Excellent advice. Lots of powder work well in 9mm. Other calibers like 38spl or 45acp are a little more finicky (my opinion) when it comes to powder.Do you load for any other pistol caliber? I'f so i'd look for something that might work for both. HP38/WW231 works for many cartridges.
I think Titegroup is my favorite 9MM powder based on flexibility, cost and availability.
I also think the 'sweet spot' is wider. When I load target 9mm with Titegroup or Sport Pistol I get great results at 3 or 4 charge weights. If I do the same with slower powders there's usually only one charge that performs well, and as you noted it will be dirty. When I make full-power 9mm CFE-Pistol or BE86 work very well, but I far prefer TG or Sport Pistol for lesser loads.Generally speaking, faster burning powders will be a little cleaner at the lower velocities.
Can’t believe no one has suggested unique yet. I love the cornflake lookin stuff.
If you're going for full-power loads. try BE86 first.What's funny is... judging by my avatar... I LOVE Unique... I use it in everything I load for. Except 9mm. I just really don't like how it behaves in 9mm at max charge. Granted, I don't load a lot of 9mm anymore, I just buy factory, but I have a 1K box of bullets I need to load up and am following this thread to see where I might go next. BE86, WSF, and CFE-P mentioned a lot, and I know some of those can be used in the .45ACP, so those look promising.
Try Sport Pistol in what are typcially TG applications. It meters better, performs at least as well, and burns cooler. Hard to imagine a better 'target' powder for autoloader calibers.Of the ones listed... not a big fan of TiteGroup, I bought some during the Great Powder Shortage as a stop-gap, I'm trying to get rid of it all in my .45ACP. I don't like how it runs hot, but the performance is there. I'm guessing the same would be true with 9mm.
If you're going for full-power loads. try BE86 first.
BE-86. Scary accurate, mimics factory loads quite well, great powder!
Can't speak for 41mag, but I've used BE86 in 357 and 44 mag, and it does great for mid-range loads in those calibers. It is not very position sensitive.Alliant has BE86 data for 9mm, .45ACP, and even the .41MAG... so I might give it a spin...
Not to answer for anyone but I'm fairly sure he didn't literally mean the load scares him. I sometimes say that to indicate a load oo powder is amazingly accurate it's almost supernatural. (supernatural loosely=scary)May I ask what 9mm factory loads are so accurate in your firearms that it scares you, what loads are you handloading and what kind of shooting do you do?