What three pistol powders to try?

[avogunner]

For the calibers you listed, my vote would be Unique, 2400, and Bullseye.

[MaineJim]

I would say Unique,Bullseye and 2400 as well.
Unique doesn't meter well in some powder measures but good enough out of my ancient Lyman 55 and Lee auto disc.
Smoke? I don't think its the powder that creates much of it using cast,rather the lube is the likely culprit.

[tuckerdog]

for those calibers I would go with bullseye unique and 2400. all 3 are tried and true in those calibers

[10-x]

I'll be another vote for Bullseye, Unique and 2400.

[Bullet Caster]

Another vote for bullseye in 9mm, .45LC and .45 acp. BC

[greenwart]

My vote red dot(or bullseye or tite group), unique, 2400. I also like H110 for the super ballistic stuff, but could live with 2400 if I had to create max loads. I wish they still made HS-7. I recently shot some in 10mm that I still have and trying to find a the replacement, I picked up some power pistol to see if it is close.

[MOcaster]

I use Titegroup, WST, and No. 7. I only load 40 S&W but I can load any weight bullet/boolit you can find. I recommend getting one fast powder, one medium powder, and one slow powder. Get Titegroup for sure. No. 7 works good but you will probably have trouble with it in the Auto Disk because it is so fine.

[dougader]

For your requirements with the Lee loader, etc, I'd go with WST on the fast side, keep the Power Pistol as a med-rate burn powder, and get VV N110 for high end loads in your 44 mag.

These should meter well and get you where you want to go with the claibers you mention.

[zxcvbob]

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

How much Unique are you trying to throw at a time?

[SheepDogAlpha]

It was a while ago but I think like 3.8 and it was maybe dropping 1.2-1.7 on the disc system.

I have since upgraded to the lee micrometer measure. I have yet to get unique powder drop numbers with this yet.

[white eagle]

unique,blue dot,2400

[DLCTEX]

One of my Auto Disc powder measures is an older style up graded to the red, round hopper and trying to load small charges was problematic. I found that the disc did not return far enough to get full alignment with the hopper hole. A little work with a file where the arm strikes the base let it come back so that the full cavity was exposed to the hole. Problem cured.

[tuckerdog]

another powder that meters very well is IMR4227 I have had good luck in magnum revolver cartriges and pressures are lower than some powders like h110 without too big a loss of velocity. Atleast the deer cant tell the difference

[DougGuy]

OP, you don't say which auto disk you have, if it's the new round one or the old style square one. I had nothing but headaches out of the round one, with the micrometer measure, with H110, a ball powder that normally meters and measures EXTREMELY well. That thing threw powder all over the press, was staticy as all hell, threw very inconsistent charges, and with less than 100rds the white rubber thingy in there was looking all chafed and torn up on the bottom. I tried everything with it, even lubing it with graphite on the sliding parts, it was just horrible.

I replaced it with a Dillon, and older one for the 550 press, with the two powder bars, never looked back. Problem solved, dropping powder to the tenth grain now and liking it.

Years ago I had a square Lee auto disk measure, and I used a billet aluminum adjustable bar called an accubar, it worked really really good, pretty much just like the Dillon, but I could not find any of these at a decent price, nor could I find the billet bar. That one worked great with unique and 700x as well as bullseye and a host of other powders. I couldn't believe how problematic the new round auto disk measure was.

2400 for .44 magnum
H110 or LilGun for heavy bullet +P .45 Colt
Unique for standard pressure .45 Colt
W231 or 700x for .45 ACP

[Ed in North Texas]

It was a while ago but I think like 3.8 and it was maybe dropping 1.2-1.7 on the disc system.

I have since upgraded to the lee micrometer measure. I have yet to get unique powder drop numbers with this yet.

I think you have a problem with the finish on your disc. I've never seen that much variance - but that might be because I haven't used the Lee volumetric guide as a starting point in years and years. I pretty much know where to start for the load I wish to throw. If you have to have a load thrown exactly the same time after time for 1000 loads, you likely aren't using the Lee disc. If you have to have the exact on the money load, not off even a 10th of a grain, you are probably throwing max loads and should be weighing every one. I have found the Lee disc and Unique/Red Dot/American Select to be close enough that I can't see the difference at 3, 7, 15 and 25 yards. I will agree that the Auto disc is a problem in .380. The particular problem I have there is the spring being too stiff and the dispensing die crushing case mouths in the Lee LoadMaster. My .380 is locked breech and I throw 3.8 to 4.2 loads for it. A blowback pistol would need lighter loads. I expect to solve that problem with the auto Disc Pull Back Lever instead of the spring (I hope).

I freely admit that max loads are either thrown with a Lyman 55, or the RCBS Chargemaster (old one and slow, but so am I), with each one weighed.

[Kull]

231, Unique, and 2400 was my first thought. I've been using a lot of VV lately and I'd be tempted to go with all VV. Something like N320 (maybe N310 instead), N340, and N110.

[Bzcraig]

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.

I use have used both 231 and Accurate #2 with my Lee auto disk and both worked well and around here are the best priced.

[Clinebo]

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

Bullseye
Unique
2400

Those 3 take up the most space in my powder cabinet. Only powder that I have more of is BP.

[pmeisel]

I use Unique in a Lee perfect measure with no problems, pretty consistent.

For same calibers I use mostly just use Unique and 2400.

[Wadestep]

I use the Lee powder measure and universal clays. It meters no problem. I also have 2400. Universal has lots of load data.