Hodgdon Hi-Skor
Hodgdon Hi-Skor 800-X
A coarse flake powder for heavy shotshell field loads and some high-performance handgun loads.
A coarse flake of medium speed, used for heavy shotshell field loads and full-power 10mm Auto, where it had a real following. Its defining practical trait is poor metering — the flakes are large enough that thrown charges vary more than with anything spherical, which is why it never suited a progressive. Discontinued and off the current chart, with data still published and canisters still on some shelves. Not worth chasing today, and the last lots are outside what I can speak to with confidence.
- heavy 12 gauge field loads
- full-power 10mm Auto
- 20 gauge field loads
Who has Hodgdon Hi-Skor 800-X today
Checked October 10None of the retailers we track list Hodgdon Hi-Skor 800-X right now. See what is in stock.
Discontinued. Canisters still circulate, but the maker no longer produces it — and load data for it may be withdrawn or archived.
Specifications
| Manufacturer | Hodgdon |
|---|---|
| Product family | Hodgdon Hi-Skor |
| Status | Discontinued |
| Application | shotshell, pistol |
| Grain form | flake |
| Lee VMD (bulk density) | 0.1071 cc per grain · 0.60 g/cc |
| Typical cartridges | 12 gauge, 16 gauge, 20 gauge, 10mm Auto |
Grain shape
Large coarse flake — degressive and bulky, and the biggest fact about it at the bench is that flakes that size bridge across a bushing and settle unevenly, so charge-to-charge consistency is genuinely worse than with ball.
Why geometry decides burn rate more than chemistry does: Shape Is the Product.
Dropped from Hodgdon's current catalogue and burn rate chart, but load data is still published in the Reloading Data Center and canisters remain on retailer shelves. The coarse flake is known to meter less uniformly than spherical powders, so charge-to-charge consistency deserves checking.
Historically sold under the IMR / Hi-Skor label; Hodgdon now catalogues it as a Hodgdon-brand product.
This powder is obscure enough in the US that its practical character is thinly documented. The note above is deliberately short rather than padded.
Data confidence
We flag entries we could not fully verify rather than presenting them as solid:
- Discontinued — no live manufacturer product page; details drawn from archived or secondary manufacturer material.
Sources
The specifications above come from Hodgdon's own published documentation, linked below. The two “RCM's read” sections are ours, not theirs — our assessment of what this powder is like to load, drawn from its published characteristics and from what handloaders consistently report. No manufacturer endorses them and no source below backs them. If you think we have one wrong, tell us — we would rather fix it.