Alcan 5

I burned a lot of AL-7 and AL-8 in 357 and 44 mag in the 60's and 70's. They were manufactured in Sweden by Aktiebolaget Bofors and were great pistol powders. AL-7 was tiny cut flake and measured very well. It was medium speed for the Magnums, burned clean and gave 90% of top velocity at ~60% of the charge weight of 2400 and 296 without needing magnum primers. Excellent for cast bullets.

AL-8 gave me the most accurate shooting in the 44 with Lyman 429421. It beat 2400 by a considerable margin in my Model 29.  However, the large flakes did not measure well in the Lyman measure I had at that time. I could use dipper measures for sub-maximum loads but maximum loads had to be weighed. Sub-Max loads of AL-8 were accurate but did not burn clean.

Later cans of Alcan powders had both Smith and Wesson and Alcan trademarks. Then for some reason importation stopped. The last my dealer was able to get was sometime in the late 70's.

Steve