So been out of reloading for some 20 years and seems most of my old favorites are either not in stock any more or stopped making. 231 bums me the most. So what are the popular available powders for 9mm these days for target?

Thanks in advance.

I'm working with Red Dot.

I started with HS-6 and moved to Tite Group. Both seem real good to me.

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Not enough space

Herco. Started using it during the last dry spell. Shotgun powders were there and It was the one I tried. Runs well.

I prefer Power Pistol for 9mm and 40 S&W. I also like 231 but am not fond of Red Dot or Herco. Haven't tried the rest.

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Dick

For 9mm:

#1 favorite is CFE Pistol

#2 favorite is Power Pistol

Mike

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NRA Certified Pistol Inst.

I load target/medium velocity loads for 38 Spec., 9mm, 40 S&W and 45acp. My "go to" powder was always Bullseye. When I couldn't find it, I bought Red Dot, TiteGroup, 700X, CFE Pistol and happened upon 16 lbs. of W 231. W 231 has made a come back of sorts around my area; as well as most Hodgdon powders.

As most of us had to do for the past 2 years, you use what you can find and can make work. Was very happy with results from Red Dot with lead bullets. TiteGroup has worked very well for me with plated bullets in 9mm and 40 S&W. Haven't tried the 700X yet, but want to in 45acp. CFE Pistol worked very well in medium velocity 44 Mag loads that I worked up for a buddy at work in his Ruger Redhawk and 629-4. Haven't cracked open the W 231 yet, or my jug of Bullseye I traveled 6 hours round trip to get-saving both of those till I use up some of the others.

Best of luck, powder is starting to come more available; you may still be able to get some W 231 eventually.

The Win231/HP38 twins for me. But as others have said, there are lots of things that work just fine - grab a bit of what's available and work forward.

I was looking for a soft shooting load and someone suggested a heavy bullet with Acc #7. It's different than anything I shoot, smooth as silk.

Other than that I've used Red Dot a lot and really like it.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

W231 is my go to for 9mm. It's become a lot more available recently.

Where have you found it in stock?

I'm still using HS6 for most of my 9mm jacketed loads and haven't seen a reason to change, but 231 works well too. In some guns one or the other seems more accurate. My old SIG P226 favors 231. I use 231 and Winch. Super Field with cast bullets.

I like W231 also,, but haven't had or seen any for quite awhile..
I've been using HS6 or Bullseye with 147's . Happy with both.

Longshot for 9 & 40

I equate punching holes in paper with soft shooting ammo. After loading many powders for my 9mm semi-auto M&P, I have settled on Clays and Unique for target shooting. Loads are below, but I am planning on loading some 5 grain Unique loads to get velocities under 1100 fps soon.

I get tired of hurting my hands when shooting lots of factory or hotter reloads at the range, so came up with four 115 grain jacketed loads which function flawlessly in my pistol. These are standard published loads and seem to give uniform performance with low SDs.

115 Jacketed . . . . Clays . . . .3.7 . . . .941 fps
115 Jacketed . . . . Clays . . . .5 . . . . 1007 fps
115 Jacketed . . . . Unique . . .5.2 . . .1100 fps
115 Jacketed . . . . Unique . . .5.5 . . .1130 fps

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Gary
SWCA 2515

Bullseye...

I like power pistol. Works well and fairly easy to get. Also, if I remember correctly, AA5 was developed in the first place for 9mm so that should work just fine.

With the availability problems, I've been using whatever was available.
So far have had good results with Red Dot, 700X, Bullseye, and Unique.
I even found some leftover Alcan #5 in the back of the closet that I used it to load up a few boxes with.....desperate times lead to desperate measures.
Gary

I use what ever is available from the old Alliant to the new powders on the shelves, now. From the fast Bullseye to the slow IMR 4227.

My loads of 115gr to large 147gr bullets have traveled out of my barrels from a crawling 701 fps average to a full power load that managed 1288 fps. ( 3" barrel )

It just depends on if you want a nice light target load that the whole family can shoot and enjoy or just for your target improvement, to the full power, heavy recoil, fire breathing loads that some of us like to reel off now and then to clear all the cob webs in our head and bring back old memories of why you keep aspirin handy.

No favorites..............
they all work for me.

I have had good results with 700X and bullseye.

W231, Bullseye, Red Dot, AutoComp, in that order. Seeing more powder nowadays on the shelves, a bit pricey here but availability is getting better.

Herco has been my preferred powder for 9MM since I started reloading around 1992. I guess I should point out that I also like 115 grain JHP bullets on top of the Herco.

If you don't mind me asking , what gr. bullet and what powder charge are you loading CFE Pistol in 9mm at .

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Not so Free in the Free State

124 grain bullets.

5.0 grains of CFE-P for target/plinking loads.

5.5 grains of CFE-P for defense loads.

Both have really low velocity spreads and Standard Dev. They are both accurate.

Mike

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NRA Certified Pistol Inst.

Power Pistol for 9 mm, Bullseye for .40 S&W.

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Too many S&W's to mention...

5.7 Gr to 6.1 Gr of Power Pistol behind a 115 Gr Plated bullet is a good load for me

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Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

My two 9mms like HP38 AND Autocomp behind 115 and 124 plated bullets.

I've also struggled to find more W231. Seems like it will be the last to arrive in most of the shops I frequent. ( FWIW, They tell me W231 and Clays are still near non-existent in their suppliers inventories.)

So while I still have reserves to fall back on, I've been spending time messing around with load development in the last few months. Mainly loading for 9mm for 125, 130 and (to a lesser degree) 147 gr lead and platted bullets to achieve target velocities for general range play. What I found was that experiments with Tightgroup, Bullseye, Unique , Red Dot, Solo 1000 , Clays and W231 pretty much all produced good usable ( and often closely performing) loads. True, some were better suited to one bullet weight/ style than others but I learned that in a pinch, most of these powders could be tuned to do just fine for my needs.

FWIW, I will likely stock back up on my favorites (Clays and W231) when they show up but I no longer feel handicapped by my dwindling supply.

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Dave

For 9mm, I use :
Power Pistol
W231/HP38
Unique
Red Dot

As a note it could also depend on if you want to use just.......

3.2 grs of powder or up to 9.0c grs of powder per load.

A pound of powder would make around 2,187 rounds to just the minimum of around 777 loadings.

Have fun.

I've been using HS6 with 115 gr plated RN. Tried CFE pistol, but I've had better luck with HS6.

Bullseye with both cast and jacketed bullets.

Hey you guys. Tell us what it is you like about your favorite loads and what you don't like about others? It's not educational to say, "I like so many grains of Xpowder behind Ybullet."

I explained why I liked the Acc #7 behind a heavy bullet for the light recoil. But the Red Dot with a 125 is fine for medium loads, economical, it seems very consistent and predictable and I have plenty of it. It's not for SD or any hot loads but for target shooting, I really like it. AND it's been more available than the others I'd use. The ONLY reason I load hot is for SD and SD practice. The 5943 isn't like a 686 revolver, and I believe that it can be overworked.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

For standard pressure, 115 gr/124 gr. I use Titegroup and WST.
For +P/"hot" loads (same bullet weight) I use HS-6 and occasionally CFE Pistol.

What I like about my 4.2 gr Titegroup with 124 gr FMJ is that it was repeatedly recommended, it tested well, and I can pretty well rely on the powder's availability, reasons more practical than scientific.

Bullseye and HS6. Both meter well. Both fill the 9mm case about 40%- 50% so a double charge is real easy to see. ( been working with my grandson showing him reloading). HS6 seems to prefer heavy bullets and warmer loads. I like to use 147's in the 9mm and 230's in the 45 acp.

I've used Bullseye in my 45 ACP, 38 /357 target loads, and 9mm with good results.

Could not find W231 the last time I was looking. But did find a 8# jug of Bullseye. And with the load I'm using in the 9mm that's about 16,000 loads.

The 147's because they seem to knock down steel plates better than 124's for me. And I think there is less recoil with the 147's to make the power factor.

(good question rwsmith ,, it's good to know the reasoning,, )

OK,

I went with Herco because during the last dry spell I was I looking for a powder to load for 124 grain cast 9mm bullets. As I checked out the bare shelves at the Sportsmans Warehouse off I-25 in Denver I saw a 4 lb keg of Herco. Something in the back of my head said, "That's a good powder." I bought it and went home I seemed to remember something from when I was a Kid about it. After digging out some old magazines I found that in the 70's and early 80's Herco was a well liked powder for semi auto handguns, both 9mm and 45ACP. More digging showed me it was also good for full power 38 special loads.

I finally found that 6 grains of Herco was a very good load for 124 grain 9mm, 230 grain 45ACP and a 158 grain +P (or 38/44) load for 38 Special lead bullets.

The nice thing for me was all I had to do was to set up the powder measure on the 9mm toolhead of my Dillon 550 and when I wanted to load 45's or 38's just swap it out to those tool heads. And a 4 pound keg was 68 bucks (at that time).

I went thru 12 pounds of that stuff in about a month. It metered OK. Ran well. It was a little dirty but I could get it!!.

So now it's my standby powder for most of my side arm use. Not the best but still available. And not high out of sight in price.

It fits in well with the Russian proverb. " Good enough is the enemy of perfect." Herco is "good enough".

I used 231/hp38 since the early '70s. I started shooting USPSA Open Major about the same time the supply of 231 started to dry up. I find that Autocomp or CFE pistol works better for major PF loads so that's what I have in stock now. I think I have 3 or 4 # or HP38 in the back of the powder locker, not sure why I still keep it around. Maybe someday I'll have a use for it again.

I hate to be dictated by only what powder in available but that's the way it's been.

On one hand it's good, because we are trying powders we wouldn't have before.

On the other hand, if you can't get anything except a pound or two of something if it shows up on the shelf, that's no good either.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I like heavier bullets in just about everything. In 9mm I flat out dislike the 115 grain as it just seems too light for anything and snappy on the recoil. Forget those 90 grain jobs even exist. 124 is my fave but shooting 147s are comfortable. I'd use either 124 or 147 for SD type loads. It seems that the light bullet/high velocity thing doesn't work as well as they thought it would and heavier bullets get better penetration.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Auto-Comp is my new go to powder.

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John

SR 7625 has been my 124gr go to powder for longer than I care to remember but since its discontinuation has been recently announced, Im in this thread for the working info also.
Information is a good thing, even if I am old and stubborn.
Jim

It's not educational to say, "I like so many grains of Xpowder behind Ybullet." .......... post 33 per rwsmith.


OK;
then may I say this..........
the reason I do not like IMR4227 is because I can not get 12.0 grains of it into a 9mm case with a plated 115gr bullet..............
and I even doubt that this loading would get the bullet up to sonic speeds !


However X12.0 grains in a Y38 special case, will work with a X158 lead bullet.

I'm having great results with Ramshot Silhouette 4.4grains pushing a 147g coated Missouri lead or X-Treme 147g plated from a full size 9mm pistol. Heavy bullet, long barrel, slower powder.......my HK Expert loves this combination. Knocks down 8" steel plates at 25 yards all day long. Soft shooting so in other than an HK watch you recoil spring weight. If it does not feed then lighten the spring weight.

Rem 147 JHP ... 4.8 gns Herco POI dead on
Nos 124 JHP ... 6.3 gns 800X POI 2" low
Hk VP9
I don't have a clue what the velocities are, but they are loud, cycle well, and will group 1" at 7 yards with 2 hand grip unsupported.

I've used HS6 with the 147's and 3N38 with the 124's, but I like my loads just a skosh better.

For "Minor" loads I use TiteGroup and WST (4 and 4.3 grs. respectively with a 124 gr. JHP).
HS-6 or CFE Pistol for upper end loads.

I used 231 for years for everything I loaded (9mm, .38 special, .45 ACP). Then my supply ran out in 2013 and no more was available. Found a four pound jug of WST in a rural LGS in March, 2013 and worked up loads for the three cartridges listed, plus .40 and a reduced .44 magnum load.
A local store had Alliant BE-86 for about $20/pound and bought some.
Tried 5.3 grains behind a RMR 124 grain plated FP bullet and achieved sub 2" groups at fifteen yards in a Glock 17 and 19.
This will probably replace WST as my powder for my handgun loading.

Holy cow you mean I can start using the 8lb jug of Titegroup I bought without having to worry about producing 9mm thermonuclear bombs that I've been warned about everywhere???

Green Dot......superb target powder for cast bullets in the 9.

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Where we go one, we go all

OK. I like Longshot for 9 and 40 because I have 8+ pounds of it and it shoots as well or better than any other powder I've tried in these cartridges. I have over 8 pounds because I liked what I was getting and came upon two 4 pound containers, so I bought them. Still have part of a one pounder left.