Pistol powders

Ask a simple question...

outrider58 said:

Ask a simple question...

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Hard questions don’t help get the post count up

It might seem simple on the face , but it's overly broad so as to be essentially meaningless without further parameters or context . The spectrum of handgun cartridges is vast . Few people load everything from .25acp to .500S&W with equal priority . Different broad catagories of cartridges require different catagories of powder . Certain guns and loads are one powder wonders to meet their intended purposes ( i.e. for .38Super to make Major within SAAMI pressures is very short list ) . Do you obsess over " clean burning " , or do you accept that cleaning after several hundred rounds is normal ? Is metering through a specific powder measure a high priority ? A few groupings of context :

Single powder to make the absolutely largest number of ctgs safely go bang - Unique

The Old, Old School trifecta to load everything - Bullseye , Unique, and 2400

Biggfoot's Two Powder Combo - 231, 4227

Slow Powders that do reasonably credible for full Magnum loads , but are flexible enough to do credibly in applications associated with medium- slow powders - AA-9 accross the board , 4227 in revolvers , but too bulky for semiautos .


And , if you load both Shotgun and Handgun , make your choices based on Shotgun requirements . Virtually every Shotgun powder has handgun applications ( even if not usually published ) , but not all pistol powders have congruence of burning speed, energy level, and density to be suitable for shotgun .

Not trying to pick on the OP but imagine if the original question had been:

What is a good powder choice in a 44 Magnum to get 1250FPS with a Berrys 220gr Flat Point bullet?

IronEye said:

Not trying to pick on the OP but imagine if the original question had been:

What is a good powder choice in a 44 Magnum to get 1250FPS with a Berrys 220gr Flat Point bullet?

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That would be too direct and succinct.

In good dual use powder is Ramshot Comp

Questions are good. Beyond knowing that cartridges contain gunpowder, folks may not be far enough along on the learning curve to know the many variables involved that might need to be processed to better frame a question. That's not some folks. That's most folks. Still, all's well that ends well. Some very knowledgable guys with some very solid input worked this question and contributed to this thread.

As someone in the same situation as the OP being new to reloading I found this thread very helpful. I have an old RCBS single stage that was given to me years ago. More recently I've acquired a case prep station, digital scales and tumbler/separator at estate sales and yard sales. I've been saving my brass for quite some time and finally (at the wrong time) decided to get things set up and get started. With the shortages of supplies I've been getting what I can when I can and waiting. I only got 1 pack of small pistol primers so the 38/357 will have to wait for now. I was able to get some large pistol and large pistol magnum primers so I plan on starting with 44mag. After studying my manuals I picked up some Unique, Titegroup and Universal powders.(thanks to IP Medusa Munitions ) After reading all the posts here I'm thinking I made a good choice with what was available.

IronEye said:

Not trying to pick on the OP but imagine if the original question had been:

What is a good powder choice in a 44 Magnum to get 1250FPS with a Berrys 220gr Flat Point bullet?

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My original question was what powders are people using for small arms... I reload 5 different calibers and was curious what people like. I only went one step further to say I am prepping to load 40 S&W and 44 mag. If I imagine if the original question had been your quote above then I would not have had my "original " question answered.

Let me add my list
380 ACP: Titegroup
9mm Luger: Universal and W231
357 Sig: Universal
38 Special: Clays, Titegroup and W231
357 Magnum: 2400
10mm: Bluedot
44 Magnum: H110 and Lilgun
45 ACP: W231

The first powder I’ve listed behind each caliber is what I like to use most in each and the others I’ve tried, YMMV.

Buff7mm said:

Let me add my list
380 ACP: Titegroup
9mm Luger: Universal and W231
357 Sig: Universal
38 Special: Clays, Titegroup and W231
357 Magnum: 2400
10mm: Bluedot
44 Magnum: H110 and Lilgun
45 ACP: W231

The first powder I’ve listed behind each caliber is what I like to use most in each and the others I’ve tried, YMMV.

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Now that's a comprehensive answer to the OP's question. Thanks Buff.

outrider58 said:

Now that's a comprehensive answer to the OP's question. Thanks Buff.

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vstoval said:

My original question was what powders are people using for small arms... I reload 5 different calibers and was curious what people like. I only went one step further to say I am prepping to load 40 S&W and 44 mag. If I imagine if the original question had been your quote above then I would not have had my "original " question answered.

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Happy to have been of service. Johnson's Baby Powder for the win!

Anybody use Accurate No2, just so happens I found a can buried in my stash. Good numbers on 9mm.
I also found some Accurate 2495 and 2520 that I'll probably use for fertilizer or something or another. The #2 I want but have no use for the other two.

JamesDong said:

Anybody use Accurate No2, just so happens I found a can buried in my stash. Good numbers on 9mm.
I also found some Accurate 2495 and 2520 that I'll probably use for fertilizer or something or another.

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PM sent

AA-2 is a fast pistol powder in same general range of applications as Bullseye . The other two are rifle powders , similar to and with same range of applications as two well known IMR powders .

Unique and Win231 are two that I prefer because of their flexibility. They work very well when loading for every pistol in my collection. I have also found that Shooter's World Ultimate Pistol is an excellent value. It can also be used for all of my pistol loads but is a very fine powder and one can easily overlook a double charge on some cases. If you use it, take extra care to double check every case before seating a bullet.

From what I have experienced, the SW powders are economical, high quality, and produce excellent results in my toys. I recommend trying them. You may have to work up a load from scratch on some of the less common calibers, but worth the effort when you find the right load.

Feel almost like I hit the lottery. Scored some Unique from Everglades yesterday, and it is expected on Monday. Haven't seen it in stock anywhere in many months. Pricing was a little higher than usual and their hazmat fee leaves you feeling violated, but they had it and I wanted it.

And along that line of thought , Hodgon Universal Clays aka Universal is an almost exact substitute for Unique , other than burning cleaner , and metering better .

outrider58 said:

Now that's a comprehensive answer to the OP's question. Thanks Buff.

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My answer is you can use CFE Pistol in basically all pistol cartridges. There is reloading data for almost all of them and the ones there isn't, you CAN safely work one up if you are mildly careful and do a bit of research.

BE also has load data for most handgun cartridges.

Of course to be clear, this is for the cartridge, not for every bullet and cartridge combination.

Over the years I've seen this question pop up a number of times, and one thing that always seems to ring true is this: The recommendation you will invariably get as being the "best" powder for whatever the cartridge happens to be, usually coincides with whatever it is a particular person is currently using.

The topic typically devolves into a few distinct categories for what/how people reload:

1.) Basic utility range fodder loads
2.) Full-house max velocity for the caliber loads
3.) Most versatile powders
4.) Old tried and true powders

What would be interesting to see would be a Venn diagram for those categories to see what crosses over and falls into the middle.

When an open-ended question like this one is asked - what is everyone's favorite powders - it really is subjective and you'll have a lot of different answers because everyone thinks they are being unique in developing their own pet loads.

Ultimately a reloader needs to define their goals for what they are doing. A thread like this might help someone who is trying to answer that question for themselves, but it might also cause more confusion than clarity.

In regards to 40 S&W and 44 Magnum, I know what I have used and tend to like, and there are also some generalities for what powders work well for those. Anymore, I tend to use the recommended most accurate load listed in my Lyman manual - it's hard to go wrong with that.

So with all of that out of the way, I'll give you a listing of powders I've personally used, and which of those powders I liked more than others:

Bullseye - 38 spc, 9mm, 45ACP - it's an economical powder that gives me pretty consistent and accurate results, but they are range fodder/lower velocity loads.
W231 - I've used this for .38 spc, 45 ACP - I generally like this powder, but for a while Bullseye was my fallback over this powder
Herco - 44 Mag - this ended up being hotter than what I wanted to subject that old gun to, but in general I didn't have any issues with it other than the recoil, and it was accurate enough.
Unique - I've exclusively used this for 44 Magnum, and it seems to work really well for that.
Longshot - I've used this exclusively with 40 S&W - it produces loud loads with a lot of snappy recoil, but I don't have anything other than factory loads to compare it to.
Power Pistol - 9mm and 45ACP. Both seem to be a nice robust load that are higher velocities than I get with Bullseye or W231

I'm not sure what to do with the Herco. There's nothing wrong with it, but I didn't care for it in the 44 Mag, which is why I bought it. I suppose if I ever get another 44 Mag such as a Ruger Redhawk, which is on the list, I may go back to it.

Of all of those powders, the only one on that list that I would use for everything is Unique. There's viable load data for virtually every cartridge on that list. I'd like to get some 2400 - I have some .357 I'd like to use that for.