I'm back. I still contend H-110 and W-296 are NOT the same powders.
Strictly due to the fact that loaded side-by-side in "all-other-factors-in-the-same-loads" you WILL get different results.
Your velocities will vary as will your accuracy. Same with HP38 and W231. Or any other "same" powder with a different name.
The reason as stated here elsewhere...powder lot differences.
So when someone posts, "Which powder should I use H-110 or W296?" Then someone posts, "Either, they are the same."
I contend that is the incorrect response.
For many years the manuals posted different data for the two powders. Now it appears a number of manuals post the same data. However they will vary in actual use.
So if you want the most accurate load for your handgun, regardless of someone who says, "Use 2400 as it may burn better but it is more accurate than H110, W296, etc." Then you must try ALL powders of the similar burning rate for the load you desire. A specific powder recommended by Joe Blow that was accurate in HIS gun may not be accurate in YOURS.
Same for H110 and W296. One may be more accurate than the other, I do not care if both canisters left the same factory, from the same supplier, in the same truck, with only different labels on the one pound can. They are most likely to produce different results at the range.
Then after you find an H110 load that performs better than the W296 load make sure you buy enough of the SAME lot of H110 to hopefully maintain your desired accuracy.
The same goes for any other powder. A lot of good folks come here with requests for "An accurate load in the (pick a caliber)." The poster gets answers like, "Use Unique, as I get 1/2 inch groups all day long."
What is not explained is that those loads are accurate in ONE gun only. The next handgun straight out of the factory might well be more accurate with AA#5.
If YOU want the most accurate load for YOUR handgun you must buy every powder available in the burn rate you desire and then start experimenting until you find the most accurate load.
And THAT can be expensive and time consuming for a lot of folks. So I recognize the desire for a short-cut and hence the queries for an "accurate load".
Dragon88 is proud of his response but it is obvious he has not loaded much of either powder in many handgun cases.
Years ago, during the first "reloading scare" of the first term of Clinton I intended to find the powder MOST LIKELY to deliver the MOST POTENTIAL of all around accuracy in ALL of my handguns. I had a slew of .45 Colts, a couple of .357 magnums, same in .38 Special, and a .44 Magnum. I shot Bullseye, W231, HP38, Unique, maybe a couple of others. In magnum loads I shot H110, W296, and 2400. Yes, today we have more powders, then I stayed with the more popular ones.
Over sandbagged, two handed rests (the norm for most people who work towards handgun accuracy) I found that Bullseye and H110 were the most likely to produce the best accuracy in my stable of handguns. In ALL cases accuracy ALWAYS differed between H110 and W296.
I then went out and bought a sturdy supply of Bullseye and H110 knowing full well they were more accurate (on the average) than other powders in my small stable of handguns, but still not the most accurate in EVERY handgun I had.
I then did not know that H110 and W296 were the same as they left the factory. This being before the internet and all of its "experts".
Now days I have LOTS of .357, .41 and .44 Magnums. Every time I begin looking for an accurate load in each one with every different powder I load, H110, W296, 2400, AA9, VVN110, and others (which I forget at this moment) all in the similar burning rate for high velocity loads. I always get different levels of accuracy depending on the handgun, powder, bullet, sunlight, shade, stainless, nickle or blued sights, shape of the sandbag, way I hold the gun, which way the wind blows, who's shooting next to me, etc., etc.
I eventually do come to this conclusion. I now know the most LIKELY to be accurate powder load in MY handgun fired by ME.
Please don't waste my time with comments about Ransom Rests and their ability to truly measure accurately. That is true, but how many of us have access or can afford them? We shoot our handguns ourselves and so off of a solid rest with good handgun shooting techniques will suffice.
So, if you want to know which powder is the "best" or most "accurate" in your handgun you must buy both H110 and W296 and shoot both with all other factors the same. You will most likely find out that they are not the SAME in YOUR handgun. Then go out and buy enough of that powder, in the same lot, to last you the lifetime of your handgun, or yourself.
As an assist for the curious, to date in at least 20 or more S&W revolvers of calibers, .38 Special, .357.41.44 Magnum, and .45 Auto Rim. ALL of the S&W handguns I have shot are capable of 2 1/2 inch groups or less at 25 yards from a rest for 5 shots. Provided I find the most accurate load. Some of my best loads are into 1 inch at 25 yards. That was with H110 or W296, depending on the weapon.
Also pay attention to the bullets, some bullets, regardless of the powder, will not shoot well in YOUR handgun. Others will. Change the bullet and the "most accurate" powder you just found will also potentially fail you. Then you must start all over searching for a load.
Also I would like to add this. If you are shooting fixed sight handguns, and if you twist the barrel to get them to print to point-if-aim windage-wise, it will affect your accuracy. Again your "pet" load will go south and you may have to start all over again. I always pick a "standard" load to shoot for fixed sight adjustment and when it is on target windage wise THEN I start to search for the accurate load. USUALLY, not always, a handgun (mine, about 15 or so) will print most loads to the same general place (within 2 inches or less) regardless of accuracy.
To wrap it up I'll say it again, H110 and W296 ARE not the same powders, not at the shooting bench where it matters.
I'll add this disclaimer, if you are a "Jerry Miculek" or a truly accurate phenomal shooter, powder accuracy may not matter. Those high cailber shooters are probalby capable of printing tight groups with most any load. Most of us, me definitely, will never know that unless we get to talk to Mr. Miculek.
Their data shows the exact same weights and velocities in their data. Go to their website and look.
