Your favorite handgun and rifle powders

Ideally he’ll carry as many as space allows. Imho carrying only a few stinks as he won’t be able to please everyone.

If he is limited to how much he can stock, then I’d say the most popular powders would be wise.

Personally for pistol I use BE86, but also have Win231/Hp38

For rifle I use H335 as it’s a good general AR powder, but I’m still looking for others.

I’d also suggest he have a powder that works for pistol and shotgun.

As for other powders, I think a few that hunters prefer would be wise.

Handgun: bullseye, powerpistol, 2400.

Rifle: H335, 3031, 4895.

I don't reload magnum rifle cartridges.

If I could only have two: unique and 3031.

Rifle - IMR 4350 and Varget

Pistol - Unique, BE86 and Power Pistol

Pistol = Bullseye (9mm and 45acp)

Rifle = 3031

Handgun = Unique 231 win 2400 H110
Rifle = Unique H 4198 CFE223 IMR 4350

The powders I'd choose would depend on which cartridges I reloaded. I don't load for handguns, but could be happy with either Varget or RL15 for 308. H4350 does everything I need to do with 30-06 and 6.5 Creedmoor.

If I loaded for other cartridges I'd have to have other powders. I don't believe in trying to make one powder work for multiple cartridges. In many cases the same powder does work very well for 2 or more. With the bullet weights I use H4350 is near ideal for both 30-06 and 6.5 Creedmoor. If I were to start start shooting bullets heavier than 180 gr for 30-06 I'd have to try something else. But even though some powders will work with both 308 and 30-06 none are ideal. I'd not try to make one powder work for both of those except in an extreme situation.

Since I don't load for 223 or 22-250 I can't help with those.

Rifle: H322, H335, Varget, IMR 4064, Retumbo

Pistol: HP38/Win 231, CFE Pistol, Unique, H110, Enforcer

.30-06, .30-30, .243, .22-250 Rifle-Varget, H380, H414, H4895.
.45 acp pistol-Unique, W231, CFE Pistol

H322, 748 and H380 for rifle. Unique, Titegroup and W231 for pistol.

Titegroup
CFE pistol & rifle
H110
H335

Handgun - Sport Pistol, BE86, 2400 and H110.
Rifle - Don't load

Might think about stocking a shotgun powder too. Maybe Red Dot or Clays.

Rifle: BL-C(2), IMR3031, IMR4064, Varget.
Pistol: Bullseye, Unique, AA#5.
Shotgun: Red Dot, 700-X, Clays.

Unique and 3031 would cover all of my bases. (Well, mostly)

But just to be sure, may as well also have Bullseye, H110, 4350.
Some more gravy would be 4895 and 4198.

It depends. Many years ago I reloaded all of my pistol rounds using 231. It was pretty good for some but not ideal for others. I don’t use it for much of anything these days, instead I use powders that are ideal for each different job.

The jack of all trades, is master of none, concept.

I suppose I would say the same thing about IMR 3031 for rifle powders.

For .380-44mag I would be between VV N310 to H-110/W296.

.223-22-250 would be between IMR 4198 to W760.

Interesting...If I had to narrow options pretty much, I'd pick:
Pistol: Bullseye, Unique, 2400
Rifle: Varget (or RL15), RL22 (or RL19)

You could load an awful lot of cartridges, with good results, with just those powders.

jmorris said:

It was pretty good for some but not ideal for others. ... <snip>.... instead I use powders that are ideal for each different job.

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That is very true. However, there are some powders that are very flexible. For Pistol, Unique comes to mind.

For Rifle, I reload .223 Rem, .22-250, 6mm BR, .270 Win, .308 Win, and 9.3x62 Mauser. I have a Varget load for each, many of them ideal, and the most limited is the .270 Win (light 90 Gr Sierra Varminter bullets only). So Varget effectively shoots from 40 Gr 22 Cal bullets to 286 Gr 9.3mm (.366) bullets.

For a few to cover as many bases as possible
Pistol
HP38/W231, BE86 or CFE-P, 2400 or H110/W296

Rifle
H335, 4895, maybeTAC (one of my favorite 223 powders) something slower H4831, Reloader 22

Add Red Dot for shotgun/pistol

All of these are not my favorites (some are) but if I was only stocking a few what I might pick if I was trying to guess what people might buy.

Of course I would probably cheat and email Alliant, Hodgdon and Western and explain what wanted to do and ask them what their best selling powders are.
I would imagine they would be happy to give you the info then that would give you one answer,
another plan (the best one IMO) would be to ask customers what they would like you to stock.
What they want and what is most popular might be two different things and your customers are the ones handing you the money......

My favorite handgun powders are W231/HP-38, HS-6 and W296/H110. I would add W572 too.
Bullseye, Unique and 2400 are extremely popular powders and would be worth carrying.

The newer powders are very good but if the reloaders in your area are set in their ways they may not sell. BE-86, W244, AutoComp, CFE-Pistol and a few others are gaining in popularity.

I have a dozen different rifle powders and in some cases I use a powder for only one cartridge.
My favorite are: (from fastest to slower)
AA5744, IMR3031, H335, H4895 and H4350. Some reloaders will prefer the IMR version of a powder over the Hodgdon variant. I would add Varget, IMR4831 and 4198 to the mix too.

Today there are many powders that will do the same job with each company having a powder similar to the other company's powder in an application range. Where I live most reloaders want IMR rifle powders with a secondary preference for Winchester rifle powders. With handgun powders they want Hercules, now Alliant powders. Your friend will want to put in the powders from the most popular company for the area with fill ins of specialty powders. Sorry I couldn't be more help but some of the choices will depend on the preferences of reloaders in your area.

For rifle my choices would be TAC, Varget, H4350, IMR4198, W748.
For pistol it all depends on the caliber. W296/H110, 2400, WSF, WST, BE, Unique not that I like or use it but it just works).

Bullseye
Universal clays
BE86
2400
H110

5744
Reloader 7
IMR4895
CFE 223
Varget
IMR4350
Reloader 19

That would satisfy any gun I will ever own.

That is very true. However, there are some powders that are very flexible. For Pistol...

Click to expand...

Yes, as I pointed out, for a few years I used 231 in everything from 9mm to 44 magnum, despite it not being the best powder I have used for either.

I agree with SOMEGUY2800 with all of his choices, but would add Red Dot and 20/28 for the shotgun folks.