .460 S&W load with AA-5744, what's felt recoil like, and what is the resulting precision? Understanding any answer would be ballpark w/o a pressure test barrel, approximately what do you believe the pressure to be?

[CGT80]

I don't have any real idea about pressures I couldn't even give you a WAG. I could only look at the data given by the powder companies. Trail boss is reported to develop high pressures in big cases, when filled near 100%, even though recoil and velocity is low. The accuracy of 5744 seemed to be right up there with trail boss and win 296, but I was not shooting groups on paper. I was hitting 6" steel targets at 20-50 yards-hardly a test for the 460.

I ran 460 brass with 11.0 of trail boss under a 270saa cast bullet and got 963 fps average. The same load with 26.0 grains of 5744 was 1073 fps average. They felt about the same, but it cost much more to use the 5744. I won't likely use this load again.

460 brass, 270saa, and 33.0 of 5744 = 1301 fps
460/270saa and 36.0 of 5744 = 1412 fps

I saw some leading in my barrel after shooting the last two. I didn't check my barrel closely before I fired them. I need to re-test these loads. The recoil was more stout than the trail boss load. It wasn't quite as bad a 240 jhp and 296 loaded to 1932 fps.

I ran some jacketed bullets with 5744 and liked what I got.

460 S&W Warm load, but very fun to shoot. 240 sierra A5744 33.0 Ave.: 1265.7 A5744 38.0 Ave.: 1431.8
The loads above had quite a bit more recoil than my trail boss loads, but I could easily shoot them single handed. They are quite a bit slower than my 296 load at 1932 fps. I wasn't expecting that for the amount of recoil they had. I thought I would hit 1600-1700 fps with the 38 grain load. I will load more of these.

I wanted to get a good mid recoil load with cast bullets, to keep costs down. I have some more work to do on this goal.

5744 does leave unburned powder. When I tipped the revolver down and open the cylinder, I get granules of powder that fall out of the brass and into my hand. This doesn't seem to hurt anything and is reported by others that use this powder.

Accurate powder has data on their web site in the form of a PDF. I used it as a starting point. 5744 seems to allow a large range of load charge. I think it would do well in your 454. Like you, I only fire a small number of full house loads.