Reloading after 15 years

[ralph7]

I am reloading pistol cartridges again after about a 15 year hiatus.
I mostly used Bullseye and Unique for my mid range loads.
Is there something else that might be a favorite powder that has come out lately? Maybe something that fills the case a bit more without the need for a magnum primer or simply something that you switched to that works better for you than the old standbys.
Most of my loads will be .38 special, 45 acp, and 45 colt.

I appreciate any thoughts.

 

[BB57]

I've been reloading for 46 years and I'm still a big fan of:

- Red Dot, Bullseye, Unique and HP-38/Win 231 in the .45 ACP;
- Bullseye, Unique, HP-38/Win 231 in the .38 Special; and
- Red Dot , Unique, 2400 and Win 296/H-110 in the .45 Colt.

However, I also like HS-6, Power Pistol, and Titegroup in all of the above and Lil Gun in the .45 Colt. Universal is also very popular in several of the traditional Unique uses.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Red Dot is a very bulky powder and fills a case, quickly.

If you want a little slower fps, than Red Dot,
Trail Boss fills the case, a LOT quicker and a little goes a long way.

38 special 158gr lead: TB 3.3 @ 570fps........ Red Dot 3.5 @ 700fps

 

[kbm6893]

I started with Red Dot. It metered terribly. I've settled in HP38 for all my pistol loads, .380, .38, .357, 9MM, .45. Meters great and I'm just punching paper.

 

[Skyhunter]

W-231 / HP38 are good for your choices.
Unique is still "Unique" and a proven for the velocities you're interested in. I still use it frequently.
I'm still using Red Dot and Bullseye as well. A recent addition from Alliant, BE-86 has done well for me in .38, .357, .44 Spl. and .45 Colt. It burns cleaner than Unique and is very close in burn rate.
With today's semi-empty shelves, it's good to have a lot of choices.

WYT-P
Skyhunter

 

[rockquarry]

If you're loading only standard pressure loads in .38 Sp., .45 ACP, and .45 Colt, you can get by fine with Bullseye and 231. In fact, if you only wanted to use one powder for all three, 231 would work fine (as long as you're satisfied with the accuracy). Much of the time when I try some of the newer powders, I find they are no better or sometimes not as good as the old ones.

 

[TheTinMan]

If you're loading only standard pressure loads in .38 Sp., .45 ACP, and .45 Colt, you can get by fine with Bullseye and 231. In fact, if you only wanted to use one powder for all three, 231 would work fine (as long as you're satisfied with the accuracy). Much of the time when I try some of the newer powders, I find they are no better or sometimes not as good as the old ones.

I use W-231 for all three. After the 2008+ supply drought I tried to limit the number of powders as much as possible. W-231 works for a LOT of cartridges.

That said, Accurate #5 might be your answer provided you're not going for +P loads. In my experience - mostly with AA #7 - their powders meter very well and tend to fill up cases. Certainly a lot more than W-231. I think you could get a triple charge of W-231 in a 45 Colt case. Best of all, Accurate Arms powders appear to be in stock.

 

[max]

I use 231 for .38 and .45. I use Unique for .45 Colt and have never used a magnum primer.

 

[Model19man]

I've been reloading for 46 years and I'm still a big fan of:

- Red Dot, Bullseye, Unique and HP-38/Win 231 in the .45 ACP;
- Bullseye, Unique, HP-38/Win 231 in the .38 Special; and
- Red Dot , Unique, 2400 and Win 296/H-110 in the .45 Colt.

However, I also like HS-6, Power Pistol, and Titegroup in all of the above and Lil Gun in the .45 Colt. Universal is also very popular in several of the traditional Unique uses.

Ditto - exactly.

 

[Beemer-mark]

I used Unique for decades. Then I discovered 700-X, Universal and Accurate #5. Unique is only good if you weigh each powder drop. Universal is just as good for a whole lot of cartridges as Unique. Only downside is reloading data is scarce. For a lot of pistol cartridges 700-X and Acc-5 are just as good as Unique and meter in a progressive press with zero drop deviations.

 

[ralph7]

I appreciate all the suggestions.
You folks pretty much hit the nail on the head for what I was asking for.

 

[Forrest r]

Hodgdon clays is another excellent powder for those cartridges if you're looking for extremely accurate standard pressure loads. Clays is similar to reddot (burn rate and case fill capacity) but has always outperformed reddot accuracy wise in every cartridge I tried it in.

The lee dipper chart will give you a good idea of how dense a powder is.
http://www.castpics.net/subsite/Man...DER 0.3 0.5 0.7,2.2 2.5 2.8 3.1 3.4 3.7 4 4.3

 

[Miracle Man]

It's hard to beat 231, unique, 2400 and so on. But I must say I've started trying power pistol and I like it so far. Granted more testing is needed. I've only shot a couple handfuls of rounds with it.

Come on Spring

 

[gwpercle]

Things have changed in the last 15 years .
You can no longer walk into the local gun shop and see rows of powder for sale and buy whatever you want .

The shelves will be bare and you might find one or two powders on the shelf . Most on-line vendor's say "Not In Stock" a lot .

See what powder you can get ... and work from there .

The last time I went shopping ... no Bullseye , Unique or 2400 were to be found . The only thing on the shelf was 3 containers of Red Dot and 1 container each of Accurate #2 and Accurate #5 ... I bought them all !
I had never used any of them before but that's what I could get and that's what I'm going to use ... along with 2 lbs. of Alcan-5 I had hidden away for emergencies ! When is the last time you loaded with Alcan-5 powder ... ?

The Times Have Changed !
Gary

 

[cracker57]

I started with Red Dot. It metered terribly. I've settled in HP38 for all my pistol loads, .380, .38, .357, 9MM, .45. Meters great and I'm just punching paper.

I like the K.I.S.S. idea and have recently switch to using only W231/HP-38 for my 9MM, and 45ACP. Those are the only pistol rounds I load but like only having on powder for both. I love how it meters and I too only use it for punching paper. Its as accurate as I am, but I dont shoot at 50 or 100 yrds 25 is where I draw the line.

 

[WR Moore]

As stated above, making a list of powders that work in those calibers before you head for the store is a good idea. Both Power Pistol and BE-86 are in the general burn rate area of Unique, but get specific load data for them. You need to buy a new loading manual or search the powder makers websites for load data as a lot's changed in 15 years.

 

[GypsmJim]

I have standardized on Bullseye for .38 and below (down to .32 ACP), and Unique for .357 and above (up to .41 Mag).

Fortunately, I saw a sale in March 2020 and bought a 5 year supply.

With both flavors now almost unobtanium, and reading so many good comments about W231/HP38, I bought another 5 year supply right off of Hodgdons web site. So far I have tried it in half of my calibers and find it to be an excellent choice. My Lyman manual lists it as optimum for several of my calibers.

 

[rockquarry]

I have standardized on Bullseye for .38 and below (down to .32 ACP), and Unique for .357 and above (up to .41 Mag).

Fortunately, I saw a sale in March 2020 and bought a 5 year supply.

With both flavors now almost unobtanium, and reading so many good comments about W231/HP38, I bought another 5 year supply right off of Hodgdons web site. So far I have tried it in half of my calibers and find it to be an excellent choice. My Lyman manual lists it as optimum for several of my calibers.

With regard to .38 Special, I've used primarily one bullet for many years, the H&G #51 design, a 160 grain cast SWC (it was actually the original .357 Magnum bullet). My best load uses Bullseye powder loaded to approximate factory standard pressure loads. I've also used 231 loaded to about the same level. Both are accurate, though I've seen slightly better accuarcy with Bullseye - but that's really splitting hairs.

There are many other bullet designs these days that will probably do as well or maybe better than the #51 with either powder.

 

[Nevada Ed]

As stated above, making a list of powders that work in those calibers before you head for the store is a good idea. Both Power Pistol and BE-86 are in the general burn rate area of Unique, but get specific load data for them. You need to buy a new loading manual or search the powder makers websites for load data as a lot's changed in 15 years.

I choose BE-86.
More powder in a 9mm case with a 147gr bullet and higher fps than with Unique powder.

Much less noise, flame and powder used than with Power Pistol.


W231 and CFE-p are great for light to medium target loads
in my 38, 357 and 9mm loads.

 

[Forrest r]

With regard to .38 Special, I've used primarily one bullet for many years, the H&G #51 design, a 160 grain cast SWC (it was actually the original .357 Magnum bullet). My best load uses Bullseye powder loaded to approximate factory standard pressure loads. I've also used 231 loaded to about the same level. Both are accurate, though I've seen slightly better accuarcy with Bullseye - but that's really splitting hairs.

There are many other bullet designs these days that will probably do as well or maybe better than the #51 with either powder.

I've found that almost any cast bullet in the 150gr to 160gr weight range and 5.5gr or 6.0gr of bullseye in the 357mag cases will make excellent blammo ammo/plinking reloads. At 1 time I cast 10+ .358" bullets in that weight range and would burn them up with that bullseye/357mag combo.

Was playing around a couple years ago and put a scope on a 686 and was blasting away with a cramer "hunter" cast 158gr rn hp and a 640 series cast 158gr fn hp. The target looks like chicken scratch but I was simply testing 6-shot groups @ 50yds.

The left top & bottom targets were 5.5gr of bullseye.
The right top & bottom targets were 6.0gr of bullseye.
The top targets were the hunter bullet.
The bottom targets were the 640 series bullets.

Nothing special, didn't take a lot of time shooting strings and used a front rest only. Measurements were done with a simple tape measure and all measurements are outside edge to outside edge of the bullet holes in the targets.

Basically all groups were 2" or less @ 50yds. Others might want better results, for me that's good enough for range fodder plinking/blammo ammo.