ihmsa forums

I noticed from here & other forums I frequent that most folks have a handful of powders which are their "go to" powders. I wonder what everyones is & why.

Shooters being a superstitious lot usually have some powders that they hate. What are they & why?

For my own part I shoot pistols almost exclusively. Sure I own more than a couple long guns but for every shot down their tube I make I would bet I send 1000 down a pistol barrel. To that end my favorites are pistol powders.
Unique & 296 are easily my favorites, they are the only powders I buy in 8lb kegs. I like them both for the same reasons, they are clean burning & flexible being usable in a wide variety of calibers & velocities. Uniques is great with cast bullets as well & 296 for when you step it up to magnum levels.

The only powder I hate is 700X! Part of the reason is no doubt that it was the VERY FIRST powder I bought when I started reloading. It & a can of Unique were my 1st 2 powders. 700X IMO didnt meter well, was dirty burning & none of my guns seemed to like it. Ever since then I have steered clear of that powder & have no desire to experiment with it to this day.

i have used many different powders in my silhouette shooting career. started with the usual h-4895, h-4227,h-110, 296, aa-4895,aa2015br. used them for years and switched to aa#9 and h-322 a couple years ago.i used to weigh all my loads one at a time but now just drop from the powder measure and go with them. the h-322 and aa#9 come out my redding 30br measure real consistently. no need to weigh each charge. i use the h- 322 for all my 7br loads and #9 for my 44 revolver loads. saves a lot of time at the reloading bench. allen

When I first started shooting steel I started with H-322. Aftere about a year I switched to AA-2015 for 7 TCU and 7BR. I loaded AA-9 in 357 Mag and AA-1680 in 357 Max. In 2008 I switched to 6BR and .22BR for my full size and 1/2 size guns. With these I Swithched to Varget. I now use H-110 in .357 Mag. My newest favorite powder is also my first favorite powder. The very first pound of powder I bought was a can of WW-231. I have recently found great field pistol loads in 22 Hornet and 32-20 using 231 that have brought the powder back to the front of my reloading bench.

John

VV N-110 (.41 magnum), N-130 (6.5BR) N-140 (7BR cast bullets) & N-340 (25-20).

Steve W.

2400 for my 44 and SR4759 for most everything else.


Mike

That depends entirely on the gun. I am kind of a "if it aint broke dont fix it" type guy. Loads I have for a particular gun that I developed a long time ago I still. Unless the powder has been discontinued I stick with it. I know consolidating would eliminate all the different powders but I just dont have time to work up new loads. With that said............... 7BR jacketed AA2460, 7BR cast AA2015. 7TCU cast unique, 7TCU jacketed H4895, 6.5BR VV N135, 6.5TCU VV N133, 41mag H4227 (until it is gone then I will be forced to make a change), 30-20 H4227 BB standing, AA#5 field pistol, 22hornet VV 3N37, 270REN AA#5, 223 AA2460. 357max H4227 & AA1680, Thats just the silhouette stuff I can think of, Then there are the plinker guns and the hunting guns and the rifles.
Yeah, Yeah so I am a powder hoarder
Bret

They say that you can tell when someone started reloading by the types of powder that they use. The newer powders don't show up as much....guys that started many years ago use the powders of that time frame more.....might be true in my case. For most of my bottleneck type cartridges I use either 748 or 4895(7TCU, 7BR, 7 Gates, 7 International, 7 Rimmed, .308, etc....) for the regular handgun cartridges like the .45,.40, .380 I use 231. .38 Super I use VV 3N37. Used Reloader 7 in some cast bullets in rifle loadings. Used to like 4759 with cast bullets years ago. And of course, 4227 in my .357 super mag.

Interesting that everyone uses different powders for their handgun and Contender loads. I've used Blue Dot for all my 9mm thru .45ACP loads and have been very happy with it's performance and accuracy. It's reasonable price and availability after the 2008 elections vaulted it to the top of my reloading favorites.

I’ve tried to get down to just a few powders and the three I’ve landed on are 1) HS-6, 2) 296 (N-110 may be as good a choice) and 3) BL-C(2). Since HS-6 only uses 5gr to 8gr per round I buy it in 1 pound cans but 296 & BL-C(2) are the ones in big containers.

IN THE EARLY YEARS OF HARD SET RAMS, I USED A LOT OF WW-748, H-335,H-4895 WITH HEAVY BULLETS FOR BB,PRO, AND STANDING. IN OK, AND H-110 FOR THE WHEEL GUNS. AS WE CORRECTED THE PROBLEM, THE BULLETS GOT SMALLER AND SMALLER. I USED H-322 AND LITE BULLETS FOR JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING. JACK DEVER BUILT ME MY FIRST 6MM BR IN 2001. AND I STARTED WITH V-140 BUT SOON RAN OUT. CHANGED TO BENCHMARK AND RAN OUT OF THAT ALSO. AT THE 2003 INTERNATIONALS IN FT STOCKTON THEY HAD IT ON SELLERS ROW AND I BOUGHT A BUNCH OF IT. AND PROBABLY WON'T CHANGE AGAIN. BUT IF I HAD TO CHOOSE JUST ONE POWDER IT WOULD BE H-322. CAN BE USED FOR MANY OF HANDGUN CALIBERS, IS VERY ACCURATE. METERS VERY GOOD. AND I AGREE WITH ALLEN GASKIN.SET THE POWDER THROWER,TIGHTEN THE JAM NUT AND JUST THROW IT.