Power Pistol

[Nevada Ed]

Unique will work for full loads in my 9mm but.........

when I start stuffing the large 147gr bullet in that little case
case volume and Unique do not work well together.

I found that BE-86 is finer grained and will beat Unique powder, hands down on getting MORE
fps out of my loads.

Some say that BE-86 is on a level with PP, but not having any PP powder
I can't find out which might be the better powder.

Later.

 

[cliffoa]

I use Power Pistol with cast 230 grain with standard velocity and find it does just fine. In fact I load Power Pistol in 9mm, 38spl, and 45acp and really don't bother using anything else. I think I have even used it in 380 but it's been a while.

I've just started loading 38sp. 158gr Speer soft point with 5.4gr of PP. The site I looked up the recipe said that 6gr was a +p load. Does that sound right?

 

[ddixie884]

Yes, that is the data from Alliant who makes that powder.............

 

[rwsmith]

They are....

I read somewhere that W231 and HP-38 are the same exact powder. I can't imagine that but I feel sure I saw it somewhere. I use AA #5 a lot but for some bullet weights, Unique seems to give more velocity according to Speer's #14 manual whereby #5 will for other weights.

I shoot mostly 185 and 200 and occasionally the 230 gr JHP. I don't care much for LSWC's because of the leading-cheap for sure but, I don't like using the Lewis Lead Remover every time I come back from the range.

Hodgdon explained: Many people have tremendous brand loyalty and would swear that W231 is the greatest thing since sliced bread and HP-38 is junk. And vice versa. But they are exactly the same power manufactured in the same plant but packaged differently.