I was working on the bench yesterday and noticed that most of my powders that I am using are older. You know the "classics". Bullseye, Unique, 2400 etc. The ones I am burning off and not replacing are the newer powders. Lil-gun, Longshot, etc.

I was seeing that my newest powder I really like is Powder Pistol but it gives some wild flame balls when fired in overcast conditions or early evening. That is behavior that is making me rethink its use.

So I am loading the classics. Bullseye, unique, 2400, the dot powders (Blue, Red and Green), SR4756, and IMR 4227 for revolver, shotgun and most pistol with lead bullets. I am using a bit of Powder Pistol for 9mm, 40 and 10mm.

I have now basically given up on most of the newer "niche" powders like Lil-gun, Longshot, accucomp etc. I just don't see they do that much better than the older ones.

What are you guys doing? "Classics" vs. "Modern"???

Also what is your justification? I am just curious if I am becoming a curmudgeon.

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SWCA 1646

Funny the same 3 you named are about the only ones I use on a regular basis,Bullseye,Unique & 2400 have served Me well.

The powders I burn the most in pistol are Bullseye, 2400 and WST in that order.

231 and Unique make up 99% of my loads. When I do magnums, it is 2400. I think my "newest" powder is 700-X and I have not opened the last can I bought about 20 years ago.

Green Dot, 2400 and American Select. Load only handgun calibers.

While I have experimented with others, I always come back to those powders that were on my dad's reloading bench when he began instructing me in art and science that is reloading: For pistols and revolvers there were Bullseye, Unique, and 2400 - which when I started out were manufactured by Hercules and came in short, square tin cans with caps which were held in place with spring-fingers. For rifles the choices were IMR-3031 and IMR-4320 in rectangular DuPont tin cans with red screw-caps, and a quantity of old surplus 4831.

No matter how far I may have strayed over the years, those six powders are the ones I always came back to, and the ones you will find on my reloading bench today.

TL

I use 'Lil Gun and 296 for my heavy 41/44 magnum handgun loads, Unique for my light 41/44 magnum loads. I load my 40 using Longshot. For rifles, I still have a bunch of Norma MRP, 3031, and 4831 left over.

The classics have served me well for many years and will continue to do so. No good reason for me to change at this point.
Randy

I started out gravitating to the new wizzbang powders. as I figured out how it really works ... I load with the classics most of the time.
Its not that some of the new breed dont have a place, they do.
I'd like to see something drive an ounce and an eighth of shot out of a 12 like Longshot can. and longshot does these mutant loads without blowing the patterns

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it just needs more voltage

I also use Bullseye, Unique and 2400.

Tried Power Pistol and didn't like it.
Used the last of it to fertilize my yard.

I load every pistol powder made from the fastest to the slowest stopping at about H110.

I have found that different handguns require different powders to attain top accuracy with the same bullets.

In some handguns, regardless of what Elmer and Skeeter said, 2400 is inaccurate. In another handgun it is the most accurate load. I have found this to be true with all powders.

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Have guns...will shoot'em.

Little bit of old and new, Bullseye in .38 Special and .44 Special, Titegroup in .32/20, Clays in .45ACP, and Power Pistol in 9MM.

99% of my handgun loading is with Unique, Bullseye, Red Dot and Green Dot. I have used Blue Dot, but it has such a low bulk density it is sometimes impossible to get enough in the case and still be able to seat a bullet. I have a supply of Herco (I don't know if it is still made) which is very good in .44 Magnum. AA#5 is unbeatable in really heavy .38 Super loads due to its high bulk density. The BEST .357 Magnum powder I have ever used (and still have a couple of pounds of) is Hodgdon H240 - sold in the 60's but now long obsolete. It's somewhere between Herco and 2400 in burning rate.

Back in the old days, the factories loaded some variation of Bullseye for almost every handgun round they made, except magnums. There were (and maybe still are) several variations of Bullseye available to them - not quite the same as the canister Bullseye sold to reloaders.

I've been handloading since the early seventies. All of my pistol loads have been worked up using Unique, PB, 700X, 231, and 296. I see no reason to change.

Bullseye, Unique, and Red Dot for me. I have other powders, of course, but those are the ones I reach for when I want to cobble together a bunch of ammo.

I use the older powders also. They have been working for many years so I see no reason to change. I did pick up some different powder at a gunshow a while back. It is Royal Scot D. It took me some time to find some data but I did find it. I just loaded up some 9mm rounds with it and it is working out just fine.

I used Unique most in handgun loads. Followed by Bullseye.
In rifle rounds I've mostly used H4985 or IMR4895.

I have been using Titegroup for years, and have been recently trying Power Pistol, in 9mm,40S&W, 45ACP and .38 Spec.

Unique and Red Dot. Nothing much else get loaded with me. In the future I will probably use some Bullseye or WW-231.

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<><

In my revolvers I am using mostly Red Dot and Unique, with magnum loads using 2400 and H110. I'm currently using Accurate 5 in my 9mm.
I have others but that represents the bulk of my loads. (When I exhaust the Red Dot, I'll move on to Green Dot which I already have. Got both on close out.)

All of my hand gun loads are moderate to warm, and all I use in them is Unique.

I should have said that in Rifle, I use the IMR's. 4895, 3031 and 4831 are my primary powders.

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SWCA 1646

Accurate Arms #2, #5, #9 for 9 MM to 45 ACP

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S&WHF 366

Unique,231,Promo(Red Dot substitute) and 296.
These cover 38,357,44spec,44mag,45acp,45colt,12,20,28,410.
Oh and H322 for the 35Rem Contender. Been reloading since 1968.

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U.S.A.F---E-7--Retired

I started handloading for handguns about 1975 with Unique, Bullseye and 2400. I have added W-231 and -296. If I can't get what I need from those I will try something else, but it has been a rare situation where one of those won't cover what I want done.

I look at it like the WSSM and RUM caliber craze.
If it's not broke do you need to fix it? I think my newest powder is Varget and I do like it in 22-250 and .243. I load all my .270's with IMR 4064. Not the fastest but the 5 rifles shoot well(1" or less) with the same load. H4831(I now use SC) goes well in the bigger boys. I would really like to go to the range and just "fiddle around" but working gets in the way. Maybe in a couple of years when I am gainfully unemployed I will be able to fiddle more with the newer stuff

I try a lot of different powders but AA-5, AA-7, Unique & Bullseye are constantly found on my bench.

I burn through many pounds of green dot for my standard trap load. Herco for the back porch annies and the 20g. Blue dot and unique for the revolvers. I have some oddball powders I bought on a whim, but the old hercules powders suit me well. I'm finally through most of the old hercules cardboard kegs and moving into the alliant plastic jugs now. I've stuck with alliant mainly because the classic powders are still made in USA unlike most other powders. Accurate stuff is nice too, and I know some devotees, but I've never really had too much problem with alliant flakes.

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Joshua Brown(Town)

You seem to like the original "Powder Trinity". I also use a Powder Trinity but it's slightly newer but just as good or better IMO. My Powder Trinity is W231 (HP-38), W540 (HS-6) and W296 (H110). Like you I try a bunch of different powder but when they're gone I always come back to those 3. So, I quess the answer is, I also load older powders more than new...

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

When it comes to rifle powders I use older time test powders too. 4198, 3031, 4895, 4350 and 4831 are the powder most used in my reloading. Although, I have given AA5744 a try in the 45-70 in place of 4198 and I think it's a keeper!!! The recoil feels slightly different and it's a little smokey so it's a little like Black Powder which is nice in the Springfield TrapDoor... It's the one newer powder I think might stay on my bench.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Unique & 2400 are the only powders I use.

Strictly Alliant powders anymore. 2400, Green Dot, Bullseye. H110, w296 are overrated. Use more powder for nothing!

There is a reason why they are 'classic' powders.
I use mostly Bullseye, Unique, Blue Dot, 2400, and H4895.

I load mostly for .38 special, .45 ACP, and .44 magnum. Bullseye more than anything, 100+ year track record gives me comfort that it will behave predictably, use it in .38 wadcutters for target and 45's for USPSA. Titegroup in second place with plated bullets for practical pistol competition - meters well and burns clean, just wish it was cooler. Unique for .38 special lead bullets at 800 fps or so, .44 mag at .44 special velocities, too dirty for .45 ACP (at least when having to make revolver reloads on the clock are a consideration). Either Herco or 2400 for .44 mag hunting loads, but load so few of those that a pound can will cover all I need for a lifetime.

I use the "classics" as well. I use more Unique than anything else for my .38 SPL loads and medium .41 magnum loads. When I want to load full up magnum ammo I use 2400. If I had a need for heavy for caliber bullets then I might use a slower powder like H110/296. Lately I have been really questioning the fad of using heavier bullets though. If a 220gr - 230gr .41 bullet or 240gr - 250gr .44 bullet can sail through both shoulders of an elk or drive into 4' of moose, what exactly is a heavier bullet going to offer aside from more recoil.

Alot of Bullseye. Its filthy imho, but I am very fond of the accuracy I get with it. Also use alot of IMR 700x and Clays... I guess that all qualifies as OLD STUFF!

Bullseye, Green Dot, W231 and 2400.

I do a little bit of everything. I've found that powders from the time when the round was created give the best origenal type performance,e.g. 45/70 ffg,45LC ;fffg 338 Lapua likes US869, in modern handguns I load mostly SASS loads in WW231 and CLAYS and I'll say at the low end 231 may be very dirty, but it is cleaner than black powder. If it works, don't fix it!

I use a little of both. Some of the older powders are sooooooo good that the saying (if it ain't broke, don't fix it) comes to mind.

older powders:
Bullseye
hp-38/ww231
herco
2400
bl-c2
H414

New powders:
clays
universal clays
international clays
titegroup
varget

Newer than older for me...Titegroup for .38, WSF for 9mm, Bullseye for 45ACP, Reloader 15 for the .308 and maybe Benchmark for .223 which I'm testing now.
Regards,
Guy-

At first I hesitated to mention this. But since others have chimed in, you can all laugh at me and I will smile.

Back in the mid 1960's I bought 3-50 pounds kegs of powder each, in 50 pound waxed fiber material kegs, in Denver, at a very low price compared to today. I still have some that I still use.

The three were H2400, Unique and H4831. I use the first two to load our revolvers and the last to load my .270 rifle. I suspect that all three were perhaps war surplus since I bought them in Gart Brothers Surplus store.

I have reloaded since I was a kid in the early 1940's, I think I started in about 1942. I was in school those years, living on a ranch, and I had an old (very old) Colt .44-40 that was about worn out and a Winchester Model 92, 25.20 cal. The war was on and ammo almost unable to buy so I started reloading.

A good friend who was an engineer with the County Road Department taught me how to reload and supplied me with tools and my first supplies. The following is the truth so laugh all you want.

I started with some old Lyman Tong tools and a Lyman single cavity .44 mold for the Colt. I used scrap plummers lead melted in a pot on the stove in our bunkhouse. I could buy black powder so I used black powder and just filled the cases with powder.I didn't know that powder was to be weighed. I cast the .44 bullets and lubed them with pure bees wax and they worked fine in the old Colt. My friend, who was also a Gunsmith furnished me with primers.

Now here is what you may laugh at.

The .25-20 was a problem for me. So my friend got me a tool (that I still have stored away) from Wilson Machine Company in Oregon (I was living on an Idaho ranch) for the .25-20 rifle.

Here is how it worked. I used fired, empty .22 lr cases, filled the .22 cases with melted lead, then when the lead hardened I put the cases in the bottom part of the iron Wilson tool. The top part of the Wilson tool was then put into the opening of the tool, on top of the mouth of the lead filled .22 case. Then with the tool on top of our shop anvil I hit the tool a good lick with a heavy hammer. This formed the bullet, expanding the .22 case with the lead to .25 caliber with a round nose. In other words it came out of tool as a copper jacketed bullet with a round lead nose. I loaded the bullet into the .25-20 cases on top of all the black powder that would fit under the bullet

Until I enlisted in the USAF in 1949 these two, the Colt and the Winchester, were the guns that I used for everything from Squirells and to Deer and everything in between. I worked as a cowboy most of each year and ran a trapline in the winter, always carrying one or both of my guns.

When I came back from the USAF in 1954 I was flush with my Mustering Out Pay, $250. I had stored the Colt and Winchester when I enlisted in 1949 so I bought a set of Herters tools, I believe it was in 1960, dies and a bench press. I traded the Colt and Winchester for my Remington rifle and Ruger and Smith revolvers. I even bought a Lyman electric furnace and I was able buy out the Linotype Metal from our local newspaper that had converted from a flat bed press to a Goss Rotary. I still have about 50 pounds of that Linotype metal that I use as it is to cast U249421 bullets for our .44's. I did buy a two cavity Lyman mold to cast the bullets. And I still lube them with pure beeswax, loaded without sizing them for our revolvers.

I still use the Herters dies and press but I did buy and use a powder scale to measure the powder for all three caliber guns.

Mostly I load a supply of cartridges over the winter in our ranch shop where it is warm and I have spare time. Usually my wife and I have enough ammo to last until the following winter.

I'm not sorry to tell you this but I don't envy you folks with your more modern equipment. My sons, son-in-law and my Grandsons try to tell me that I am old fashioned since they laugh at the way I load ammo. You can too but I am an old codger who follows the rule, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

I am happy that there is much more modern equipment available for all of you and for my own family though. I guess that I am just too cheap and set to change.

When I started reloading in 1967 I used Unique in .45 acp and .45 colt, for .38 special Bullseye was my choice. I've tried lots of different powders over the years and have found Unique & Bullseye still work fine for most of my reloading needs, although I really like Power Pistol for 9mm and .40 s&w.

All I use for handguns is Bullseye, Unique, and IMR 4227.
They do everything I need. Why change.

I use unique for 45's, bullseye for 38's and 2400 for 357 mag's. I was out of shooting for roughly 25 years or so and all my powder is that old and still works great. I have added H335 for 223's

I've moved from Bullseye to Titegroup, Unique to mostly H Universal. For rifle I've moved from H-335 to Ramshot TAC & Exterminator. I don't use as much Reloader 15 & a few others either. I use up my older stock & then start with the new.

Unique, Bullseye, 231...old, yes, but so am I.

As a loader for over 40 years I tend to stay with the proven classics. Bullseye Unique 2400 and Red Dot. Just talking pistol here.

Being I shot registered skeet I always had plenty of R.D. on hand!

im kind of a newbie to reloading , i bought a can of bullseye
and reload .38 spec for my 686 4" and for my .357 mag.roller.
i use 3.1 gr behind a 148 gr wadcutter from lyman for the revolver , and 4.5 gr behind a 170 gr semiwadcutter from
lyman for the rolling block [ carbine].
both are very good loads so i see now reason for chance,
but one , it seems that laws over here gonna be somewhat
different and we possibly cant have guns in handgun caliber in the near future , so then i would consider unique .
my thinking is one powder for everything is a bonus !

didnt know they made any other powder ?

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WILL WORK FOR AMMO!

If you're old enough to have been loading when the names of Du Pont and Hercules appeared on powder cans you'll know the powders I still reach for most. I've dabbled in Hodgdon, tried a few cans, of various Winchester powders, and exactly two of Accurate Arms' products.

I've suspected that while some of the propellants introduced within the past quarter of a century are really good, they won't really accomplish much that I haven't already visited with the old tried and true.