Hodgdon Clays

[bongfoo]

ok, i use Clays in .45 ACP. but does anyone know if you could use it in 9mm? or any other pistol round besides the .38 SPL and .44mag listed on the bottle?

[stilly]

ok, i use Clays in .45 ACP. but does anyone know if you could use it in 9mm? or any other pistol round besides the .38 SPL and .44mag listed on the bottle?

Yes.

If you go to the hogdon website you will find Universal and Clays used in most if not all of the 9mm loads, 115, 125, 130gr loads.

I did not see any listed for 147gr but that means NOTHING.

I bet without looking that BoLee will have data for that powder and 9mm for 147gr.

[Bill Steele]

ok, i use Clays in .45 ACP. but does anyone know if you could use it in 9mm? or any other pistol round besides the .38 SPL and .44mag listed on the bottle?

Clays will work fine for your 9's. The good news is it burns clean, the bad news is it is pretty fast. 9mm prefer slower powders to get to maximum velocity. What that means for Clays is max pressures will yeild less velocity than say Longshot (much slower).

For target work it is a terrific option. Less recoil, cleaner gun when you are done. What is not to like? Just don't expect Major 9 from Clays.

[bongfoo]

sweet. fortunately i was just able to pick up 2 lbs of tightgroup locally! found a super secret spot that has alot of reloading stuff! even had primers!

[Agustav]

I have quite a bit of trouble to get Clay function properly in my Beretta 92 (115, 124, 147 gr)... even with max load the slide will not lock back on the last round!

Switch to Power Pistol and the problem is solved!

[rsrocket1]

Clays is a really fast powder. It is great for building up full pressure without sending the bullet out fast. That makes is great for 40/45ACP/38 as a functional substitute for Trail Boss.

Unfortunately for 9mm, you need to get that bullet out fairly fast in order to work the action. The lighter the bullet, the faster your minimum. Clays builds up pressure so fast that you may have trouble getting the slide to operate properly. Don't simply add more powder, follow the load data and stay below max. Also if you seat the bullet deeper, you pressures go up very quickly so you have to drop back even more.

Clays is excellent for light (7/8 and 3/4 oz) 12 gauge target loads. Because it builds up pressure quickly, it burns better than slower powders such as Unique.

It sounds like you may have a store that has some Hodgdon powders in stock.
If you find any Universal Clays at your stash store, buy it. It will perform better than Clays in handgun loads. International Clays is a little faster than Universal and a little slower than Clays so it will also work, just not quite as flexible. Tightgroup will work well also. BTW, stay away from Titewad for 9mm because it has the same characteristics as Clays, just denser and cheaper.

Here's a rough estimate of comparative powders. I can only vouch for Clays, Universal, International and the comparable Alliant powders in terms of performance.

I've been wanting to get another jug of Clays for shotshell loads as my current one is just about empty. No were to be found locally so I had to settle on an 8# jug of Red Dot. Almost as good, a little dirtier at low pressures, but a little cheaper. Oh well, right now beggars can't be choosers.

[One78Shovel]

IMO, standard Clays is best left for the shotgun.

Man they make it difficult with all the variants but it is my go to powder for all pistol calibers. Universal Clays that is

-178S

[stilly]

Clays is a really fast powder. It is great for building up full pressure without sending the bullet out fast. That makes is great for 40/45ACP/38 as a functional substitute for Trail Boss.

Unfortunately for 9mm, you need to get that bullet out fairly fast in order to work the action. The lighter the bullet, the faster your minimum. Clays builds up pressure so fast that you may have trouble getting the slide to operate properly. Don't simply add more powder, follow the load data and stay below max. Also if you seat the bullet deeper, you pressures go up very quickly so you have to drop back even more.

Clays is excellent for light (7/8 and 3/4 oz) 12 gauge target loads. Because it builds up pressure quickly, it burns better than slower powders such as Unique.

It sounds like you may have a store that has some Hodgdon powders in stock.
If you find any Universal Clays at your stash store, buy it. It will perform better than Clays in handgun loads. International Clays is a little faster than Universal and a little slower than Clays so it will also work, just not quite as flexible. Tightgroup will work well also. BTW, stay away from Titewad for 9mm because it has the same characteristics as Clays, just denser and cheaper.

Here's a rough estimate of comparative powders. I can only vouch for Clays, Universal, International and the comparable Alliant powders in terms of performance.

I've been wanting to get another jug of Clays for shotshell loads as my current one is just about empty. No were to be found locally so I had to settle on an 8# jug of Red Dot. Almost as good, a little dirtier at low pressures, but a little cheaper. Oh well, right now beggars can't be choosers.

How do you guys know all this?

I REALLY want to read the relationship between powders and their burt rate and what is best for what. Is there any such thing or is it JUST from experience and a chrony?

I TOO have a Beretta but I have not reloaded for it yet. And here I was gonna go get some clays to have some clean burning powder... :\

[rsrocket1]

How do you guys know all this?

I REALLY want to read the relationship between powders and their burt rate and what is best for what. Is there any such thing or is it JUST from experience and a chrony?

I TOO have a Beretta but I have not reloaded for it yet. And here I was gonna go get some clays to have some clean burning powder... :\

A ton of reading, researching, scouring the forums keeping some info, tossing out heresay or opinions. Looking at load data and comparing data runs from QuickLoad. Loading for shotguns also helps because many of the handgun powders are primarily used for shotguns so you start to understand the relationship between peak pressure, load weight, muzzle velocity and completeness of burn.

The chrony is important in that it gives confirmation as to whether a load is behaving as predicted. Since I try to stay at or below about 75% of max SAAMI pressures and I compare my Quickload runs to published load data, I know that if I am in the ballpark (within 5% predicted velocity), I am probably running in the same ballpark of peak pressures and I have a good margin of safety.

As for clean burning powder, I would recommend Universal (aka Universal Clays). It behaves more like Unique, but is based on Clays technology which I really like. Even at low pressures, it burns completely and doesn't leave flakes. However, at 9mm pressures, even Unique burns completely.

[Nathan Rollins]

My IDPA/USPSA loads are all clays. 9mm 3.4gr 124RN .356 1.140" COL, .40 S&W 3.4gr 180TC .401 1.130" COL, .45ACP 4.0gr 200RN .451 1.250" COL.

[oddjob]

I also shoot USPSA. I use Clays for my .40 single stack and Universal Clays for my 9mm production gun.

Take a look at the Enos Forum.....9mm reloading section.....You could read for a long time on different loads......A real long time.

[phylo]

I have been using 4.9grains of clays for 115 grain 9mm for a while now and have been happy with it.