What three pistol powders to try?

[AviatorTroy]

Unique, 2400, WST

[joec]

If I had to pick 3 only it would be Universal Clays, Bullseye and HP-38. Now I load 9mm, 45 ACP, 45 Colt and 45-70. For the pistols I have and some times till use the 3 I already listed but also Trailboss, Unique, AA#2, AA#5, LilGun, Titegroup and Clays. I also load the 45 Colt with black powder.

[uscra112]

Never found anything that worked as well in .38 target loads as Bullseye. (Well, Vihtavuuori N310 is equally good but more expensive and harder to find.)

Use AA#9 for high pressure .357 loads and Schuetzen rifle loads. Much better S.D. than 2400 in the rifle loads.

Use Power Pistol in 9mm and reduced .22 Hornet loads.

Other pistol powders I have around just can't seem to get used up. When those three get low I buy more.

(Am getting ready to try 300MP in lieu of the AA#9 in the rifles, on recommendation of the top ASSRA shooters. Stay tuned.)

[zxcvbob]

They all burn pretty clean if you load near-max loads. You really should tell us what cartridges you want to load, but Bullseye, Unique, and either Red Dot or American Select will load almost anything. You might have trouble finding load data for American Select, but it burns very cleanly (it's a double-base powder but just barely. There's only 2% nitroglycerin in it)

If you want to load .357 Magnum with cast bullets, get some Herco or AA#7.

I don't have that powder measure, so I can't say how Unique, Red Dot, American Select, or Herco will measure, they are large flakes. Bullseye, 231, and the AA powders should not be a problem because they are very fine flakes or ball -- like sand.

[MattOrgan]

Lee disk measure works best with ball powders. You can load just about any handgun round with W231/HP38 and W296/H110.

[Ben]

If I could only own 3 pistol powders , the 3 would be :

Bullseye
Unique
2400

[zxcvbob]

Lee disk measure works best with ball powders. You can load just about any handgun round with W231/HP38 and W296/H110.

Don't forget WSF. Use Herco load data where there's no WSF data (like for revolver cartrdges), but don't get too aggressive with that in case it's not a perfect match. That puts it right in the middle between 231 and 296.

[YunGun]

Haven't tried anything other than Power Pistol in my .40 yet. I've seen no need to since it provided the economy, accuracy & volume I was looking for right off the bat. It also metered very well for me through the Lee autodisk although I found that I had to use the next step up on the disk chart when using PP; their conversion chart shows that the .57cc cavity should drop 6.4gr but actually dropped 6.0 for me, & the .61cc cavity they say drops 6.9gr dropped @6.4gr consistently. Either one work quite well for me.

[SheepDogAlpha]

I was at the local bass pro and they had gotten a shipment in, so while I was getting my allotted 100 small pistol primers I picked up some bullseye. They also had some 2400, but its for my father in law so I am going to let him pick that up.

[KCcactus]

I started with Unique for target loads and 2400 for hot loads in 38/357 and 44 and haven't seen any reason to change. Unique can be a little dirty, but it hasn't been a problem for me. I haven't tried the new Unique that is supposed to be cleaner. When I started loading 45 acp, I added Accurate #5. I also use #5 for .380 and 9mm. #5 burns very clean.

I bought some H. Universal Clays when I couldn't find #5. I use mid-range or lighter loads in my autos. At those levels Clays leaves a lot of partially burned powder in the chamber. I went back to #5.

[imashooter2]

Wide application with good metering? Bullseye, W231 and AA5 will give you a decent spread on burn rates without moving into niche powders. To add a powder for full power magnums, Alliant 2400 is very flexible.

[Wis. Tom]

Because you are just getting started, I just want to tell you that Hodgdon bought Winchester's powders, so HP38 is the same as W231, and H110 is the same as W296, as Matt mentioned before. I load mainly with Bullseye, Unique, and W231/HP38 in my pistol loads.

[Larry Gibson]

9mm, .38, .45, .44 mag, .38 +p, maybe others in the future.

Bullseye, Unique and 2400 will cover all those cartridges nicely.
Larry Gibson

[DrCaveman]

2400 and unique cover a lot. Unique meters so-so from my auto disk, as long as my charges are 4gr or higher. I guess i look at my tolerance as a +/- % more than +/- grains.

2400 or h110 are champs for performance and metering for me.

Ill throw this one out again, see if anyone bites: ramshot Competition.

It seems pretty similar to VV n320 but with a little higher pressure thus less max velocity. But very consistent, clean, economical, and accurate. Seems ramshot needs to up their distibution network because noone seems to know about this powder.

For the same velocity, it has been softer in recoil & bark than either bullseye or unique for me in the 45 automatic. Looking forward to trying it in 9mm soon. Plenty of load data for 38 spl

[RayinNH]

Bullseye, Unique and 2400 will cover all those cartridges nicely.
Larry Gibson

They also have history. Bullseye introduced in 1898, Unique in 1900 and 2400 in 1932. They're still around for a reason...Ray

[35remington]

Stay a long way away from the flake powders like Unique, 700X, Red Dot and Clays in charges much below 3.7 to 4 grains in the Auto Disk. Small cavity size that causes bridging is a problem. Above this level you'll be okay, but no light 38 Special, 9mm or .380 loads with these powders, for instance.

[ACrowe25]

w231, bullseye, and aa#2 is all I use. Great results in each, with each their own purpose. Primarily w231...

[Doc.Holliday]

Red Dot; Power Pistol; 800X

Doc

[SheepDogAlpha]

Just a little update. I went with power pistol, unique, and bullseye. The bullseye and pp metered fairly well via lee auto powder measure but the unique was god awful. The flakes were far to big and wouldn't drop consistent charges at all. I feel I am going to have a pound if unique in the shelf until I feel like blowing a tree stump out if the ground. I have yet to fire my test rounds but I will report my findings when I do! Thanks all

[Awsar]

Win 231 meters good shoots good and burns pretty clean i use it in 9mm-.38slp-.357-.45acp