CFE pistol powder

[LUCKYDAWG13]

my LGS has 8# of CFE pistol powder in stock is this powder as good as 2400 ? I would rather have some 2400 but i just cant find it. use will be 357 / 44 magnum 454 if it will work for it
thanks

[jcren]

I would not think of it as a Magnum powder. My father in law uses it in a 40 and said that it is very fast and takes very little powder, along the lines of red dot or titegroup.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

think i'm just going to keep my fingers crossed and hope i find some 2400 before i run out
thanks

[tazman]

CFE pistol will work in those cartridges but will not give the highest velocities that 296 will.
You might have trouble finding data for the 454 but the other cartridges are listed on the Hodgdon data site.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

just looking for a replacement for 2400 thanks

[tazman]

just looking for a replacement for 2400 thanks

I'm not sure there is one. There are powders with a similar burn rate but the performance level in those cartridges is different. All you can do is come fairly close.

[dougader]

You could try to locate some Accurate No. 9 or Ramshot Enforcer. I lucked out on a keg of AA9 and one measley pound of 2400.

[Mauser48]

Have used it in .38 with swc bullets. Shot good. Its not for super light loads or full power loads, somewhere in the middle. If you want something to replace 2400 its probably not the best option. For plinking loads its great. If you also shoot 9mm, .40, or 45 I would pick it up.

[Handloader109]

I like it, definitely a good plinking load. Bought a couple of one pounders and I really didn't need it

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Gun show this weekend so just going to see if I can find some 2400 there
Thanks for the reply's

[P Flados]

I load 357 mag, 357 max & 30 Herrett. Also "contender only" 45 colts. The "optimum" for 30 Herrett is a little slower than the others, but there is plenty of overlap.

For full load 357 mags with 150 - 160 gr J words WW 296 or H110 is probably the "optimum" burn rate.

I was using WW 296, but decided I needed something that would let me back off without any worries.

For boolits, I also knew that a little slower generally lets you push to higher velocities and still get good accuracy.

Even though 2400 would be just a tad faster than 296, I was considering it. It did not matter as I could not find any.

4227 is just slower than 296. I had pretty good luck in the past with 4227 for the 30 Herrett and the load data looked good for 357 mag/max.

I ended up getting 8 lbs of the IMR version from Powder Valley (still available @ 165 / 8 lbs). Of course I combined the order with a bunch of primers to soften the extra for shipping and hazmat.

The IMR 4227 leaves more powder residue than ww 296, but otherwise the performance has been great. 4227 will probably get about the top velocity loads that still shoot good with medium to heavy boolits in the 357 mag. If you are in the 180 - 200 gr range, it is probably close to optimum with J words and only one notch faster than optimum for boolits.

Other good choices with lots of load data and PV availability include

If you want clean burning and full power, Hodgden H110 (basically the same as WW 296) is real good & only 142.50 per 8 lb for the powder (yes the hazmat adds quite a bit). They also have WW 296 in both 4 lb & 8 lb jugs.

At the 200 fps below max available power level, I always had good luck with HS-6 (same price as H110).

The CFE is just a tad slower than HS-6 & should work great. The CFE is a bargain at 127 / 8 lbs. The Hodgdon web page does have load data, but a lot of their "max loads" were well below max pressure.