To many choices!

[1Shirt]

Seems to me that we have so many choices today in powders, that it is enough to make a body a bit goofy trying them out. Kind of like the old sayin "so many women, so little time". Every time they bring out a new one, seems like it is advertized as the best thing since dry toilet paper, and we really ought to rush out and buy a pound or two. In a way however, that is kind of nice. Sort of keeps us on our toes! Will always have a quantity of 2400 and Unique on hand regardless of whatever else they bring out! Those two are sort of like old friends, and then there are their cousins Bl-C and 4831, but then I regress!
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[gnoahhh]

Toilet paper? What's that? We use corn cobs in our toilet. (It's a b!tch getting them to go down the pipe though.)

[foxtrotter]

There is nothing rougher than a wet cob on a frosty morning!!

[gnoahhh]

One guy at our camp many years ago used to bring his old deteriorated gun powder along with him to spread around down in the out house. Claimed it worked as well as quicklime to hasten decomposition. Who knows. (See there, I brought it back on topic, sort of.)

[Eutectic]

Toilet paper? What's that? We use corn cobs in our toilet.

You could always come out to the Rockies and try Flannel Leaf Mullen.......

[Rocky Raab]

"To many choices!" is a great toast.

Hear! Hear!

[1Shirt]

It is obvious that some of you have never used Tiawanese toilet paper. We ran out of American Made toilet paper when I was stationed in Tianan. The commissary bought on the local market until a shipment of the American stuff came in. Thought the women folks were going to riot. Even heard one of them say they were thinking of using crape paper because it was not as rough as the local produced. ( forgot to mention that they had also run out of Kleenix). They had a plane coming in from Clark AFB in the PI bring an emergency shipment. That was back in the early 60's, and I can't help but think that with all the other advancements in Taiwan, that the toilet paper has improved. As to cobs, the smaller cobs were always the most sought after!
1Shirt!:coffee:

[AZ-Stew]

"To many choices!" is a great toast.

Hear! Hear!

I was thinking the same thing, but you said it better than I would have.

That aside, I was looking at the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook #3 last evening and came across the listing of available powders at the time (1980) the manual was first released. It's amazing how we were able to load all our cartridges and get excellent results using that short list (I'm sure there were fewer than 50) of propellants. Life was more simple then. I think we have well over 120 powders now on the market. I don't see much advantage in adding more. The gaps in the current selection are so narrow the vendors will soon have to develop a new, skinny canister so we can get them on the shelf.

Regards,

Stew

[Down South]

I have an old buddy by the last name of Pentecost. He went to see a doctor by the last name of Cobb.
The doctor asked my buddy if he was Pentecostal. My buddy said no, that he wasn't Pentecostal just because his last name is Pentecost. The doctor laughed and said good, you don't know what we do with Pentecostals around here.
My buddy looked at him sort of strange like and said, well, you don't know what we do with cobbs where I come from either do ya.

I don't keep many types of powders on hand, maybe a dozen to cover all of my rifle and handgun needs.

[pdawg_shooter]

When I started loading there was the line of IMR powders, a few from Hercules and a couple of Alcan powders available in the little town I grew up close to. Got by just fine. Last I looked I have 22 different powers on my shelf. Where did I go wrong?

[Recluse]

I'll always and without fail have the following powders on hand in abundant quantity:

W231/HP38, Bullseye, Unique, AA#2, AA#5, 2400, Red Dot, Blue Dot, H335, W748, IMR4350 and IMR4895.

Now and then I try out different powders, but the above have been proven winners for me for decades.

:coffee:

[Char-Gar]

The powder market got to cluttered for me in the late 60's, so have not tried the majority of powders on the market today. I am certain many of them are great, but I stick with what has worked. The only powders I keep these days are Bullseye, Unique, 2400 4227, 4759, 3031 (or 4895), and WC872. I got roped into buying 64 pounds of the latter when the guys on this board said it was great stuff for cast bullets. They were right -:)

[Rocky Raab]

Well, my excuse is that I have to have a variety of powders when I write an article about some cartridge or other. But don't tell either my wife or the fire marshal that I recently counted 78 different kinds of powder on my shelves. With more than one can of some of them.

I gave away a dozen different kinds to a buddy after that count, but the shelves don't look much less crowded.

[mroliver77]

I was happy for a long time with Unique and 3031. Then in 95 I found the internet. I still only stock around a dozen or so. There are a couple I still want to try.
Jay

[AZ-Stew]

Have you ever bought a new powder type in anticipation of a rifle you're going to have built that will be worthy of the powder? (Guilty... :roll: 8208 XBR for my soon-to-be 6mmBR).

Regards,

Stew

[felix]

That speed is good for many situations besides the bench gun, so you are good to go. ... felix

[DragoonDrake]

Under that has anybody tried the 8208 xbr in 22br.

[countglockula]

I have fiddled with handloading for forty plus years now and now only keep four powders on the shelf nowadays; Bulleseye, Unique, 2400, and IMR3031.

Limited selection for sure, but it covers all my needs for handgun calibers as well as my hunting rifles in 30.30 and 45-70.

Ron in Texas

[felix]

Under that has anybody tried the 8208 xbr in 22br.

Should work fine. ... felix

[DragoonDrake]

Thanks Felix