what 4 powders?

[tuckerdog]

I'm sure this is in here somewhere but here goes

If you had to limit yourself to 4 powders what would they be?
for me it would be unique, 2400, IMR 3031, and IMR 4350. they are super good powders and cover about anything I care to shoot accurately and consistently from 22 hornet to 45-70, 32Hr to 44 mag and i dont have a bunch of 1 lb canisters only partly used laying around.(leaves more room for boolit boxes to)

[btroj]

This type of question has come up many times. You will a variety of answers, almost all will include unique or 4805, probably both.
I will never limit myself to 4 powders. 8 to 10 maybe but not 4. This would limit my ability to maximize the capabilities of the various guns I own. I use a powder that fits the needs of the load and what I want it to do, not some obsession with only having a few powders.
This sounds like a great idea but most of us own many more than 4 powders for a reason. My 32-20, 45-70, 270 win, 223 rem, 45 ACP, 243, 22-250, 309 JDJ, and on and on all have different needs. I feed them what they need, not what I deem as simply adequate.

Sorry to be such a Debbie downer but unless you load for only a couple of cartridges this just doesn't work. Just my opinion.

Brad

[KYCaster]

Four powders??? NO WAY!!

I'm with btroj here...too many specialty type loads that four powders don't cover.

Clays for really cheap, clean loads in revolvers...and 12 ga. target loads.

SR7625 for heavy 12 ga. loads.

Ramshot X-Terminator for 55 gr. 223.

SR4756 for soft expanding boolits in 44 mag.

VV3N37 or Ramshot Silhouette for the 38 Sooper comp gun.

WC860 for most any mil-surp rifle.

Re7 for........well, lotsa stuff.

W296 for when ya gotta get that last few FPS from the mag handguns.

SR4759 for boolits in lots of medium capacity rifle cartridges.

IMR3031 cause nothin' else works as well in the 35 Rem.

HP38/W231 for most any light to medium handgun loads.

Oh yeah...and Bullseye, Unique and 2400 cause those are the standards to compare every thing else to. They'll work in a wide variety of applications, but I've found very few instances where I couldn't beat their performance with another powder.

So........limit myself to four powders??? NO WAY!!

Jerry

[schutzen-jager]

use three - red dot , 2400 , + aa #5 - 12 ga , .25acp , .32 acp , .32 s+w , .38 s+w , .38 spec , .38 super , 9mm , .308 , 30/06 , + 7.62 x 54 cast bullet loads -

[Jack Stanley]

I never really stopped much to look at powder use that way . I think perhaps in burning range and capability you have it covered , but as another said it depends on what you are loading for .

I think the slowest powder I have is an old jug of Accurate arms 3100 but I haven't used it for years . Other than that one the slowest I use from time to time is Varget . IMR 4895 and Reloder 7 get used a bit more ..... sometimes a lot more if I'm making M-2 ball ammo or ammo for .308 cast . 2400 gets used a lot along with Unique and Bullseye .

Thinking about it just now I remembered I have some Accurate Arms 2495 , 2520 and 2230 that I haven't used for a while . Also some "Special ball" surplus , the deal I got on repackaged Blue Dot and one of the "Clays" powder and a jug of 700X along with the 231 I was using for .45 ACP . I suppose they all fit into the burning range you have set .

Do I really need that many different types , probably not and when I use them up I won't replace them . That reminds me , when I finish using up all the leftover bullets designs I have , I should start on using up powders I don't use . That should be fun .

Jack

[1Shirt]

Old topic, only one, only 2, only 3 etc. Like btroj, I could never be happy with just 4 pdrs, but I have mainstays, listed in priority sequence:

2400 -- My number one always go to!
Unique -- Works in most every thing/
4064---Good med charge pdr for cast
Bl-C----Small cals
H-110----Hornet/357
Varget----Jacketed mostly
4350----30's and over
4759----All around for cast
Red Dot----Good lite cast
Blue Dot---- " " "
Rl-7------Starting to like this for a lot of cast

Can't think of a ctg that I load that can't doo well with all of the above.
1Shirt!

[Rocky Raab]

I thought I was doing well when I got down to fewer than 70 kinds - and then added 10 more for a new article...

[spqrzilla]

We had another poster from the UK I believe ask about a single powder to cover his reloading needs, as he had restricted access to powders.

But other than that, I don't see a reason for the exercise. I pick out powders that do the job. If I have a choice between a couple of types, then I'll pick the ones that overlap the most just for some convenience. But I use enough powder that having a couple of different types is not a burden. It will all get burnt some day.

[LVRFAN]

Unique, 2400, IMR4198, AA5744- all for cast bullets. Everything else has been a waste of time and money.

[USSR]

I could easily get by on just 3:

Solo 1000 (or a similar fast burner) for 12 ga. and 38 Spec./.45ACP/.45LC
2400 for .357 Mag., .45LC, and .30 Carbine
IMR4895 for .30-06, .308, and 6.5x55

Don

[59sharps]

can't live without 3fffg & 2ffg Black powder covers everything Goex, Diamond Back then Swiss in that order.

[gee-gaw]

Only four?! If I had to do with only four then I guess Unique, H-4895, Bullseye,and VV133.
I could make everything go bang with that, and shoot some pretty good groups too!
But there ain't no way I'm gonna limit my self to just four powders unless there is some sort of crisis. I don't want to give up the ability to try different burn rates and barrel lengths to optimize velocity and accuracy. I'm a tinkerer, and so I gotta have the next greatest new powder on the market so I can wring it out in some of my cartridge / gun combinations. That's a big part of my hobbie! I guess i have... several kinds of powder now and I'm always thinkin of the next one that I just got to have. Maybe it's a sickness, I don't want the cure!
Wayne

[Reloader06]

@ Rocky

When do you think the article will hit the street? It sounds facinating! I think I'm down to about 20-ish.

Matt

[ColColt]

HS-6 for 357 and 44 Magnum
Universal for the above
2400 well, what can I say
AA#5

[357shooter]

As one of the few casters that focuses on A cartridge, the top 4 are easy. The only 4 I have are for 357 mag (revolver and lever action):

1. 700X
2. HP-38
3. Unique
4. H110

[btroj]

Only 1 cartridge? That is about the only place this few powders works. Then again, if 4 powders work for 1 cartridge how many do you need for 10 cartridges? Even if you allow for some duplication you are well over 10. This is assuming some use of jacketed bullets however.

I figure I must have 20 different powders at a minimum. I use 6 or so most of the time but that is only because I am not currently shooting some rifles much.

[gnoahhh]

Like most guys here, I have probably over 20 different powders on the shelf without actually counting them. There are only five kinds that I regularly use for building my "go to" loads: Clays, Unique, SR-4759, 3031, and 4895 which cover the pistol, shotgun and rifles (nothing over medium capacity .30s at the moment) I load for. In a pinch i could make do without either of those two IMR powders. So, I guess if I had to, I could make do with only four powders, but I wouldn't like it! I would sneak in some Bullseye, PB, 2400, 4227, Longshot, 4064 and 800x if no one was looking.

[Rocky Raab]

Aside to Reloader06: I'm submitting it to Handloader but they have a large backlog of articles from freelancers. I have good luck getting things in print, but some have taken a year with that magazine. So, there's no telling when it might see print. For that reason, I'm not going to say just what the article is about.

[Char-Gar]

95 percent of my reloading is done with Bullseye, Unique, 2400 and WC872. If I could have a 5th it would be 3031. That about does it for me.

[Rangefinder]

I HAVE gotten myself whittled down to 4 powders ( not including BP). H380, H335, IMR 4895, and Red Dot. Everything I load for I've managed to work up good loads in those 4. Gone are the days that I have 15 different partials on the shelf and the one I need is the one I just ran out of.