Today I called the reloading center at Hodgedon/Winchester to find find out why there is such a lack of pistol load data for WST powder, particularly in 9mm.

I spoke to Ron and his answer was that WST is not advertised as a pistol powder, but rather a shotgun powder. He also said when there is no published data for a certain powder, it usually indicates that the rise in pressure in a certain powder/cartridge combination can be unpredictable due to temperatures and other factors, and therefore should not be used. As I started to say ..." yeah but......." he cut me off and said: "there is no but about it, pistols, unlike rifles do not give you pressure warning signs. The warning sign is you get hit with pieces of your gun".

Considering I have used WST in my 9mm loads, and like it a good deal, I found his answer to be very unsettling.

I was looking for a load using WST and 147gr. lead bullets in 9mm, and he strongly advised me against it because: "WST was too fast for such a heavy bullet!" Yet, they list 147 gr. loads with 700X and Tightgroup which are faster powders.

Any thoughts?