What Are Your Worst Powders?

[firefly1957]

I am with another on Unique I have had very mixed results on it and for some reason my S&W model 29 hates it even starting loads flatten primers and stick cases . Same bullet same gun shoots MAX. loads of slower powders just fine? Shooting Unique in Contender is no problem either. I first used Unique shot shell loads it was very dirty.

I have had trouble with Blue Dot in magnum pistol but love it in shot shell and .45 acp.

Over the years I have collected many powders I rarely use I even have some AL-8 on the shelf yet it was my go to powder for my S&W model 28 with 110 grain bullets . Last loadings of it was in my 44 magnum it makes a nice flask out of the cylinder gap it did the same from .357 Magnum also .

P.S. that is AL-8 in my Avatar

[Cast10]

So much to agree with here.

Some 45+ years ago with my first 44mag, I tried Herco. I am not a shotgun reloader, but read a lot about shotgun powders in pistols/revolvers. Seem to recall it was a mild/mid range powder for 44mag. But gosh, was it dirty. It also didn’t shoot very well, or maybe it was ME! LOL. I soon went to 296 and developed some nice loads. Haven’t tried it since; dirty.

As stated, each powder has its place. I’m glad they’re so many as if one doesn’t work well for a given application, try another. Also, never been a H fan, and noticeably higher in price than the other ownings.

[georgerkahn]

We’ve seen a few posts for your best or favorite powders or powders that you can’t live without. Time for a post of your least favorite powders. I’ve used a large number of powders over the years with varying levels of success. Some powders are versatile and work great for me while others not so well. Below are a few powders that may be valuable to other reloaders but just didn’t work well for me. I tried each of these powders in multiple cartridges with multiple bullets and loads. Some of them I wasted a lot of time and components on trying to find a good load with little or limited success.

Green Dot – While other shooters have reported good loads with this powder in multiple pistol cartridges, I’ve just never had great success with it. I’ve tried it with both cast and jacketed and was never able to get anything better than mediocre performance. It only worked well for me in just one load. This one hasn’t worked well enough for me to keep on my shelf.

Accurate 2200 – I have tried this in a couple of jacketed small-bore cartridges with little success. My velocity spreads were always much higher with 2200 than other powders with similar burn rates, sometimes as high 2-300 fps for a load. I tried multiple primers, varied charge weights, different neck tension, etc. with little improvement in extreme spread. I’m washing my hands of this one and finishing off what I have left of this powder in a plinking load.

Hybrid 100V – another one I have never been able to achieve anything better than mediocre performance with. I got a few jacketed rifle loads to shoot under two inches, but not much better than that. There are plenty of other powders that performed better with very little effort in load development.

What are some powders that didn’t work well for you or that you have had bad experiences with? What was your experience and why do you stay away from it?

Bion, my number one criteria on ANY powder is the ease of which I reload with it. Huh? Generally, "Bullseye"-type powders will be measured by any/all of the 10 or so different powder measure devices (Ohaus, Dillon, Harrell, Redding, RCBS electronic) with hardly any variation in their throw. Others -- 'specially "stick" powders are not so. I've spent more time -- not happy time -- trying to get consistent throws from most any of these. Such that I have set powder measures for a minus-one grain, and then resort to using a Hornady crank powder trickler to add requisite. Not just one -- pretty much all stick powders are, to me, the worst!
geo

[Texas by God]

Paying the one pound price for a half pound of powder(Trailboss) is a non starter for me.
Not a “bad” powder; but Superformance is so limited in use for my guns(22-250 and 30-06 higher velocity loads)- I won’t buy any more.


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[FullTang]

While the standard response is that all powders have their place, and that's generally how I feel, I have to agree with the OP's assessment of Accurate 2200. I've never had as many hang-fires with any powder as I have had with a single pound of that stuff---in multiple loads with multiple calibers, and not reduced loads, either. Needless to say, velocities were all over the place, too.

[FullTang]

Paying the one pound price for a half pound of powder(Trailboss) is a non starter for me.
Not a “bad” powder; but Superformance is so limited in use for my guns(22-250 and 30-06 higher velocity loads)- I won’t buy any more.


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The one thing that Trail Boss is good for, in my opinion, is light loads for obsolete rifle cartridges with little or no data available. It is very handy that you can just fill the case up with Trail Boss and shoot your old mil-surp, and it will work with decent accuracy. Still doesn't justify the price, though.

[gypsyman]

After reading the posts above, it dawned on me. Company's making powder, are thinking just like the cigarette company's. Here's why! Growing up with my parents having a small convenience store in Toledo, in the 60's our cigarette rack held about 6 brands, about 2 ft. wide. By the time I sold it in '85, it was 8 ft. wide and well over 50 brands, plus all the options!(menthol or reg., 100's length and light-blah-blah-blah) Didn't increase sales, just inventory went way up. If the powder company's knock off trying to bring out new and improved, and made more of what has been established as a go to powder, lower the price down so we could shoot more, they could keep their overhead lower. Win-Win for both side's!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Alcan AL-8 is a square flake powder...I gotta wonder who came up with that idea?
Bridging...I think I could build a bridge across the San Francisco Bay with AL-8, LOL.
BUT, once I got the stuff in my cases, it shot good in my Mod 629.

[Kosh75287]

MY pistol propellants usually consist of Bullseye/RedDot, Unique/Herco, and Alliant 2400/IMR-4227. The only propellant mentioned by mtnman31 that I have used is Alliant Green Dot (MIGHT have been HERCULES, back then). It worked okay in .380, .38 Spl., .40 S&W, and .45 ACP, but seemed to not provide the performance of Unique/Herco, while not being as economical as Bullseye/RedDot. I have identical feelings about W231/HP-38.
I got the impression that Green Dot was formulated with its use in certain shotgun gauges as the first consideration, and its use as a pistol propellant second (or last?). I certainly would not go out of my way to obtain any, but neither would I refuse it if it was offered as a gift.

The propellant that I'VE found most nightmarish Hodgdon CLAYS. In .380, 9mmP, and .45 ACP, the usual work-up results were:
Starting charge weight(s) = low velocities, would not operate slide.
Middle charge weight(s) = higher but sub-par velocities, would operate slide, often unreliably.
Max/Near Max charge weight(s) = on-par/high velocities, FULLY(overly) operated slide, flung brass into the next zip code.
In SOME loads, there were no "middle" charges, or the charges in the middle exhibited the same results as lower charges or max/near-max. I WILL say that the propellant lived up to Hodgdon's claim of burning cleanly. All my brass that did NOT leave my zip code looked almost unfired.

Either I'm overly tolerant of Unique/Herco, or I'm not experiencing the same problems with them as others. While neither will win the "Cleanest Burning Propellant" award, they seem to burn cleanly ENOUGH, especially when used in loads developing ~18,000 p.s.i. and higher. They do not "meter" like water, as some newer propellants do, but they measure well enough that their shape does not give rise to variations in velocities, thus accuracy. I have used both propellants in pistol calibers from .32 ACP (a chore, admittedly) to .45 Colt. They have never worked less than "okay" and, in an overwhelming majority of loads, either worked very well, or delivered best results.
In .357 Magnum, 7.0-7.5/Unique/158 gr. RNFP or LSWC has never failed to 1150+ f/s velocities in any revolver in which I used it.
In .38 Super, 5.4, 5.7 & 6.0/Unique/140 gr. LSWC gives slightly over 1100 f/s, ~1150 f/s, and just under 1200 f/s, respectively (I use small rifle primers in these loads).
In .45 Colt, 7.5/Unique/250 gr. RNFP or LSWC gives a true 850 f/s from 4 & 3/4" and 5.5" barrels, perhaps slightly more from longer ones.
Elevating the charge to 8.0-8.5/Unique/250 gr. RNFP/LSWC gives ~100 f/s more velocity, if one feels it is needed. 9.0/Unique/250 gr. RNFP/LSWC, used IN RUGER/T-C STRENGTH GUNS ONLY, routinely breaks 1000 f/s from most barrels, and approaches 1100 f/s in my 7.5" RedHawk. Loads using HERCO in place of UNIQUE usually require 0.3-0.5 gr. more propellant, but tends to give slightly higher velocities as max loads are reached.
Not surprisingly, all loads tend to shoot more cleanly as charge weights increase, but the lightest loads are by no means "filthy". I also use slightly heavier crimps than some reloaders might.

[P Flados]

My worst experience with a powder was an 8# jug of H110 (that is now 1/2 gone). I had been using 296 for years with no problems. The H110 batch had issues with poor ignition (high velocity spreads, individual low power rounds and bullets stuck in barrel). This was in a number of different guns / calibers. This was also about the time I switched to powder coat and was working up a bunch of new loads and it seemed worse in cold conditions.

I tried H4227 as a replacement. At first I was happy. Then one of my 357 Max loads that did good for load workup was found to be way to strong on a hot day. When I backed off enough for hot weather shooting, the load fell out of the "happy place" when fired at typical temperatures.

The above represent "bad experiences". Now I will talk about a "disappointment" with no real bad issues. Unique just never seemed to do exceptional at anything I have tried it for. I bought an 8# jug as part of a big order to spread out the hazmat. It works ok for some specific loads in some of my guns, but none of these loads are good enough to justify me buying any more when the current jug runs out.

[MT Gianni]

107 It is the equivelent of AA #7 but meters like square hockey pucks, 5010 a close second with a Lincoln Log shape. I have enough cartridges to load I can always find a use for a powder but some are a pain to move quickly with. IMR 7383 can cause some pucker you up moments.

[clearwater]

Trail Boss by far

223-stuck jacketed bullet in bore with full charge.
25-06 - shotgun pattern with jacketed, not even on paper with cast
308 not on paper with cast
44 mag- larger groups than 2400, Bulleye

Have a fun load for IMR Green (green dot) 375 Ruger with 240 grain cast

[BrianL]

I have had no standout loads in 300 BLK with l'LL gun. I went through a couple of pounds and found that H110 for supers, and 1680 for subs, covered my needs. Ant the other issue was that the L'll gun seemed to burn into the sides of my Uniflow if I left it more than a day or two.

[dale2242]

To get the most consistent charges with any powder dispenser, use ball powder.
There is ball powders of every burn rate.
To solve all your dispensing issues, buy an electronic dispenser, if it`s within your budget.

[NObamain2012]

H380 when it was a surplus powder, 2-3 inch vertical stringing at 100 yards in 22-250, 243, 7x57, 257 roberts,308. And a tar like residue in the barrel that was a SOAB to clean.H110 in .410 shotshells.

[Rockindaddy]

Every load I have tried with 2400 I find unburned little deposits that could be half burned powder or the cellulose the nitroglycerin was soaked in. Have several pounds of it and quit using it. Maybe take it to a gun show and trade it off.

[GONRA]

GONRA hasn't had any modern powder (WW231, HS-6, etc.) mess up transparent powder measure hoppers.
(Dillon, RCBS, etc.) Wonder what it is in L'll Gun that that eats 'em up? ??

[brokeasajoke]

Lilgun id my only bad experience with powder in a 22k hornet. Trailboss may not be accurate but my kids can shoot big boomers with it.

[BrianL]

Paying the one pound price for a half pound of powder(Trailboss) is a non starter for me.
Not a “bad” powder; but Superformance is so limited in use for my guns(22-250 and 30-06 higher velocity loads)- I won’t buy any more.


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I have ALMOST bought Trailboss a couple of times but could not get past the price.

[fayettefatts]

Trailboss works well in my 25-20. Hope I can find more before I run out.