top 10 pistol powders a list

[edadmartin]

Im new to this great hobby and on top of it all pistol powders are hard to find. I went to gunbot.net and was blown away at how many powders there are and the names and part numbers are mind altering. All I know about are the main ones .AA#2 AA#5 red dot win 231 unique. Everyone on earth wants these and they are difficult to find locally or even on line. Id like you guys that have tried them all to suggest some alternate pistol powders for 9mm and 45 acp. so a guy can search more effectively and buy with confidence. How about surplus powders?? thanks

[ShooterAZ]

Bullseye & Clays and Titegroup need to be added to the list.

[RickinTN]

I use Clays for my 45 acp and 38 special loads. I already had a pretty good stock of it from loading 12 gauge target loads. I've been very pleased with it.
Rick

[seaboltm]

power pistol, blue dot

[Bzcraig]

I think the easiest way to do this is look through the reloading manuals at the type of loads you want to use to see what powders are used and compare that to what powders you can find. Also, many powders with similar names/numbers are very different so be sure to pay close attention and some powders like W231/HP38 are identical.

[fredj338]

I doubt anyone has tried them all, just too many. Stick with a medium burner, look at a burn rate chart, from W231 up thru AA#7 will work in both calibers. The problem is the slower powders don't run well in 45acp, like BlueDot, the faster powders are only good in 9mm for bunnyfart loads. I wouldn't use TG for lead bullet loads if it were free. Clays & BE in 9mm, again bunnyfart loads.

[462]

This is an instance when a few reloading manuals prove their worth. A good manual will list and describe the makeup and uses of many dozens of powders. Buy those that you think will do the best job, are available, and experiment to find out which powder(s) your gun(s) prefer(s).

I don't do 9 mm, thankfully, but for .45 ACP boolits have found Bullseye and Unique to produce the best accuracy, with WSF a close third.

[Outpost75]

When the popular pistol powders are in short supply, the 12-ga. shotshell powders having a suitable fine particle size for uniform charge metering, are useful alternatives.

Winchester Super Target, aka WST and Winchester Super Field, aka WSF come to mind.

WST is particularly good for use in .45 ACP, loading from 4.5-4.8 grs. with the H&G68 200-grain SWC at 1.25" OAL.

[375RUGER]

9 and 45, IMR 700-X and Hodgdon Universal
The surplus powders that you will find available now are way too sloooow for pistol.

[scattershot]

Bullseye, Red Dot, W231/HP38, Unique, 4756, 700x, Blue Dot, Universal Clays, Herco, and a couple of Accurate powders spring to mind. There are others, of course. I would imagine just about any of the shotshell powders would work in a pinch, but reloading data is pretty hard to come by for most of them.

[Shiloh]

Bullseye, Unique, AA #5 and 7, 2400. There is a pound and a bit more of AA#2.
Pretty much been Bullseye and Unique. I seem to go to them as my default powders.

Shiloh

[David2011]

Alliant 2400 is a versatile powder that I've used for .44 Mag, Ruger/Contender Only .45 Colt and .45/70 Govt.

Alliant lists the following cartridges for 2400 on their website:
.410, .218 Bee, .22 Hornet, .221 Fireball, 10mm Auto, 221 Fireball, 30 M1 Carbine, 32 H&R Magnum, 327 Federal Magnum, 357 Magnum, 38 Special +P, 41 Rem Magnum, 44 Rem Magnum, 44 S&W Special, 45 Colt, 454 Casull, 460 S&W Mag, 480 Ruger, 500 S&W Mag, 32 S&W Long (Cowboy Action).

The Lyman manuals list it for some other calibers. That's where I got the .45/70 Govt data.

David

[smokesahoy]

Bullseye seems to get very good performance comparable to top loads with low weights. That's just from quickload though. My favorite is 800x, power pistol, aa7, unique.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

my powders for 9mm 38 357 44mag 454
bullseye RedDot BlueDot w231 2400 H110

[MT Gianni]

Red Dot, Bullseye, Unique Herco, Green Dot, WC820, W 296, H110, power pistol and 2400 all have a place on my shelf as well as the ##s you listed.

[zomby woof]

WST
Red Dot
WSF
Bullseye

[Certaindeaf]

Don't forget Promo.. it has the same burn rate as Red Dot.. it's the same by charge weight but not by volume. It costs less than Red Dot also.

http://www.alliantpowder.com/products/powder/promo.aspx

[Mk42gunner]

I'll second looking at a burn rate chart. There are probably 30 or so different powders that will work from so-so to well in both 9mm and .45ACP; the big trick is finding reliable load data to start your load workups from, especially with a lesser used powder.

Robert

[guncheese]

red dot was easy to find here a couple months ago but now.......
ive been looking for some promo but no luck yet
but i use BE or RD in most loads
but i seem to have a soft spot for WSF in 9mm

tried some 9gr blue dot loads in .45acp with a 200gr swc big woof plenty of push and unburnt powder all over the snow
maybe i should try some green dot........

[John Allen]

My favorites are bullseye and unique. For hotter stuff 2400.