What three pistol powders to try?

[SheepDogAlpha]

hello everyone! My buddy and I just started reloading and we are about to make a purchase of 2-3 different powders in 1lb cans. I would like to know what three you all would suggest to try out. Here is what we are looking for

- Wide application of pistol cartridges
- "Accurate" measurement with lee auto disk measure
- Clean burning
- Low smoke

I know you have to give in certain areas to gain in others, but any suggestions would be great. I have done a little research and found Power Pistol to have some good results and wide application. Would any of you suggest this as one? -SDA

[LUCKYDAWG13]

what pistol are you loading for 9mm 45 acp Bullseye
357 44mag 2400 / H110

[Bonz]

PowerPistol and Bullseye for sure. Will be trying my first loads with Vihtavuori tomorrow at the gun range. Vihtavuori is more expensive but it is supposed to be very consistent. I hand weigh every charge on a RCBS 1010 but I can see that the Vihtavuori should meter very nicely.

[SheepDogAlpha]

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

[jmort]

I would get Trail Boss (Not a pound, but very fluffy so it goes a long way despite its weight), Unique, and 2400.

[SheepDogAlpha]

i hear unique aswell but I heard its dirty

[John Allen]

I would get power pistol, unique and bullseye. They have been around a long time and work with numerous cartridges.

[geargnasher]

Bullseye or Titegroup for clean-burning light loads, Unique for all the midrange stuff, and Power Pistol, HS6 for magnum autos and 2400 for heavier magnum revolver loads. Unique will do it all, but is a tad dirty at very low pressure and too fast-burning for top-end magnum handgun loads.

Unique can have trouble in the Autodisk, but meters very well if you strip the reservoir and carefully smooth and round all the sharp edges leading to the hole in the bottom.

Gear

[RayinNH]

A lot of the smoke and dirt is from boolit lube, that is if your using cast...Ray

[KYCaster]

Hodgdon Clays.....similar application to Bullseye but much, MUCH cleaner.

Hodgdon Universal.........similar to Unique but much, MUCH cleaner.

Ramshot True Blue..........similar to Blue Dot but cleaner and not so temperature sensitive.

Jerry

[rexherring]

Most of those mentioned are good but nobody has mentioned Accurate #2, #5, and #9. I've found that they are all clean, easy to measure and applicable to all the ones you mentioned.

[Muddydogs]

Unique for most pistol loads and some H110 for the heavy loads thats all a guy needs.

[flipajig]

HP-38 and 2400 gets my vote.
Works well in my Autos and wheel guns

[429421Cowboy]

Only three we use are Bullseye (.44 Spl, 9mm) Unique (everything, pistol, shotgun, reduced rifle loads) and 2400 (almost never).
With 9.5 gr of Unique under a 240 boolit the cases seal well and it is as clean as anything. It has been around forever so i can find a load for anything, and also has a measure of safety for beginners. In has good bulk, so in big cases like .44 mag a double charge is hard to miss, almost overflows the case, and also i have data from 6.0 up to 12.0 gr for a 240 boolit, which gives me a WIDE margin for error if something does happen to go haywire and all my safety checks miss it. I use a 250 429421 Keith boolit pushed by 9.5 of Unique in our Super Blackhawks as a hunting and trail load, it will punch end to end on a deer. We quit using 2400 for hunting because 9 more grains of powder to pickup 150-200 fps just wasn't worth the extra blast and cost.
Just my 2 cents worth on why we use what we use!
Welcome, hope you enjoy it here!

[DxieLandMan]

Unique for sure and AA#7 and AA#9 I use a lot of.

[bobthenailer]

IMO Tight Group for 700 to 1,000 fps , WSF or Power Pistol for 900 to 1.300 fps and 296, H110 or surplus 820 for the full loads in the 357 or 44 mag .

[gwpercle]

When I started the popular powders were Bulleseye, Unique and 2400. Still not a bad choice because they are still around. I used to try just about every powder that hit the market untill I realized the companies would go out of business and leave you looking for another " perfect powder ". I still have cans of powders that haven't been made for years and there is no data for newer cartriges.
Just try and find up to date data on Alcan, Scott ,B-West and Thunderbird powders... it's little or none out there. So stick to the tried, true and well known powders from companies that have been around a while.

[Ed in North Texas]

Several years back Unique was reformulated to burn cleaner than the old powder. As Ray said, Unique contributes little to the smoke and gunk in rifle and pistol shooting, the lube is the primary contributor there. I use it for pistol loads, rifle reduced loads and shotgun target loads (and if it was as dirty as some allege, it would really show up there as there is no lube in use).

DuPont brought out Unique over 100 years ago. It isn't going anywhere. I have other powders (the 'dots', a couple of AAs - being ball powders they really meter well, 700X, etc.), but only Unique is bought in 4 or 8 pound jugs.

[runfiverun]

so nobody read the part about the LEE AUTO DISC.
get some 231.
or some accurate #2-#5.
the problem with the lee is flake powders bridge,and ball powders run out the seams.
find something inbetween.
231 is the one inbetween that is flexable enough to handle all those cartridges.

[TXGunNut]

231, Universal and 2400.