good all around powder

[Oklahoma Rebel]

whats a good all purpose shotgun powder for 12ga 2-3/4 loads from #^ shot, to lee 7/8th drive key slugs, and maybe some roundball research too? gun is a mossy 500 28" barrel with IC,MOD, and FULL chokes. thanks-Travis PS- I would prefer a slower powder, which I think I would need, for slugs.

[dverna]

I do not hunt with slugs or buckshot. My use for them is strictly for defensive loads and thus stay with low recoil loads. A quicker follow up shot(s) is more important than ultimate energy.

Hogtamer would be who I would reach out to for hunting loads. If he dosen’t know he will know who does.

[6pt-sika]

I would say Universal Clays and Unique may very well fill your bill . I use SR7625 for what you ask in every gauge from 10 to the 20 but they no longer make that powder .

[megasupermagnum]

How heavy of shot loads do you plan to shoot? For 7/8 oz-1 1/8 oz, 700x is an awesome powder. You can get some impressive velocities for 7/8 oz, and there is even some very limited data for 1 1/4 oz.

[stubshaft]

When I was shooting trap and skeet competitively I used ALOT of Red Dot and Bullseye.

[Blood Trail]

That’s a “loaded” question. Lol! I love 800X and Steel.


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[copdills]

That’s a “loaded” question. Lol! I love 800X and Steel.


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LOL thats right, I use Red Dot and Unique and some Winchester WSF

[GhostHawk]

Red Dot here in all my 12 ga loads.

[Hogtamer]

One powder? Gotta be 2 I think to cover a lot of ground. Yes, 700x or Red dot for lighter loads, HS-6, Blue Dot or Longshot for the heavier loads. The big flake powders don't meter very well, tend to "bridge" occasionally. But I hand weigh my slug and buck loads anyhow. Honestly I'm liking the 20 ga loads a lot more these days. Like BT I've found for the biggest 12 ga loads Steel provides the most velocity with the least pressure and I've had some pressure tested to verify that.

[AllanD]

When I was shooting trap and skeet competitively I used ALOT of Red Dot and Bullseye.

You and Me Both... Starting In the spring of '84 I shot approximately 20K rounds of 12Ga target loads each year for the next decade, Someone told me that the way to get good was to "Practice, Practice & Practice and additionally that $20,000 worth of ammo might not be a bad idea..."

And silly me I took them seriously... and all those rounds were reloaded on my MEC 500 and propelled with Red Dot that I bought in 4# Kegs for about $30 each. I consistently used a 4# keg every month

Oh if my charge bar could talk!

[EMC45]

I use Green Dot in my shot loads and HS6 in my slug and buck loads.

[longbow]

Depends what you want to do.

If you want dedicated high velocity slug loads then I think the slower powders are the way to go. I really like Blue Dot and have had good results with it. Unfortunately it has been hard to get here and I am about out though I heard the local gun store may have some finally.

Unique isn't bad for 1 oz. to 1 1/8 oz. slug loads but not so good for heavy slugs and high velocities.

Greg Sappington recommended SR4756 so I bought a couple of pounds. It works pretty well but I prefer Blue Dot. I'm almost out of SR4756 now too and it is no longer made. I'll have to try Steel.

If lower velocities are okay then the powder selection opens right up. As mentioned, there lots of powders that can be used for low to moderate velocities like birdshot loads in the 1200 to maybe 1400 FPS range.

For the Lee 7/8 oz. slug and round balls in wads the payload is pretty light so somewhat faster powders may give better results. There Unique, Green Dot and other powders in the medium burn rate should be good. I have used Blue Dot with 1 oz. slugs and balls with good results but you need good compression and a load that can develop some pressure for it to burn well. I've had unburned powder in the barrel and a few bloopers with the light payloads and Blue Dot. No problem with heavier payloads.

In fact I just loaded up a bunch of slugs today and used Unique for the Lee 7/8 oz. slugs and SR4756 for all the others which weighed from 535 grs. to 560 grs.

Longbow

[Oklahoma Rebel]

sounds like unique and blue dot would fit the bill well, for 1-1/8 to 1-1/4 oz #6 loads (I cant remember what weight the black Remington game shells are, but the 2-3/4" #6 is my fav hunting load) will unique do that better than 800x or worse?? thanks for all the info guys!

[megasupermagnum]

Blue dot is my all time favorite powder, but I don't think it will work well for you. For 1 1/4 oz or heavier shot loads, it's fantastic, but it is not a 1 1/8 oz powder. There are some slug load for it, but it wouldn't be my choice of a 7/8 ounce slug powder. Do those Remington loads have a dove on it? That's only a 1 ounce load. I would guess Unique would work for 1 ounce, but it's more of a 1 1/8 and 1 1/4 oz powder. By comparison, 700x is great for 7/8 oz-1 1/8 oz but can do 1 1/4 oz. 800x is about like Bluedot or SR4756. 700x is considered a fast powder, but is much closer to Green dot than it is Red dot. Green dot isn't as popular for some reason, and doesn't have as much load data as Unique. Decide what weight shot loads you wan't to shoot, and how fast you want to shoot your slugs, then we can better recommend a powder. You can get 1300 fps easy from those 7/8 oz lee slugs, BPI has data for 1370 fps.

[trapper9260]

longbow there is a replacement for SR4756 but I do not remember what one it is. I will need to check later what it is .

[longbow]

So far I like Blue Dot the best for slugs but the payload has to be fairly heavy or the load fairly hot to get good burn. Not the best for anything but heavy slugs or high velocity loads and both = pretty noticeable recoil.

SR4756 seems to ignite easier and burn better with lighter loads or payloads so that is a benefit but Unique does well too (with slugs up to 1 1/8 oz. anyway).

The main problem I have is finding any powder around here so pretty much have to take what I can get. Blue Dot has been scarce for several years but I'm told the local gun shop got some in recently so I have to get there before it's gone.

I would like to try 800X and HS6 as well but like I said, I don't often get to choose.

Steel is another powder several folks like but I think it is like Blue Dot in that it is best used in heavy loading.

I would be interested in that equivalent though if you can find the info. Who knows, it may be available.

Thanks,
Longbow

[Hogtamer]

Kent I've lost most of my mind.....the guy that used to post so much tested info that just dissapeared.....you'll think of him....he did a serious comparison of blue dot vs Steel and the bottom line that I proved to my satisfaction at least, is that you can use an equal (or slightly greater) charge of Steel for any specified load of blue dot. Steel would yield greater velocity with less pressure. That means you need to find some Fed. 209-A primers. Steel is bulkier though and doesn't meter at all. Big muzzle blast too.

OK edit for "Turbo" Another thought is that you can use less Steel to get Blue Dot performance.

[longbow]

Yup, turbo1889. Seems to me he did like Steel. I've never tried it.

There is a fairly active shotgun crowd here but they are mostly trap shooters so most of the shotgun supplies we get locally are powders and wads to suit those guys.

I often find Unique, likely because it is useful in shotgun and handgun but powder selection here is poor.

I used to drive down to Colville Washington (about 1 1/2 hours) to buy reloading supplies. The selection there was great and closer than anywhere I can drive in B.C. ~ 3 hours to Kelowna and 3 hours to Cranbrook. However, Homeland Security put a stop to us foreigners buying reloading components in the States! No problem to bring them into Canada but non-US citizens are not allowed to buy or possess ammunition or reloading components in the US. There are some exceptions for those going to a shoot or with a valid non-resident hunting license but even then you are not allowed to leave the country with ammunition so shoot it all up!

Anyway, short story is selection here sucks and it is a long ways to go to find anything better now... and to order in requires the HAZMAT fee of $75.00 (used to be and maybe higher now) so you want to order many pounds of powder to offset that fee.

I usually buy up a few pounds of what I want when I see it but I haven't been shooting much in a while so haven't burned my stash up yet though this last loading session almost finished my SR4756. So almost out of Blue Dot and almost out of SR4756.

There's another reason I like to keep slug weight around 1 to 1 1/8 oz. ~ I can use regular birdshot powder/loads if I can't get anything else and, like I said, Unique is reasonably common so good for that weight.

Does the equal charge of Steel to Blue Dot hold up from light to heavy payloads? I understand Steel likes to be loaded fairly "hot". Is that true? There aren't many migratory bird shooters here so Steel may not be readily available.

I got to get into the gun shop soon to see what they have. I got to price out rifled shotguns too.

Longbow

[Hogtamer]

44 gr steel moved those 477 gr full bore zlugs off a hard column at 1700 fps with 10,000 psi. I tell those specifics because I had them pressure tested. Stout load though. 34 gr 8OOx was 1550 at 11,000 psi. I see 1 oz lee data using 49 gr blue dot.

[fast ronnie]

I've been loading some Red Dot with waa12 and Winchester primers in AA hulls.
I have some Nitro hulls that I would like to use, and have some RXP wads. I've been looking in all the load data that I could find and am not seeing any data for Red Dot, RXP and Winchester primers. Recommended load for that wad and powder combination says to use Remington 209P primers, but I do not have easy access to anything other than the 209 Winchester. Does anyone out there have any suggestions? 1200 fps, 1 1/18 oz. loads are what I would like to stay with. These are used only for clays.

[megasupermagnum]

I've been loading some Red Dot with waa12 and Winchester primers in AA hulls.
I have some Nitro hulls that I would like to use, and have some RXP wads. I've been looking in all the load data that I could find and am not seeing any data for Red Dot, RXP and Winchester primers. Recommended load for that wad and powder combination says to use Remington 209P primers, but I do not have easy access to anything other than the 209 Winchester. Does anyone out there have any suggestions? 1200 fps, 1 1/18 oz. loads are what I would like to stay with. These are used only for clays.

Do you have access to a chronograph? The following load is right from the Alliant website.

2 3/4" Remington Nitro
Federal 209A
17 gr. Red dot
Rem. RPX
1 1/8 oz lead

1200 fps
10,100 psi

You could safely swap a Winchester 209 for a Federal 209A (but I would not swap the other way around), although your velocity is likely to be a bit lower. With a Win 209, 17gr Red Dot is likely between 1150-1200 fps.

[jimb16]

I use red dot and unique. I've also tried 700x and 800x, but seem to go back to my old reliables.

[deac777]

for 7/8 and 1 1/8 oz loads, I use 700-x and e3. e3 is a pretty fast powder and burns real clean.

[fast ronnie]

I just got my new copy of Lyman Shotshell 5th edition. It has a load for nitro (STS), win209, 18 grains RD, and 1 1/8 oz using a waa12 wad. Everything seems to be the same as what I'm already using, only with a Nitro hull instead of a AA. The 3rd edition did not have this combination, nor did any other data that I looked at. (Hodgen, Alliant, etc.

Thanks for the input, guys.

[Combat Diver]

Unique has been my standby for loading .311/.375 RB in 12 ga (1-1 1/8oz). Just picked up a 8lb keg of SR7625 from a fellow reloader to give it a try (along with pistol)

CD

[fast ronnie]

Unique has been my standby for loading .311/.375 RB in 12 ga (1-1 1/8oz). Just picked up a 8lb keg of SR7625 from a fellow reloader to give it a try (along with pistol)

CD

ice score on a discontinued powder. I ran out a couple of years ago. Had to switch.

[358wcf]

Gents- UNIQUE gets my vote! I use it as my go-to powder for all 12/20/28ga shotshells (low to moderate loads) as well as cast boolit loads in centerfire rifle and pistol. I have a large supply of many other powders to choose from, but, in 85% of the cases, I begin the search with Unique, and just stay with it.\
This is the old, dirty burning Unique, but it gives me a visual reminder to clean the weapon.
If I remember correctly, the name Unique was used to denote how versatile this powder was. It still is!
358wcf