POWDER TYPES AND INVENTORY

[rwsmith]

I have too many powders......

I've got too many now thanks to scarcity I just picked up whatever I found. I'm not used to dealing with with more than 3 pistol powders and now I have Bullseye, Unique, PB, Acc 7, Red Dot, Titegroup and 2400 for magnum loads. My two for rifle are 4798 and SR4759.

Not having good storage for all of these has led to having powders all over the place and I need to get back to the one powder at a time rule or I'm going to have problems.

 

[novalty]

Glad to see members have some supply of powder.

For pistol I have:
8# Bullseye
3# AA#5
1# Unique
1#2400
1# Ramshot Competition
1/2# 231

 

[RussellD]

As a veteran Ant I have gathered for winter and planned for the next three cycles in the supply chain. Todays market is neither unforeseen or unexpected.

If you have gathered some powder you have done well. Happy loading during the coming year.

 

[bigsteve113]

Lots'a Unique
Lots'a 2400
Lots'a BenchMark

Everything else I got is to tinker with.

 

[Skeet 028]

Well it may sound ridiculous but I have a lot of powder..A LOT. but I have been finding the powders that have been discontinued this year. 4756 4759 7625 PB etc. All I have used extensively in the past and since they were really cheap at gun shows I bought them. Also got 9 lbs of Win 230 and others for a buck a pound so glommed onto them too. They still work and the price was right.

Still have all the standards 231 Unique 2400 4227 Red Green Dot 296 HS6 6 lbs of Alcan 5 5 lbs HS5 4 lbs HS7..Even have a little Herco. Clays Intl Clays and Universal. But I also have gotten 10M 45 auto brass 8M 40 8M 9s..so now I have to crank up the Dillon 1050s.
Hope y'all have a really Good and prosperous New Year. And I surely hope the log jam of the shooting supplies finally breaks. Be safe

 

[mtgianni]

I could get by with Red Dot for low velocity accuracy loads in 32,
long, H&R, 38 Spl, 44's, & 45's.
Power Pistol for 9 & 45, and AA9 for magnum velocity. I would miss Unique for midrange velocities.

 

[lmcgust]

Chief38,

TG and W231 could easily be be used in 45 acp or 38sp, giving you more flexibility if you run out of either one.

I use BE for 45 cap, but TG is my backup in case I run out. Same idea for the 9 mm... WSF is my 1st choice, but BE or TG are my back-ups.

Always need a plan B these days

Guy -

 

[Nevada Ed]

tried the "New" CFE pistol powder..........
Great for 88% to full loads in 38, 357, 9mm in my test but
lacks results in low pressure loads.

Have not been able to find BE-86.
Would love to see how this powder does in super low target to
maximum loads in these calibers.

As a note, Green Dot is very close to 231 in the 9mm, 38 and 357
for matching fps in my test if you need powder.

 

[muddocktor]

I've been buying pistol powders as I can find them, so I have a diverse assortment of them available right now. A lot of them I haven't tried before and probably wouldn't have gone with them over my usual suspects if they were available. But with what I've accumulated over the last year or 2, I'm sitting OK on both rifle and pistol powders. I presently have the following new-bought powder at the house now:

W296 and H110
WSF
Longshot
CFE Pistol
700-X
Unique
A #9

Rifle powders include the following:

Hybrid 100V
H4831
IMR4350
IMR3031
Accurate LT-32
Accurate 2200

 

[blujax01]

I shoot so little of .32acp, .380 acp, .25 acp, etc that I just use Factory ammo when I shoot those. ...

Chief, as expensive as factory ammo is in these calibers, I'm surprised you don't buy the dies and reload them with HP38/231. My Mustang Plus II loves 100 grain plated bullets loaded with HP38. Reloading it may be tedious, but it is Chee-eep!

 

[GB]

I have a crapload of powder(the fire dept. would have a cow!) Bullseye, Unique, 2400, H110, WSF, Red Dot and a smattering of others for pistols. Mostly in 4 and 8 pound lots. The newest powder I shoot is the WSF.(I am a fossil!) If push came to shove, I could get by with the first 3 and if times got hard and life got tough, I could make do with Unique. I have shot it in all of my pistols/revolvers except for my 40 S&Ws (and there are loads available for that in Unique) You can go up and down the line and find a powder that is better for almost any caliber but Unique will work in all that I shoot. Now, don't get me started on rifle powders (the last "new" powder I tried was Varget). Like I said "I am a fossil".

 

[johngalt]

I use Bullseye for my target and mid range loads, 2400 for .357. I have some unique and universal that doesn't get used much. I'll probably use it up in .45 hardball.

I have a small quantity of varget and h4895 which I may use someday for 30'06.

 

[rglassma]

I'm like most of you. I buy powder when I see it. All I reload for is pistols in 3 calipers. I inherited some as well. This is what I got and will follow the same practice of buying what I see in pistol powder moving forward:

13 # - clays
4# - 700x
1# - 800x
1# - AA#5
5# - WST
1# - Unique
1# - Herco
1# - CFE

I'm currently finishing up my first # of AA#5. Been using it in 9mm, 38, 45ACP. I really like the way it meters in my chargemaster 1500.

Mostly used 700x before the #5. So, I have plenty of things to experiment with ...

 

[NJM15]

Since powders are a bit hard to get these days I have narrowed down & keep my inventory for all cartridge reloading to four different types and just buy in larger containers when available. I have narrowed down to these four:

W231 - for .45 acp
Titegroup - for .38 Special & .357 magnum
Unique - for .45 Colt
H4895 - for .38-55 & .45-70

I could go further I suppose but I like these 4 old standby's.

I shoot so little of .32acp, .380 acp, .25 acp, etc that I just use Factory ammo when I shoot those. Carry ammo is Buffalo Bore or Speer Gold Dot Factory.

I use titegroup for all the calibers you specify with good results one exception .357 Sig, I use IMR 4756 for them I have 4lbs of Power Pistol ready for use when the TG is gone

 

[Geno44]

I keep too many different powders around, accumulated over 50 years. In the mid 1960's, I bought 50 pounds of H4831 from Walter Craig of Selma Alabama for $29.95 delivered to my door. Apparently he is still in business. I'm still shooting on it but down to the last 10 or so pounds. Ah the good old days.

 

[LRNFP]

We aren't finished with shortages of anything to do with shooting. I haven't seen a lot of powders locally in CO, mostly stuff no one uses or for 50 cal. I shoot .380ACP, 45ACP, 357/38 and 9MM pistols, rifles 7.62MM, 243 WIN, 8MM Mauser along with assorted .22's which is another story. Figuring if I was gonna keep shooting I needed a change. Did find some forums about guys that use milsup powder thought I'd try that, found it just about as bad seeing they were buying literally tons at a time. Ugh! I did manage to get 8lb of powder for all the pistols, now all I need is the bullets...

 

[scooter123]

Handgun bullets are currently very easy to come by, if you want to load with Plated Extreme Bullets has the best prices I've seen and an order is typically shipped the day after you place the order. If you want Jacketed Bullets you can place an order with Precision Delta or go to the premium level with the Hornady XTP.

I load a LOT of the XTP's in 357 Magnum and with the right load the accuracy from a rifle ranges from excellent to "did I really do that". Note, both Midway and Powder Valley seem to be able to keep a good stock of the XTP's on hand at rather reasonable prices when you consider the accuracy they produce.

As for your Rifle Bullet needs, I've been successful purchasing from Natchez and Midway. I would suggest taking a look and seeing if they have the particular bullet you need in stock.

 

[Kframerbluvr]

I load for 9mm, .40, .38 special and .45 ACP handguns. One powder for all of this at this time. WST. Tried it with all except .45 with good results so far. Getting ready to load 300 .45 ACP rounds with a medium load of WST to try. Have a little over three pounds out of a four pound jug left. Should last me for a while.
In the rifle realm, I load 30M2 (Garand rifle) 30-06, and 30-30. One powder - WW 748.

 

[fredj338]

I load for 9mm, .40, .38 special and .45 ACP handguns. One powder for all of this at this time. WST. Tried it with all except .45 with good results so far. Getting ready to load 300 .45 ACP rounds with a medium load of WST to try. Have a little over three pounds out of a four pound jug left. Should last me for a while.
In the rifle realm, I load 30M2 (Garand rifle) 30-06, and 30-30. One powder - WW 748.

You'll love wst in the 45acp, my fav for all bullet wts & types in std pressure loads.

 

[2tall79]

Since powders are a bit hard to get these days I have narrowed down & keep my inventory for all cartridge reloading to four different types and just buy in larger containers when available. I have narrowed down to these four:

W231 - for .45 acp
Titegroup - for .38 Special & .357 magnum
Unique - for .45 Colt
H4895 - for .38-55 & .45-70

I could go further I suppose but I like these 4 old standby's.

I shoot so little of .32acp, .380 acp, .25 acp, etc that I just use Factory ammo when I shoot those. Carry ammo is Buffalo Bore or Speer Gold Dot Factory.

I have most of your powders although I mix it up a little.

45 ACP.....Titegroup
40 S&W....W231/HP38
9MM........Titegroup/AA #2
45 Colt.....Unique

Recently, I was able to find some Trail Boss and I have found that this will be my preferred powder for my Ruger Blackhawk in 45 Colt. It is a pleasure to shoot all day long and meters and loads very well. I've been loading 5.4 gr under a Missouri 255 gr Hi-Tek #1 Cowboy and getting great groups out to 15 yds (that's about all the further I can see anymore). Now I'm on a quest to find more TB....but it seems to be one of the rarest of powders these days.