glenwolde, it sounds to me that you have progressed well on the reloading experience, congrats to you. I can understand why you want to broaden your horizons on reloading with different components and urge you to try different powders, primers and different bullets. But definitely keep it safe and stick with published data, especially for loads getting close to max.
The 2 calibers that you stated you are loading for, 38 Special and 9 MM Luger, are 2 of the easiest to load for in my experience. I take it that this thread is primarily dealing with 9 MM, since it's damned near impossible to run into a compressed load situation with 38 Special.
But you can pick powders and primers that will work with both.
Here are some of the powders I have used with 9 MM and my thoughts on them. With several of them, my experience with them came about with the last shortage situation and was a great learning experience for me also.
HP38/Win 231 - This is a great multi use powder. You can use this one in just about any pistol caliber. It meters great and burns clean. It also gives good case fill, making it easier to spot a double charge even in the 38 Special case. HP38 is the Hodgdon brand and Winchester 231 is sold under the Winchester label but they are the same powder. Not going to give you top velocities but makes a good target/midrange load.
Accurate #2 - This one is almost as versatile as HP38, but with a finer powder particle that measures extremely well out of a powder measure. It packs well in the case which is great for the 9MM but it makes it harder to see a double charge in a 38 Special case. I've loaded many pounds of this in 9MM and it works very well in the Dillon powder measure. Not going to give you top velocities but makes a good target/midrange load.
Accurate #5/#7 - Haven't shot these 2 much but I was impressed with both. Like #2, they meter very well. Both are great choices for top velocity, but the #5 has more data and is more versatile in 9MM. Acc #5 can also be used for top loads with 38 Special also.
Alliant Blue Dot - This one works well for hot 9MM loads. It also burns clean at the hotter end of load data. Disadvantages to BD are that a lot of loads are compressed loads as it is a bulky powder, like Unique or Bullseye. It's also a slower powder than Unique or BE, so it takes a bigger charge and you tend to fill a 9MM case up quickly as compared to it's faster brothers. It also doesn't meter as well as the finer grained powders since it's more like a flake than a small compressed spherical like the ones above.
Winchester Super Field (WSF) - I bought this one in the great powder shortage in a 4 lb canister. It worked well for me for 115 and 124/125 grain bullets but never tried with 147 grain bullets. The only drawback I found with this powder was finding load data for other than 9MM. Hodgdon only shows 2 loads for WSF and 38 Special for a "105 GR. CEB RAPTOR" bullet, whatever that is.
Hodgdon Longshot - I first tried this powder 5-6 years ago during the great powder shortage and it has really grown on me. It works very well in 9MM and Hodgdon also has plenty of data for this powder in 38 Special +P. It likes to run on the higher end of the pressure curve and runs clean in 9MM. It"s a good powder for top velocities in 9MM. It also meters very well and it also works well for 357 Mag and 44 Mag mid range rounds.
Hodgdon CFE Pistol - Another one relatively new to me that I like a lot. It's a bit faster powder than Longshot and works better than it at lower pressures, making it also a good choice for standard pressure 38 Special as well as use in 9MM. It also meters well and they say it has an additive in it that reduces copper fouling from bullet jackets.
There are several other powders I have run in 9MM but this should give you enough to look at for now.
Primers - I've used standard small pistol primers from all the major manufacturers in 9MM with no problems. And used magnum SP primers back when components were scarce with no unusual problems, but I did back the propellant charge off a couple of tenths.
Bullets - I will mention that I have had very good luck with Zero brand jacketed bullets in several calibers and pricing is great for true jacketed bullets. Their retail distribution arm in Roze Distribution and shipping cost is included in 1,000 lot quantities or more. There are other folks here that also use their bullets because of cost/quality quotient is high.
