Suggestions for surplus powder for 44 special

[Ghugly]

My Bulldogs are producing offspring :) . First my son got one. I liked it so, I bought one. Now a couple of his friends are getting them. The result of this is; where I am casting and loading for 2, it looks like I will be loading for 4. This weekend I will be attending a gun show in Fresno and would like to pick up some powder for the Bulldogs. Can any of you recommend a surplus powder that would work well in the moderate loads that the Bulldogs require? 7.5 grains of Unique behind a 245 grain boolit is about as stiff a load as I care to use and a little lighter would be better, as these will be for practice rounds and at 20oz the Bulldogs get to be a handful. I really don't want to run a contest to see how quickly I can turn these useful, little guns into hunks of twisted metal, so the Keith loads are pretty much out of the question. My current plinking load is 4.7grains of Bullseye under a tumble lubed 240gr Lee semi-wadcutter fired by a Federal large pistol primer. They fire to point of aim and can be shot comfortably all day long. This is already pretty cheap shooting :Fire: but if I can save a couple of bucks with surplus powder, why not?

[RayinNH]

Ghugly, most of the surplus powders are no bargain anymore. A quick look at the surplus sellers powders seem to be running around 10-12 dollars per pound. If I were to purchase I'd look at Promo (Red Dot burn speed and loading data) around $78 for 8 pounds. You might be just as well off to stay with Bullseye if you've had good luck with it. Small powder charges equals many shots per pound...Ray

[MT Gianni]

Try 5 grains green dot for an economical easy on the Bulldogs load. [240 gr boolits] Gianni.

[Lloyd Smale]

Got to agree on the prices anymore. IF a guy doesnt order at least 6 kegs at a time its about a waste of time. The powder youd like to have is pr200 it was basicaly aa2 but there is none to be found anymore. There are some russian copys of unique out there that would probably work but when your talking loading faster powders for the 44 special a guys probably best off to stick with unique or bullseye or ever redot (promo) as suggested. The cost savings with surplus just isnt there anymore and a problem can arrise if a guy gets a load worked up and cant find anymore because its sold out. The cost of powder when loading 44 specials with something like bullseye or redot is pretty minute as a 8lb keg will load lots of rounds.

[Ghugly]

Thanks guys. I guess I've done my homework fairly well as your responses were pretty much what I expected. I may pick up some WC 820, if the price is right, as there are some AA9 loads I would like to try for hotter loads. At best, it seems to me, I'll be on the edge of the pressure it requires to work well and the muzzle blast/flash should be kind of interesting.:twisted: