cFE 223 and CFE pistol with cast

[RU shooter]

Anyone know how these 2 powders work at lower pressures with cast bullets the cfe 223 with be used in 30 cals and 32 spl and my 35 Rem the pistol with 38/357 and 45 acp . I know the 223 powder rates a little slower than H335 not sure about the pistol version, I have a chance to get some locally for 20 a pound .

Tim

[tazman]

I use the CFE Pistol regularly in all my handgun cartridges with cast boolits and it works fine. When using full power loads, I get higher velocities with the same or less pressure than many other pistol powders.
Accuracy is excellent.

[jcren]

Love cfe pistol for full power loads. Good velocity, mild recoil and report, and very low flash, even in short barrel 380 loads. My favorite in my hipoint 45 carbine as well.

[Texas by God]

I have only used CFE 223 in .223, .308, and 8x57 with jacketed. It gives great performance in all three. It's a keeper here. I'm sure it can be used somehow for cast.

[Hick]

CFE 223 is a relatively slow burning powder (slightly slower than W748)-- which means you should not use it in reduced loads (that is, not lower than the loads in the manuals). To use it for cast you need a bullet that can handle velocities close to jacketed. CFE Pistol, on the other hand, is faster burning and you can use it with pistol sized loads in larger cases for cast velocities.

[RU shooter]

Thanks all I think I'm gonna pass even if it's a good price . I don't think these two powders will do anything better than the other powders I already have , I mainly shoot target level loads in handgun and for my rifles I want and use something faster burning ..

Tim

[greenjoytj]

I shot Hodgdon’s CFE-Pistol powder in 45 Colt. Using my LEE 452-255-RF mold with 20:1 Rotometal alloy these RNFP bullets drop at 260 gn. Using starting load level to mid range load level, my chrono reported high extreme spreads (ES) a little over 100fps. Moving up toward maximum book recipe charge level greatly reduced the ES. The 45 Colt case is huge by modern pistol cartridge standards for a low pressure cartridge. Firing a powder sensitivity test at 9.0 gn showed 100 fps variation between powder forward and powder to the rear. There is a lot of room in the 45 Colt case for the powder to move about in. I really like CFE-Pistol in the 45 Colt but I use it at max the load level where it does produce velocities much higher than what was historically obtainable with black powder in this ctg. with tier 1 standard pressure levels. Chrono’d in my 5.5” barrel Ruger New Vaquero 919 fps with 9.0 grs. and my cast LEE bullet.
In my Miroku built Winchester 1873 24” barrel, chrono’d at 1077fps with a copper plated 250 gn bullet and a reduced charge at 8.8 gns of CFE-Pistol. I will go back to max load level for both rifle and revolver.
CFE-Pistol will be my goto propellant for 45 Colt.

Running CFE-Pistol in my S&W 6” 357 Magnum at max book powder charge 6.6 gn with hard cast 158gn SWC got an average of 1133 fps. The ES was still high between 50 & 90 fps but on target performance was very good I liked it.

My only concern with CFE-P is how will the CFE chemical affect brass life.
Brass being a copper alloy I hope it doesn’t start to eat or weaken ctg brass or the brass ctg lifter in my M73.