First powders..

[Blacky Montana]

This hasn't been a good week for our family. We had a much unexpected death in the family this past Saturday. Due to this I have been in Monroe NC all week. Funeral is set for tomorrow. Anyway, took a ride just to get out of the house today, and ended up at Gander Outdoors on black Friday. This was not a planned shopping trip. I stood in the isle in front of reloading powders, searching the net on my phone and checking the different powders they had on had. With three calibers in mind, 45 Colt, 44 Mag, and 480 Ruger, I came home with three powders that all had listings for all three calibers. The powders are, Unique, Universal, and To regroup. I do realize there are hotter powders, but I'm thinking these will be good for learning.

Blacky

[Cherokee]

Unique would be my starter. Never used Universal but Titegroup is a fast powder for light loads that builds pressure fast. Have used Unique in 45C and 44M - works fine.

[Blacky Montana]

One point forgot to mention. Since I picked up the powders in person, I avoided a hazmat fee ordering online. I was out the door with three one pound powders, for a total of $55.

[big bore 99]

Good deal. Unique is my best bet.

[jimb16]

Very good price! Unique is one of my favorites for .45 colt and .44 mag.

[FISH4BUGS]

Hey...I keep my life simple - WW231 for standard handgun and subgun loads and WW296 for handgun magnum loads and 25-20 wcf.
WW748 for 223 and 308.
That's it.

[dragon813gt]

Hey...I keep my life simple - WW231 for standard handgun and subgun loads and WW296 for handgun magnum loads and 25-20 wcf.
WW748 for 223 and 308.
That's it.

This is what I should have done. Things were a lot simpler when I only used those three powders. Was always able to find an accurate load. Now I have a lot of different powders and waste a lot of components chasing an “optimal” load. Combine that w/ limited time to reload/shoot and I’m accomplishing nothing.

I’m not a fan of Unique. Universal on the other hand I find to be a great powder. It works really well for heavyweight 9mm loads. It also meters like water unlike Unique. I’ve never found a need for Titegroup. As a new reloader you have to pay close attention and make sure you don’t double charge a case.

[Blacky Montana]

Jeff Quinn of Gunblast had great results using Unique with the 325 gr 480 Ruger. I know that there are many other powders out there that I will end up trying. But before today I had NONE..lol. Got to Starr somewhere. I was hoping today that Gander would have Trail Boss cause I know thats a good beginners powder. Unfortunately I just picked from what they had.

[44Blam]

I have 4 loads for 44 mag and my 240s:
PB: Trailboss and Unique
GC: 296 and A2400

I've got those all dialled in for my guns.

I like Unique. My load is a nice PB lead load that has a little recoil but is relatively mild.

[retread]

I use Titgroup in 45 Colt with good results. It claims to be "not position sensitive" which I think is true. Even though there is very little powder in that large case they chrono out closely whether stored up or down.

[Tracy]

I disagree about TB being a good beginner's powder. It is WAY overly hyped, dangerously so in some instances. For example I have seen comments to the effect that you can use it just like black powder because you cannot fit enough in the case to do any harm. WRONG. TB is a fast powder. It is bulky, but you can indeed fit enough in most cases to wreck your gun. It is a very poor choice for the beginner. A beginner (or anyone else, for that matter) who has such a lackadaisical approach to loading that he feels safer using TB, should not be reloading in the first place.

For the cartridges you listed, IMR 4227 is a far better beginner's powder. If you double charge it, you were loading bloopers to begin with.

[GregLaROCHE]

I remember when life was easy. 3031 was all I thought I needed. (Only rifle loads at the time.) I used to load a lot of different cartridges with it. Now I only reload a few different cartridges, but I have a lot more different powders.

[sutherpride59]

I disagree about TB being a good beginner's powder. It is WAY overly hyped, dangerously so in some instances. For example I have seen comments to the effect that you can use it just like black powder because you cannot fit enough in the case to do any harm. WRONG. TB is a fast powder. It is bulky, but you can indeed fit enough in most cases to wreck your gun. It is a very poor choice for the beginner. A beginner (or anyone else, for that matter) who has such a lackadaisical approach to loading that he feels safer using TB, should not be reloading in the first place.

For the cartridges you listed, IMR 4227 is a far better beginner's powder. If you double charge it, you were loading bloopers to begin with.

Well the OP didn’t mention anything about just dumping some powder in his casing and seeing if his gun explodes or not so I think he has done his research there friend. The statement of being able to just fil a case and go shoot without blowing up your gun is fairly true with most cartridges but it’s never suggested anywhere in any reading so I don’t know why you think somebody would do this anyway. It’s just a good beginner powder because even if they attempt to double charge it will over flow out of the casing like crazy and be very obvious. I wouldn’t go around discouraging others from using a powder that is going to aid their learning curve. Besides it’s really only good for mouse fart loads anyway, a good soft shooting powder for paper punching if you are looking for fun instead of performance.

[Blacky Montana]

I will definitely only use loads published by reputable sources. Was just meaning that I've seen a lot of post about TB being good for beginners due to the fact it's harder to double charge. I have no desire to load max or near max charges with ANY powder. Just trying to learn our craft with safe loads. Until I feel I've reached a good confidence level, if I need any hot or strong loads in any caliber, I will just purchase commercial loads..

[Wheelguns 1961]

A good way to compare powders is with a powder burn rate chart. These list powders in order from fast to slow. Faster powders are good for light loads. For instance, if you go in the store looking for bullseye, and they don’t have any, you can look on the chart and find a different powder with a comparable burn rate. For handgun loads, I separate powders into slow, medium, and fast. Tight group is a good fast powder. Unique and universal are good medium powders. Slow powders are used for magnum and “ruger only” loads. The most popular slow powders for handguns are 2400 and H110.

[Blacky Montana]

Thanks Wheelgun.. That's helps put it into a easy perspective. Is there a rule of thumb for bullet weights.. Such as example.. Heavy bullets pushed fast, or lighter bullets pushed slower. I do understand certain bullets need to be pushed at certain speeds to stabilize..

[Wheelguns 1961]

Generally, light bullets slow will want a fast powder. Big bullets fast will want a slow powder, but there is a grey area in the middle. For example, I have always used unique for moderate .45c, with good success. I never thought about bullseye for .45c, but it works great. Also, different powders burn differently in different cartridges. The hornady manual lists fastest powders to slowest powders in their loads and their are many cases where a slower powder burns faster than a fast powder in different aplications. So, always start low and work your way up. Good luck, you will be fine.

[dragon813gt]

A good way to compare powders is with a powder burn rate chart. These list powders in order from fast to slow. Faster powders are good for light loads. For instance, if you go in the store looking for bullseye, and they don’t have any, you can look on the chart and find a different powder with a comparable burn rate. For handgun loads, I separate powders into slow, medium, and fast. Tight group is a good fast powder. Unique and universal are good medium powders. Slow powders are used for magnum and “ruger only” loads. The most popular slow powders for handguns are 2400 and H110.

Powder burn rate charts can get new reloaders in trouble quickly. I just posted about them in another thread. For one, different charts have powders in different positions. But the main issue is there’s no correlation between powder speed and place on the chart. Just because a powder is higher(slower) on the chart doesn’t meant it’s “x” percentage slower than the powder before it. “X” can be any number. The chart simply means faster or slower than the powders immediately before and after. There are points on the chart where a powder is only a couple of places away but is unsuitable as a replacement.

Get a bunch of manuals. You can download a lot of them for free. And then compare loads from all of them. This is the easiest and safest way.

[Tracy]

Well the OP didn’t mention anything about just dumping some powder in his casing and seeing if his gun explodes or not so I think he has done his research there friend. The statement of being able to just fil a case and go shoot without blowing up your gun is fairly true with most cartridges but it’s never suggested anywhere in any reading so I don’t know why you think somebody would do this anyway. It’s just a good beginner powder because even if they attempt to double charge it will over flow out of the casing like crazy and be very obvious. I wouldn’t go around discouraging others from using a powder that is going to aid their learning curve. Besides it’s really only good for mouse fart loads anyway, a good soft shooting powder for paper punching if you are looking for fun instead of performance.

Thanks for providing a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Hodgdon lists 4.5 to 5.8 grains of Trail Boss under a 250 grain LRNFP bullet in .45 Colt. Lee shows their 1.0 cc dipper as 4.6 grains of Trail Boss. I just now went into my reloading room and put a 2.2 cc dipper of powder in a .45 Colt case. That would be 10.12 grains of Trail Boss. Not only did it come nowhere near overflowing; I could have seated a 300 grain bullet over it with no problem.

The burn rate of Trail Boss is almost identical to Red Dot. Other powders in that speed range are Bullseye, Titegroup and Clays. Would you load 10+ grains of any of those powders under a 300 grain or even 250 grain bullet for a .45 Colt Blackhawk? How about a Colt or clone? That would be pushing .454 Casull pressures.

Again, thanks for helping me make my point.