Powder advice

[7Acres]

Hello experienced casters. I am brand new to both reloading and casting. I've been devouring everything I could get my eyeballs on including this site, the Lee reloading manual and other forums over the past couple years I've been collecting lead and brass. Last weekend I cast my first .452 bullets for my semi-auto. The only thing I'm missing now is the powder and primers. I'm just taking it one step at a time as I get the necessary knowledge under my belt. Recently I started pouring over load data with the objective of choosing good flexible powders. I intend to cast and reload for all my guns ranging from 30-06 to my wife's .357 revolver to my .45 and even my little .380. My list of powders for my powder purchase currently looks like this:

Accurate No. 7 8lb
Accurate 2700 8lb
Alliant Bullseye 8lb
Aliant Unique 8lb
Hogdon Varget 8lb

That puts me at 42lbs. I'm trying to make the most out of the HazMat fee. So I could squeeze one more 8 pounder in there or buy various 1lb or 4lb*combinations* I feel like ordering this much powder is way overkill for a*hobbyist*like me. My brother in law will likely get into reloading after me and I could sell him some. Plus the thought that I've got enough for a lifetime and don't have to worry about price hikes or bans is comforting. I feel like I'm missing some perspective and maybe I'm going about this all wrong. Can you fine gentlemen help set me straight before I drop the money on an ill-conceived*powder purchase? What would you advise were I your son?
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[williamwaco]

Those are all good powders but that is WAY too much.
You won't live long enough to use that much powder.
You have enough pistol powder for over 40,000 rounds.

With your pistols, you will use at least five to ten times as much Bulls Eye and Unique as you will No.7.
And No.7 is VERY close to Unique.

I would suggest no 9 instead of 7 it is excellent for hot loads in the .357 and moderately hot loads on the .44 mag. but no more than four pounds that will load 2300 full bore .357 Mags.

You don't mention anything but 30-06. I would suggest you cut your Varget and 2700 to four pounds and pick up an equal weight of a couple of other powders. Again Varget and 2700 are relatively close in burning rate. I would pick one a little slower and another a little faster.


I would list 4198 as the fastest and 4831 as the slowest rifle powder you should look at unless you have some hyper magnum rifles.
The burning rates of adjacent powders are VERY close. so when I say 4198 should be the fastest rifle powder, I mean anything within four or five lines of 4198 on the chart. for example, I have used 4198 for 50 years and love it. I have recently burned up 3 pounds of 2015 and I can detect no difference at all. ( That is NOT a recommendation that you can interchange their loading data. )


If you don't have a burn rate chart, you can see one here:

http://www.reloadbench.com/burn.html



You will see lots of very strong recommendation like: XYZ9999 is the ABSOLUTELY ONLY powder you can use in the 777Remchester MiniMax.

Not so. There are NO MAGIC POWDERS. They are all good. People tend to fall in love with the first powder that gives them a sub MOA 5 shot group and rarely venture far beyond that.


Welcome to the ranks of the hopelessly addicted.



I recommend you use up some of that budget on primers.
They are getting more and more expensive and have nearly doubled in price in the past two years.

[Dan Cash]

a large jug of Alliant Reloader 19 will serve you very well for your .30-06 and any .308, .30-40, .303, etc. that you might have and from whch you want to shoot cast bullets and a jug of 2400 will do wonders for a .357 though Unique is very serviceable..

The large canisters, unless you are near death now, are a good deal. The last Reloader 15 purchase I made a few years ago was $7.00 a pound cheaper than it was yesterday. Think of the propellant as an investment. If you shoot much at all, you will march through a great deal of propellant. If you spend your time talking about it on the internet, a pound or two will suffice.

I don't know about the Accurate brand of propellants but what you have on your list will take care of your .45 and .357 quite well.
Dan

[jhickdog]

The "Bullseye" is a very economical powder to use, but I find it very dirty. I would rather use more of another powder then contend with the soot. Although not as bad, the "Unique" made by Alliant is also dirty. Just my two cents and personal preference. Have fun!

Jim

[mac60]

"I recommend you use up some of that budget on primers."

That's sound advice.

[7Acres]

Williamwaco, super advice. That's the kind of basic advice for where I'm at on the learning curve! JHickDog, in appreciate the input on the dirtiness of the powders you mentioned. Good metric to factor in. I failed to include my .223 AR in my list.

Also, Dan Cash, I'm in my mid thirties and I concur the long term investment is a factor in my purchase. Plus casting and reloading will hopefully make each trigger pull less costly/more fun!

[7Acres]

Mac60, I was planning on purchasing primers in a separate order. Here's my logic. I am under the impression that primers and powder can't be in the same shipment together. As such it would be an additional hazmat fee and S/H fee. So might just put in a totally separate order for that later when my preferred CCI primers finally come back in stock. Is that good logic?

[oneokie]

Grafs and Powder Valley will ship powder and primers in the same shipment with ONE HazMat as long as the total weight is under 50 lbs.

[7Acres]

Oneoki, excellent! I will check them out and adjust my order accordingly!

[mac60]

oneokie makes a good point. I'm not trying to be alarmist, but the political climate right now might bring on some panic buying and/or hoarding. A number of years ago primers got really hard to find. As for me, I'm stocked up pretty well and if I conserved I could shoot the rest of my life without buying another primer, another bullet or another lb. of powder. One thing for sure though - you can have all the powder in the world and without something to light it with it's pretty useless.

[FLINTNFIRE]

Buy all the 8 pound jugs and the 5000 primer sleeves you can afford , they will only be more expensive down the road , and I disagree with the you will have too much . I have always liked to buy in bulk , and have found when I did not , that it was unavailable later , Also unique does not seem that dirty to me , and have used it since 1979 , but then I do shoot fffg and the black is a little dirty to some folks way of thinking . Just my thoughts , have fun cast , reload , shoot ..