Pro's & Con's of differant powder shapes

[guntherapist]

I have mostly loaded Vihtavouri powders in the past which have been extruded. Starting to use more Winchester ball powder, and was wondering about pros n cons of the differant shapes.
So, ball powder is easier to meter than extruded but is more dirty??

 

[OKFC05]

Generalizations are generally useless. That said, all else being equal, stick powders cause more problems in the loader and ball powders cause more problems in the gun.
The details of the specific load and the gun they are fired in can cause the opposite to be true in specific comparisons.
That confusing enough?
When reloading, getting the correct powder to burn at the proper temp versus low-pressure loads of powder can lead to two shooters claiming the same powder is "clean" for one and "dirty" for the other.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

The comments above are a good summary.

There is a practical difference though. If you are shooting an autoloader, it has less of an impact but if you shoot a revolver, ball powders "appear" to be harder on the gun because with light bullets, the powder tends to sandblast the frame causing what is commonly called a flame cut. I see this on my 357 Max's and 357 Mag's but expect that it is true of other high pressure rounds. For this reason I only shoot stick or flake powders out of my high pressure revolvers and avoid light bullets.

Another difference is ball powders tend to be double base and my experience is that ball powders tend to burn hotter and make the gun hotter in the long run. Not that this matters much but it is an issue.

Just something to consider.

 

[Skip Sackett]

It all depends on pressure.

Pressure is what determines if one powder burns clean or dirty.
Lead bullets will always be considered dirty, no matter what powder you use. It is usually the lube though, not the powder.

Your powder selection needs to coincide with the equipment being used to produce a load. Since stick powders meter like rocks, it would be a bad thing to use in, say, a Dillon progressive press. Although, some folks have been pretty creative with working though that problem. I couldn't find a picture, but some folks have wire tied aquarium pumps to the side of them to use them.

Ball powders have been blamed for flame cutting of frames.
They are harder to ignite but they meter like a dream in progressive presses. Some of the less expensive measures have a hard time with them too only for different reasons. They have been known to "leak" from some of the older Lee's.

Small flake powders, Bullseye, 2400, SR4756, SR7625 and others will cause no problems at all. The flattened ball powders of Winchester will work well too.

For progressive presses, I really like the Accurate Arms line of powders. All of them are ball powders and flow like a dream. You can see it on your chronograph too. Small ES and SD numbers. They light easy though. Standard primers throughout the handgun line, AA#2-AA#9.

Hope this helps!