Anyone use Power Pistol? What will it do for me?

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Based only on the burn rate chart it's right there with Unique and Hp 38/W 231. States it's for "high performance" 9 and 40.?

I guess I do not know what a high performance 9 or 40 is??

I bought a bunch of Win Auto Comp (only because they were out of my go to HP 38, and I can not see much difference in it, other than you use a little more of it. It flows and meters great but nothing more than HP 38.
 
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I guess I do not know what a high performance 9 or 40 is??

Basically +P loadings. Power Pistol is the propellant used by many major manufacturers to load several cartridges for semi-automatic pistols including 9mm, .45 ACP, .40 S&W, and similar cartridges. It produces the desired ballistic performance within the pressure standards for the various cartridges, and does it economically. Power Pistol has been used in the trade for many years and is referred to as Bullseye 84 in that context.
 
Thanks.
I due know of +P loads, just never heard of them as high performance.

That is interesting about the commercial Bullseye 84. Are there any other powders that you know of that have crossed over from the commercial to general retail side use??

I found this, among others searching Bullseye 84

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really good powder, I was really excited about it, but saw nothing superior to my old favorite AA#5
 
Just be warned, it's produces a lot of flash and it's on the loud side too.

AA#5, HS-6 and Longshot are similar powders but with less flash. (although Longshot is a little more flashy than the other 2)
 
If you load 9mm for a pistol caliber carbine Power Pistol is a great powder. It will always yield 100 to 300 fps increased velocity in a carbine over a pistol with 115 and 124 grain bullets. You will also get a slight or no increase in velocity with 147s too instead of the decrease you get with some powders in a carbine.

What the others said about flash and smoke is true - not so much IMHO about the noise though. Not the best powder for indoor range use or in low light tactical situations.
 
Power Pistol is an excellent choice for full power loads in 9mm, 40 S&W and similar cartridges for semi auto pistols. It burns fairly clean, meters very well and produces some muzzle flash much like other slower burning powders.
 
I HAVE USED IT A LOT IN 50YD 9MM LOADS. VERY ACCURATE, BUT THE FLASH . RECOIL, AND NOISE LEVEL, RULED IT OUT. I HAVE REPLACED IT WITH VV330 OR WSF.

VV330 EXPENSIVE BUT WORTH IT.
WSF MUCH CHEAPER THAT VV330, 1 NOTCH BELOW VV330

JIM P
 
What will Power Pistol do for you?

You'll grow at least four inches in height, increase your bench press by at least 100 lbs, men will fear you, women will want you, and your mom and dad will (still) love you.

Oh, you mean for your reloading? A great powder for full power 9mm Luger loads, but flashy in this application. Fully the equivalent of VihtaVuori 3N37, which I consider to be the best 9mm Luger powder for full power loads, except for Power Pistol's muzzle flash. YMMV.
 
I've good results with PP in .380 on up to .45acp under jacketed slugs.
not much luck with cast though. BEye or RDot beats it for cast slugs
 
I've been using it for 9mm competition loads. It is accurate and clean burning. I recently have loaded some high performance .38 SPL and .357 Mag. loads, but I have yet to try them out. I'm trying to duplicate the Speer 135 gr. JHP load for 2" revolvers.
 
What will Power Pistol do for you?

You'll grow at least four inches in height, increase your bench press by at least 100 lbs, men will fear you, women will want you, and your mom and dad will (still) love you.

Oh, you mean for your reloading? A great powder for full power 9mm Luger loads, but flashy in this application. Fully the equivalent of VihtaVuori 3N37, which I consider to be the best 9mm Luger powder for full power loads, except for Power Pistol's muzzle flash. YMMV.


I'm going to the store tomorrow!! My wife won't be pushing me around any more!:D
 
Power Pistol

I've used it in several handgun cartridges, almost exclusively with cast bullets. While it provides good velocities and sometimes decent accuracy, I always seem to return to something like Bullseye, 231, etc. Velocities will often be lower than with Power Pistol but accuracy is almost always better.
 
I've been using it for 9mm competition loads. It is accurate and clean burning. I recently have loaded some high performance .38 SPL and .357 Mag. loads, but I have yet to try them out. I'm trying to duplicate the Speer 135 gr. JHP load for 2" revolvers.

I did just that 2 years ago with Power Pistol. Be prepared for a real nasty muzzle blast. :eek:
 
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Power Pistol is the best powder I have used for semiautomatic pistol cartridges that are used in revolvers. In my 9mm Model 940 I can duplicate or exceed Cor-Bon factory loads without the brass sticking in the chambers. It will shoot jacketed 124 gr. bullets at 1180 FPS and 147 gr. bullets at 1080 FPS, all out of a 2" barrel. In my 625s I can get .45 Super performance with ACP brass. It will easily shoot 250 gr. jacketed bullets over 900 FPS in my 3" barrel. The flash can be severe in the dark or low light but the accuracy and velocity are very consistent.

I get mixed results when loading heavy .38 Special loads. Depending on what kind of 158 gr. bullet I use I get best results with Power Pistol or SR 4756. Usually SR 4756 wins, but for some reason Power Pistol generally comes out on top with plated bullets.

Dave Sinko
 
I use it pretty regularly, and like it quite a bit for .357 Mag (moderate loads), .38 Spl (+Ps), .380 (best velocities I've gotten - though I've given up on futzing with handloading .380s) and .45 ACP (+P - as Dave notes). It is flashy but it's accurate and seems to burn pretty clean. It meters better than Unique for me (makes me happy to use it through my RCBS Chargemaster 1500 - man, that's a stupid name) but you use a bit more.
 
So basically from what I have read so far, PP gives a bit more zip or zing to the load but with a lot more flash?
 
I've used it in .45 ACP and .44 S&W Special to get a bit more velocity out of heavy bullets and stay within pressure limits.
 
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