What Are Your Worst Powders?

[mtnman31]

We’ve seen a few posts for your best or favorite powders or powders that you can’t live without. Time for a post of your least favorite powders. I’ve used a large number of powders over the years with varying levels of success. Some powders are versatile and work great for me while others not so well. Below are a few powders that may be valuable to other reloaders but just didn’t work well for me. I tried each of these powders in multiple cartridges with multiple bullets and loads. Some of them I wasted a lot of time and components on trying to find a good load with little or limited success.

Green Dot – While other shooters have reported good loads with this powder in multiple pistol cartridges, I’ve just never had great success with it. I’ve tried it with both cast and jacketed and was never able to get anything better than mediocre performance. It only worked well for me in just one load. This one hasn’t worked well enough for me to keep on my shelf.

Accurate 2200 – I have tried this in a couple of jacketed small-bore cartridges with little success. My velocity spreads were always much higher with 2200 than other powders with similar burn rates, sometimes as high 2-300 fps for a load. I tried multiple primers, varied charge weights, different neck tension, etc. with little improvement in extreme spread. I’m washing my hands of this one and finishing off what I have left of this powder in a plinking load.

Hybrid 100V – another one I have never been able to achieve anything better than mediocre performance with. I got a few jacketed rifle loads to shoot under two inches, but not much better than that. There are plenty of other powders that performed better with very little effort in load development.

What are some powders that didn’t work well for you or that you have had bad experiences with? What was your experience and why do you stay away from it?

[Green Frog]

MM31,
I’ve never had experience with your second or third “choices” but I’ve found Green dot to be great in shotguns (20 ga) and HBWC target loads for 38 Spl. Not what I would call an all around flexible powder, but very useful for its intended purposes. I always have it on my shelf.
Froggie

[imashooter2]

I never understood the fascination with Unique. Ho hum at best.

Blue Dot can be scary spikey. I won’t use it anymore.

[BrianL]

I am up in the air about Buffalo powder, supposedly equivalent to 5744. Dirty with a lot of unburned powder

[pworley1]

I don't think of powders as being good or bad. Some powders are just much more useful than others.

[uscra112]

Trail Boss. Don't let me get started.

I like Green Dot in .38 Spl.

[Misery-Whip]

I have a love hate relationship with 800x.

[higgins]

I too never got more than mediocre accuracy with Unique in a couple of pistol calibers. I'm not having much luck with AA5 but that may be the guns I'm using it in combined with my shooting ability.

[M-Tecs]

Some of the powders listed here as "the worst" have given me outstanding results. I can't really think of any powders that haven't worked well for me for some applications. True, some don't have as wide of application range as others but they still have their uses. I load for over 50 calibers so I generally can find a good use for most anything.

Some of the black powder subs are the "worst" for me not based on performance but on being highly corrosive.

These subs and Trail Boss are on my never purchase at full price again. If I get a good enough deal I am willing will to re-consider them.

[dale2242]

My worst powders are the ones with excessively high prices.
All powders have their place in loading.
they are all equally usable to me.

[Baltimoreed]

Hated Trail Boss too.

[BrianL]

I got a deal on Promo a few years back, $124 for 8lbs. One of my worst powders because I can't find it anymore

[gewehrfreund]

My vote goes to CFEblk. Still haven't found an accurate load in any cartridge I've tried it in, and it's very dirty

[SoonerEd]

Triple 7...leaves a bad crude ring. Switched to Blackhorn 209 and can now shoot 10+ shots without cleaning.

[dverna]

I currently have 27 powders on hand. None are bad but I do not chase fads either.

I have settled on four that will do everything I need doing.

[crash87]

My worst powders are the ones with excessively high prices.
All powders have their place in loading.
they are all equally usable to me.

I agree, It interests me that alot of the now available Hodgdon Powders namely H4831 /H4350 / H4895 go to powders for a lot of rifle reloaders are now priced $10-$15 more than comparable other brands in the same burn range. It wasn't always like that. But for some reason $50lb is what these are bringing. Powders I've heard alot of guys say they will always use and have on their shelves, mainstays. But I'm wondering, do they want to stop marketing these powders for some reason? Just jack the price up, shooters find cheaper alternatives, and its over, Discontinued because lack of sales? you tell me.
And my worst powders are the ones I've gotten loads worked up with and Poof theier now gone not on the shelves. Case in point, they came out with it so I thought I'd try it, IMR enduron powders, remember that fleeting johnny come lately, all the new rage now where is it?
So Old stand byes so high priced we try to find alternatives, and newly introduced powders that we feel can be used in their place. then poof. they are gone.
Crash87

[farmbif]

I think I have at least 50 or 60 different powders in the bunker ive accumulated over the years just trying out different things. and one I can agree about is that hybrid 100 stuff, but I no longer load any big rifle magnum cartridges. green dot is an excellent powder for 1 1/8 oz skeet loads. 2200 is the cats meow for top velocity 6.8 jacketed loads. almost every powder can be very useful for certain purposes. some just happen to work very well at a lot of things, like varget or 2520 for rifle or 2400 or unique for pistol and lots of cast rifle loads. some powders offer very good to excellent accuracy at a wide range of loadings like 8208 where as some you only get the best accuracy at top load volumes like LVR.

[WILCO]

Trail Boss. Don't let me get started.

I bought that powder for use in 45-70 government.
My first disappointment was it isn't a full pound.

[stubshaft]

Trail Boss! I never found a really accurate load in any of the cartridges I've used it in.

[kd185]

869
looked like they swept it up off the floor
more junk floating around in the mix than actual powder