Bullseye? What does it excel at?

[canyon-ghost]

Happie2shoot, 454 Casull, I'm impressed. Big handcannon there.

[LAH]

One of my favorite uses for Bullseye is the 45 Colt. Mr. Keith liked 6 grains with his 255 Keith, so do I.

PS: I shoot 5 grains in the 45ACP with 230 grain Hard Ball & so did Uncle Sam at one time.

[XWrench3]

i have been using bullseye in every handgun i own. from the lowly 380 all the way up to and including 44 magnum. 380, 38 special, 40 S&W, 45acp, and 44 mag. i also use it in reduced loads for many rifle rounds, 30-30, 300 win mag, 45/70 etc. it is a very versatile powder. it does burn a little dirtier than some others. but i am sure you could find uses for it.

[mac60]

Bullseye? What does it excel at?

1. Versatility
2. Economy

[Shiloh]

.45 ACP and .38 or me.

Shiloh

[405]

Guys, I have 4 pounds of Bullsye to use up. What is this powder the best for? Is there one caliber that likes it? I've loaded 32 magnum with it, not bad. At a rate of 1 to 3 grains at a time, this jug will last forever. Split between my 9mm and the 32magnum, it's still a lot of powder.

I know it burns fast, takes up very little space and is nice and 'punchy'. Any IHMSA shooters use this? Is it a 38/357 thing?

I just don't know how to view this powder- what's it made for?

help, help, help, eek!

Ron

It's been around a long time and I know that it does excel at and has a long track record of blowing up guns because of double charges and over charges. It works well for it's intended purpose. There are other powders available that do as well or better for those purposes. Its main attraction and loyalty can be traced to familiarity because it's been around a long time and stock piles from when it was really cheap. So it is cheap and familiar.

[Dframe]

Bullseye is a very fast burning powder. Because of it's density it takes up very little space in the case. It's been used as "THE" standard propellant for target loads in 45 acp and 38 special for DECADES and excells in that function. I don't use it in large bore calibres simply because it takes up so little space, that the possibility of a double charge is very real. And you most certainly DON'T want to accidentally double charge a case with Bullseye. It tends to leave a lot of ash and residue so is often cited as a dirty powder. BFD. I always clean my guns and never found it to be a problem. Four pounds of Bullseye at the tiny charges required for target work would last a VERY long time. Congratulations.

[tuckerdog]

9mm 380 38spcl 45acp. REAL nice 148 grn wadcutter 2.3grn 38spcl

[A pause for the COZ]

Its my main plinking powder in all my hand guns. .32 S&W, 32 S&W L, 32 H&R mag, .380 auto, 45 ACP, 38 special.
Incidentally though. I found that my Rossi Lever gun in 357 mag hates any round loaded w/ Bullseye. I am sure I can work some thing useful up.
But I stumbled upon 5 gr Unique in the 38 special and 6 gr in the 357 cases behind any 158 cast boolit, gives me touching groups at 50 yards. So I load two loads. Bullseye for pistols and Unique for the rifle.
It excels in .380 and 45ACP cast loads.

[Bill*]

I use it in .32ACP, .380, 9mm, .45ACP, and .45colt

[saigafan2008]

I've shot many thousands of 9mm cast boolits with Bullseye. I use about 3.5 gr with a 125 gr boolit, and get 1,000 fps, no leading, no fouling, excellent accuracy, and plenty cheap at about 2,000 rounds per pound. Meters well in my Dillon 650 as well. What's not to like?

Same load is great in a 38 special case.

+1

I use the same load for my 38 special

[JohnnyFlake]

One of my favorite uses for Bullseye is the 45 Colt. Mr. Keith liked 6 grains with his 255 Keith, so do I.

PS: I shoot 5 grains in the 45ACP with 230 grain Hard Ball & so did Uncle Sam at one time.

Do you have any idea as to how fast that 255 Keith is moving from that 6.0 grains of bullseye?

[JohnnyFlake]

It really works well for .32 Mag loads, using 3.0gr under a 90gr lead wc.

[Bullet Caster]

I use BE for 9mm, 45acp and .45 Colt. A little goes a long way. I opted for BE because I couldn't get any Win 231 at the time. So far so good. I've heard that BE and Unique are both "dirtiy" powders and after shooting some .45acp with 4.5 gn. of BE I found that to be true. The cases were plenty dirty from the sooty powder. BC

[LAH]

Do you have any idea as to how fast that 255 Keith is moving from that 6.0 grains of bullseye?

No Sir I don't. A guess in the dark would be 750-800 fps.

[MattOrgan]

I agree with most of the above. I've been working on two 4 pound caddies for 20 or more years. All non magnum handguns for standard loads and all rifles with cast bullets at low speeds, never tried it in a shotshell. The best powder for the corn meal method of fire forming. It is "dirty" compared to 231 and HP38, but I've shot it in my 45 Auto a 1000 rounds between cleaning without trouble. Good stuff, great economy.
Do verify you haven't double charged, I've seen a lot of K38s with the top half of the cylinder missing from a double charge with a 148 grain wad cutter.

[fecmech]

Do verify you haven't double charged, I've seen a lot of K38s with the top half of the cylinder missing from a double charge with a 148 grain wad cutter.

In 1971 the HP white lab did pressure overload tests for the FBI on several different 38 spl revolvers of different manufacturers. Quality mid frame size guns according to that report require something in the neighborhood of 70000 c.u.p. and at least in excess of 40000 c.u.p. for catastrophic failure. Also per the HP White report a 5.4 gr charge of BE behind a flush seated 148gr wadcutter produces 32,300 PSI which in itself is not sufficient to fail cylinders and top straps. Other factors are involved generally bore obstructions, double charges in conjunction with deep seating etc.
I have a copy of the report printed in the 1978 issue of the American Rifleman and posted it here a couple years back.

[.22-10-45]

I have found it to be one of the best powders for obturating a fairly soft cast bullet up to fill oversized chamber throats..works very well for H.B. bullets in the .38 long colt.

[Cap'n Morgan]

I used Norma R1 (similar to Bulls eye) in my .32 Walther target pistol - a whoppin'1.4 gr behind a 100gr wadcutter would give me 5000 reloads to the pound. I never made it through the whole can before I sold the Walther.

[Tom-ADC]

I had a 8 lb can of it years ago, and at the time American Rifleman magazine had some 7/8 oz & 1 oz 12 gage loads using it, as noted dirty but recoil was nil and the loads patterned well, shot a bunch of skeet, anyways I shot most of it doing that.