what 4 powders?

[tuckerdog]

I'm sure this is in here somewhere but here goes

If you had to limit yourself to 4 powders what would they be?
for me it would be unique, 2400, IMR 3031, and IMR 4350. they are super good powders and cover about anything I care to shoot accurately and consistently from 22 hornet to 45-70, 32Hr to 44 mag and i dont have a bunch of 1 lb canisters only partly used laying around.(leaves more room for boolit boxes to)

[btroj]

This type of question has come up many times. You will a variety of answers, almost all will include unique or 4805, probably both.
I will never limit myself to 4 powders. 8 to 10 maybe but not 4. This would limit my ability to maximize the capabilities of the various guns I own. I use a powder that fits the needs of the load and what I want it to do, not some obsession with only having a few powders.
This sounds like a great idea but most of us own many more than 4 powders for a reason. My 32-20, 45-70, 270 win, 223 rem, 45 ACP, 243, 22-250, 309 JDJ, and on and on all have different needs. I feed them what they need, not what I deem as simply adequate.

Sorry to be such a Debbie downer but unless you load for only a couple of cartridges this just doesn't work. Just my opinion.

Brad

[KYCaster]

Four powders??? NO WAY!!

I'm with btroj here...too many specialty type loads that four powders don't cover.

Clays for really cheap, clean loads in revolvers...and 12 ga. target loads.

SR7625 for heavy 12 ga. loads.

Ramshot X-Terminator for 55 gr. 223.

SR4756 for soft expanding boolits in 44 mag.

VV3N37 or Ramshot Silhouette for the 38 Sooper comp gun.

WC860 for most any mil-surp rifle.

Re7 for........well, lotsa stuff.

W296 for when ya gotta get that last few FPS from the mag handguns.

SR4759 for boolits in lots of medium capacity rifle cartridges.

IMR3031 cause nothin' else works as well in the 35 Rem.

HP38/W231 for most any light to medium handgun loads.

Oh yeah...and Bullseye, Unique and 2400 cause those are the standards to compare every thing else to. They'll work in a wide variety of applications, but I've found very few instances where I couldn't beat their performance with another powder.

So........limit myself to four powders??? NO WAY!!

Jerry

[schutzen-jager]

use three - red dot , 2400 , + aa #5 - 12 ga , .25acp , .32 acp , .32 s+w , .38 s+w , .38 spec , .38 super , 9mm , .308 , 30/06 , + 7.62 x 54 cast bullet loads -

[Jack Stanley]

I never really stopped much to look at powder use that way . I think perhaps in burning range and capability you have it covered , but as another said it depends on what you are loading for .

I think the slowest powder I have is an old jug of Accurate arms 3100 but I haven't used it for years . Other than that one the slowest I use from time to time is Varget . IMR 4895 and Reloder 7 get used a bit more ..... sometimes a lot more if I'm making M-2 ball ammo or ammo for .308 cast . 2400 gets used a lot along with Unique and Bullseye .

Thinking about it just now I remembered I have some Accurate Arms 2495 , 2520 and 2230 that I haven't used for a while . Also some "Special ball" surplus , the deal I got on repackaged Blue Dot and one of the "Clays" powder and a jug of 700X along with the 231 I was using for .45 ACP . I suppose they all fit into the burning range you have set .

Do I really need that many different types , probably not and when I use them up I won't replace them . That reminds me , when I finish using up all the leftover bullets designs I have , I should start on using up powders I don't use . That should be fun .

Jack

[1Shirt]

Old topic, only one, only 2, only 3 etc. Like btroj, I could never be happy with just 4 pdrs, but I have mainstays, listed in priority sequence:

2400 -- My number one always go to!
Unique -- Works in most every thing/
4064---Good med charge pdr for cast
Bl-C----Small cals
H-110----Hornet/357
Varget----Jacketed mostly
4350----30's and over
4759----All around for cast
Red Dot----Good lite cast
Blue Dot---- " " "
Rl-7------Starting to like this for a lot of cast

Can't think of a ctg that I load that can't doo well with all of the above.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[Rocky Raab]

I thought I was doing well when I got down to fewer than 70 kinds - and then added 10 more for a new article...

[spqrzilla]

We had another poster from the UK I believe ask about a single powder to cover his reloading needs, as he had restricted access to powders.

But other than that, I don't see a reason for the exercise. I pick out powders that do the job. If I have a choice between a couple of types, then I'll pick the ones that overlap the most just for some convenience. But I use enough powder that having a couple of different types is not a burden. It will all get burnt some day.

[LVRFAN]

Unique, 2400, IMR4198, AA5744- all for cast bullets. Everything else has been a waste of time and money.

[USSR]

I could easily get by on just 3:

Solo 1000 (or a similar fast burner) for 12 ga. and 38 Spec./.45ACP/.45LC
2400 for .357 Mag., .45LC, and .30 Carbine
IMR4895 for .30-06, .308, and 6.5x55

Don

[59sharps]

can't live without 3fffg & 2ffg Black powder covers everything Goex, Diamond Back then Swiss in that order. :bigsmyl2:

[gee-gaw]

Only four?! If I had to do with only four then I guess Unique, H-4895, Bullseye,and VV133.
I could make everything go bang with that, and shoot some pretty good groups too!
But there ain't no way I'm gonna limit my self to just four powders unless there is some sort of crisis. I don't want to give up the ability to try different burn rates and barrel lengths to optimize velocity and accuracy. I'm a tinkerer, and so I gotta have the next greatest new powder on the market so I can wring it out in some of my cartridge / gun combinations. That's a big part of my hobbie! I guess i have... several kinds of powder now and I'm always thinkin of the next one that I just got to have. Maybe it's a sickness, I don't want the cure!
Wayne

[Reloader06]

@ Rocky

When do you think the article will hit the street? It sounds facinating! I think I'm down to about 20-ish.

Matt

[ColColt]

HS-6 for 357 and 44 Magnum
Universal for the above
2400 well, what can I say
AA#5

[357shooter]

As one of the few casters that focuses on A cartridge, the top 4 are easy. The only 4 I have are for 357 mag (revolver and lever action):


700X
HP-38
Unique
H110

[btroj]

Only 1 cartridge? That is about the only place this few powders works. Then again, if 4 powders work for 1 cartridge how many do you need for 10 cartridges? Even if you allow for some duplication you are well over 10. This is assuming some use of jacketed bullets however.

I figure I must have 20 different powders at a minimum. I use 6 or so most of the time but that is only because I am not currently shooting some rifles much.

[gnoahhh]

Like most guys here, I have probably over 20 different powders on the shelf without actually counting them. There are only five kinds that I regularly use for building my "go to" loads: Clays, Unique, SR-4759, 3031, and 4895 which cover the pistol, shotgun and rifles (nothing over medium capacity .30s at the moment) I load for. In a pinch i could make do without either of those two IMR powders. So, I guess if I had to, I could make do with only four powders, but I wouldn't like it! I would sneak in some Bullseye, PB, 2400, 4227, Longshot, 4064 and 800x if no one was looking.

[Rocky Raab]

Aside to Reloader06: I'm submitting it to Handloader but they have a large backlog of articles from freelancers. I have good luck getting things in print, but some have taken a year with that magazine. So, there's no telling when it might see print. For that reason, I'm not going to say just what the article is about.

[Char-Gar]

95 percent of my reloading is done with Bullseye, Unique, 2400 and WC872. If I could have a 5th it would be 3031. That about does it for me.

[Rangefinder]

I HAVE gotten myself whittled down to 4 powders ( not including BP). H380, H335, IMR 4895, and Red Dot. Everything I load for I've managed to work up good loads in those 4. Gone are the days that I have 15 different partials on the shelf and the one I need is the one I just ran out of. ;)

[zomby woof]

2400, Varget, 3031, ?

[helice]

At first I thought this could be easy. The more I thought on it the tougher it got.
If I shoot more than one gauge shotgun I'll need more than one powder. Those would work in most pistols but if I want magnum stuf I'd need another one. That could work in cast/rifle but if I wanted higher velocities I'd need yet another one. If I was to shoot those new-fangled yellow/orange colored slugs I'd probably want to get 'em going 4000ft/sec so I'd want another one. Lord have Mercy no wonder my shelves are full. & I never brought up which ones burn cleaner. Stink!:bigsmyl2:

[Harter66]

Well I've managed to keep it stupid simple .....................so far.

Unique,RedDot
,38/357,9mm,45 Colts,20,16,12ga,06',308,x57s,762x39.

4756 800x
16,12ga

4350
32Rem,06',x57s,308,762x39

FF,FFF
44,45,50,54 C/B and ML

I've H110,4895,4831,3031 but as you see I'm a utility kinda guy and I just don't have the "groove" for these yet.

[tuckerdog]

don't get on line often but was just curious, I try to keep the selection limited due to not much room, but have to admit to also having red dot herco trail boss IMR 4064 as well as the top four, I use them all and shoot 20ga, 12ga, 222 (3031 is a super accurate powder for this one in my rifle), 243, 308, and so on as well as several handguns, I prefer to work from 8# jugs but the powders I dont use as much are 1#

[jetinteriorguy]

Bullseye, Titegroup, 2400, and H335 would cover me. Although I would also add 700X if we could bump up to five powders.

[jrmartin1964]

Bullseye; Unique; IMR-3031; and IMR-4320. I could get by with just those four powders. There's not a cartridge I load for that won't work with at least one of them. I'd prefer to add a couple to that list, but those four powders will cover everything I load.

[trails4u]

Based on today....it would be any flavor of 4350, 4895, unique, and FFg. Unique is unobtanium around here...so I'd take 231 or Titegroup as a sub.... Again...based on what I'm doing today.

[GhostHawk]

Red Dot/Promo, 4895, 3031, and I think 4227.

Red Dot because with it I can shoot everything I want to shoot for a penny or 2.

I love 4895 in my SKS, nice mild load with predictable accuracy and good smack.

3031 partly nostalgia, I first started reloading with 30 grains of it in .243 under a Hornady 60 grain boat tailed hollow point. Man that Rem 788 surprised some varmints out past 300 with that load.

4227 because while my 4.6 of Red Dot is very accurate in my best shooting rifle, a .357 mag handi rifle with 158 gr round nose plain base. 4227 gives me more speed, power especially for going up to a 200 grain.

But it is just not quite as good on the bench, and costs more to shoot.

The Red Dot has been good in all my rifles thus far as long as you do not insist on going fast, or cycling actions. Since the majority of my rifles are single shots and a pair of Bolt action Mosin's I don't worry much about cycling actions.

That .243 taught me a lesson about speed one day. I was shooting at a crow about a hundred yards away. From what I was able to piece together the bullet hit a pencil sized branch some 10-15 feet in front of the crow. Now the crow died, in that case, looked like a shotgun blast. It had visible long splinters of wood sticking out of its breast. But if I had been shooting at a target a bit further away, or if the stick, blade of grass had been a bit closer. That would have been a miss.

Instead of 60 grains going 3k fps plus I have learned that a bigger boolit, like 3 times bigger, going half as fast, will clip a branch and not blow up, or be deflected much by a small twig.

You miss a 4" branch in your scope and smack it, that's on you.

Different strokes for different folks. But I'll go a bit slower and be sure to get there.

[captain-03]

Unique
Bullseye
IMR4895
Red Dot

[rking22]

FFFG, or FFG as second choice for the BP guns
Unique, or 20-28,231,Reddot,or Bullseye for most everything else from 12ga to 28ga and 90% of my cast needs
2400, or another mag pistol powder that crosses to the 410 and is more forgiving than 296, for 410 shells and stout revolver loads
4895, or RL7,4198,3031 for the rifle hunting loads

I have actually considered this for sometime in the future when I may need/want to do signifigant downsizing, but for now I probably USE 15 different powders!

[fast ronnie]

Four powders??? NO WAY!!

I'm with btroj here...too many specialty type loads that four powders don't cover.

Clays for really cheap, clean loads in revolvers...and 12 ga. target loads.

SR7625 for heavy 12 ga. loads.

Ramshot X-Terminator for 55 gr. 223.

SR4756 for soft expanding boolits in 44 mag.

VV3N37 or Ramshot Silhouette for the 38 Sooper comp gun.

WC860 for most any mil-surp rifle.

Re7 for........well, lotsa stuff.

W296 for when ya gotta get that last few FPS from the mag handguns.

SR4759 for boolits in lots of medium capacity rifle cartridges.

IMR3031 cause nothin' else works as well in the 35 Rem.

HP38/W231 for most any light to medium handgun loads.

Oh yeah...and Bullseye, Unique and 2400 cause those are the standards to compare every thing else to. They'll work in a wide variety of applications, but I've found very few instances where I couldn't beat their performance with another powder.

So........limit myself to four powders??? NO WAY!!

Jerry

What are you using now that 7625 has been discontinued?
I got some 800x but haven't tried it yet.

[fast ronnie]

unique, 4895, 4831, 322. next step is to try 800x as 7625 has been discontinued a couple years ago as per Hogdens.

[rking22]

fast ronnie, 800x meters like frosted flakes for me, if you want a good heavy powder for 12 ga hunting loads in 2 3/4 Longshot might make you happy. I do not shoot it in that usuage but have shot some loads a friend had. I use it in some 28ga loads. Check some data, my memory is lousy!

[Alferd Packer]

bullseye
unique
2400
4895

[444ttd]

2400
rel 7
4350
4895

[quilbilly]

RE-7, Red Dot, 3031, and 4198.

[P Flados]

I load for myself and my younger son. We try to get together for a shoot on a weekly basis.

I bet I crank out almost as many Promo loads as everything else combined. It comes in 8 lb jugs & I think I have around 1.5 jugs right now.

I tried Titegroup when I could not get Promo and got happy with it for 9mm. Found a couple of other uses for it where it is better than Promo. Again I buy in 8 lb jugs and think I have about 1.5.

WC 844 (Milsurp H335) is currently all I use in the way of a "rifle powder". It does 223, 30-30, 30 Herret, 7 Tcu, etc. My boy shoots a good bit of 223, and the 30 Herrett and 7 Tcu are IHMSA loads, so we are talking a significant volume of usage. Since it is the only rifle powder I use, I was able to justify 32 lbs for my last purchase.

In the middle (magnum pistol) is a challenge.

I found some WC 1680 (Milsurp AA1680) that I like in my heavy 357 Max and 357AR Max loads. The max gets used in IHMSA so I felt justified with my most recent purchase volume, 32 lbs.

However, for my serious 327 loads, WC 1680 is too slow and Titegrpoup is too fast. I found some SW Heavy Pistol on sale and got enough to feed the 327 until aft I am gone (two 8lb jugs). The burn rate is about the same as Blue Dot and AA #9.

I have a few other powders, but not a lot in the way of regular loads for any of them.

So, there you have only 5 even though I have some "picky" applications. All are bought in 8 lb jugs.

[Texas by God]

Bullseye
Unique
IMR 3031
H414

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[1Papalote]

Unique.4064.Re7.8208

2400/H110

[rbuck351]

231, herco, 2400,and 4831 would be all I would really need as I can make BP. I can duplex these 4 to get about anything in between. This choice will not happen as I have enough of what I use to last my life.

[RJM52]

Handgun wise, I can load just about everything from .22 Hornet/.22 Jet to .500 S&W with Unique and H110. Although some calibers like 10mm and .45 Super could not be loaded to top velocities I could still run them.

Rifle wise...748 gives me top performance in .223, .22-250, .308, .358, .350 Remington Magnum and .405 Winchester. RL-7 would be great for cast bullets...

Only gun left out would be my .257 Weatherbuy that uses RL-25....

[gwpercle]

Bullseye
Unique
2400
4895

Gary

[GhostHawk]

Red Dot, Promo, 4895. 3031.

I guess I should change my Avatar or something.

[Harter66]

This one is easy .
Unique for everything .
IMR 4350 for everything in a 308/06'/Mauser case .
H322 for everything 30 cal an under in an AR type cartridge . H4198 as an alternate .
Steel for 12,16,20 ga until I find something to replace 4756 for 12 ga 1-1/16 oz steel . Blue Dot as an alternate .

[Forrest r]

clays
bluedot
H335
Varget

[kingrj]

Unique, 2400, IMR 4895, IMR 4350

[Kosh75287]

I can do it with two: Unique and IMR-4895, or H4895. I could add Alliant 2400 for the .357 Mag and the .45 Colt Ruger, if available. Unique could be replaced by Herco, AA#5, or BE-86. For the 4895s, there are too many equivalents to name, but Varget stands out. Since all my rifles are chambered for military calibers, I don't really need a very slow-burning rifle propellant.
IF I DID own some form of "SuperHigh Velocity Varmint Homogenizer", like a .264 Mag. or .243, I'd PROBABLY want 4350 or 4831, if they were available.

[samari46]

I'll go for 5 powders. IMR 4350, IMR 4895, IMR 4759, Alliant 2400 and Unique. Frank

[farmbif]

recently I've been thinking about this, maybe whittling down on supplies and I'm not sure what I'd want to go without. I've been collecting powder and other reloading supplies for several decades and probably have collected over the years at least 60 or 70 different powders for metallic and shotshells, of course with the way things have turned out I now wish I bought cases of primers every time I ordered powder. but for metallic reloading I think I could get by with be-86, 2400, 4198 and the 4350, but Varget is very useful and aa2520 is good for an awful lot of calibers and 8208 has turned out to be very accurate and exceptional in quite a few different calibers also and w296/h110 makes the world go around in magnum pistol calibers,and what would the world be like without bullseye? but who would want to be limited to just 4, variety is the spice of life and don't know about anyone else but a big part of the fun in this hobby is trying different loads in different guns.

[Budzilla 19]

As for me,
Any 4831
Imr 3031
Bullseye
Unique

[mvintx]

If I could have only 4 and this is based on what I have, not what I wish I had;

Unique (works in every pistol I have)
Power Pistol (9mm, 10mm and .40)
H4895 (works well in .223 and .308)
H322 (for 6.8 SPC, 7TcU)

[jimb16]

bullseye
unique
2400
4895

My choices too. As an alternative to the 4895, 4064 could be substituted. But either one would fill my needs.

[RU shooter]

Bullseye , unique , 2400 , 4895

[veeman]

At present, it would be WST, IMR4198, Trail Boss, Shooters World Buffalo Rifle. And of course real Black Powder.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Well, who knows....the good old days may return and powders become available. Better save your pocket change in a big glass jar so you'll have the funds when the time comes. Buy 8lb jugs for the next shortage. This is a very informative thread, and shows that most members are pretty much on the same page.

4895 is very popular, either IMR or H-, and I'll go with either one. Especially for .30 Cal. rifles.
Unique is almost a universal choice, and is certainly one of mine. My .44-40s, .45 Colts, and .45 ACPs love it.
Bullseye is ever-popular, and while Unique will make .38s go bang, Bullseye is so much better for the smaller pistol cartridges, so I'll take it.

Next choice is a toss up between 748 for my .30-30s, or 3031 as another good rifle powder, but 4895 will work there also, so I'll make my 4th choice for:

Red Dot, because it's great in 12 Ga. shotguns.

DG

[krems]

I’ll play: My 4 powders would be. 231 and IMR 4756 (discontinued) for .45 acp, 44 spl, light to med. 44 mag /45 colt loads, 50 GI and light 500 Linebaugh, 2400 for med to heavy 44 mag/ 45 colt and 500 Linebaugh and Reloader 22 for 280 Ackley Improved rifle.

231
4756
2400
Rel. 22

[Alferd Packer]

Bullseye
Unique
2400
more Bullseye.

[Win94ae]

Power Pistol, H 110, IMR 4198... and I guess VV-N-540.

[Shuz]

Green Dot, 2400, Reloder7, WC820

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Bullseye, Unique, HS 6 and 2400. Those are my choices for boolits.

[rintinglen]

I don't reload shotgun, so that aspact of usage is not relevant to me, but my four choices are WW-231, H110, WW-748 and IMR 4350. I had a very hard time leaving Unique and 2400 off this list, but for my shooting today, these are the ones.
WW-231 all standard and mid-power cartridges that i reload, 32 acp, 32 S&W long, 32-20, 32 H&R, 327, 380, 9mm, 9 mm largo, 40 S&W

[rintinglen]

I don't reload shotgun, so that aspect of usage is not relevant to me, but my four choices are WW-231, H110, WW-748 and IMR 4350. I had a very hard time leaving Unique and 2400 off this list, but for my shooting today, these are the ones.
WW-231 all standard and mid-power cartridges that I reload, 32 acp, 32 S&W long, 32-20, 32 H&R, 327, 380, 9mm, 9 mm largo, 40 S&W, 44 special, 45 acp, 45 Schofield, 45 Colt
H-110- 327, 357, and 44 magnums
WW-748, 223, 30-30, 308, light 30-06,
IMR 4350- full bore 30-06, 30-40, 348 Win.
The only dog in the kennel that couldn't be fed is my 45-70, and I have plenty of ammo for that one, especially with my bad shoulder limiting my big bore enjoyment.

[1006]

Red Dot
2400
XBR8208——lots of it
IMR4451 or one of the 4350’s