Your "Go-to" pistol powder

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preacherJohn

preacherJohn

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I have a wide variety of different powders that I've loaded with over the years. This collection started during the times it was down right difficult to acquire powders and choice wasn't exactly available, and also when money might have been a little tight over these years and purchasing the lesser cost powders was the only option to be able to feed my need. I used to load 38 Special quite a bit, but seem to have gotten away from the revolver scene and shoot mostly semi-auto pistols. Now most of my shooting is with the 9mm, 40 S&W, and 45 acp. And out of these 3 I've pretty much settled in on which I use: HP-38 for the 9, WSF for the 40, and WST for the 45. Each caliber seem to enjoy their own powder. Experimenting with other powders is fun, but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, I pretty much revert back to what has worked best over the long run. I don't shoot competition. Most of my shooting is from punching paper @ 21-25', or shooting steel @ 25yrds in my backyard.
 
HP38/W231 for the majority of my target loads; .30Luger, .380 .38SPC/.357, 9mm, .40 and .45

anything that's loaded hot now gets Blue Dot or Long Shot. .357, .40 and 357 SIG.
 
Hmmmm... I'll bet you can guess what mine is. I use it, or have used it, in every pistol cartridge I load for. Oddly enough, as much as I love Unique, I don't use it in the .45-70 or .30-30 (with cast bullets.)
 
Those that I bought in larger than one pound containers were Unique, Enforcer, AA#9, Bullseye, Power Pistol, and HS-6. A couple more, probably including 2400, would have been included, if I had found them in larger size containers and more efficient prices. A new one that I would stock up on is BE-86.
 
I don't think I have a go to that works in all my pistol cartridges.

I like Vihtavuori N320 in my 40S&W USPSA load

I like Titegroup in my 38 Short Colt (super hot USPSA load) and my woods carry 38 Special +P

I like Trailboss for 38 Special IDPA/plinking loads

I like 800X for 10mm Auto and 44 Mag loads.

I like Clays in 45 ACP

I like Herco for 38/200

I could go on. Yeah I don't have one go to powder for anything...
 
Back when I started reloading I reloaded all pistol rounds with 231.

Being a jack of all trades makes you a master at none though. While you can load 44 mag with 231 you can’t get the most from the round with that powder.

To answer your question, I have a number of “go to” powders. N310 & N320 as fast pistol powders, H110 & 2400 have always given me good results on the slow end and a few in between.
 
I’m too new at this to have a go to powder, but my first powder was HP-38. It seems to work well for me in the 9mm, 380ACP, and 45ACP that I’ve loaded. It seems the most consistent and cleanest. I find Silhouette to just be a big mess, and WST, while smelling nice, leaves “sand” all over the place when I shoot...mainly in 45 ACP.

My up and coming “favorite” is VV N-320, but not enough experience with it, yet.
 
I've certainly not tried all options, but have found I can make very satisfactory full-power 38 special +p, 9mm and 40S&W ammo using BE86.

But that's just full-power. For lesser loads I use a combination of Sport Pistol and Titegroup. I'd like to narrow that down to a single powder, but I've not had much luck with Sport Pistol in 38. It seems more position sensitive than Titegroup.

Full-power .357 mag is enough of a different beast to demand its own powder. I've got 2400 and W296 for that, and may discontinue using 2400 once its gone. I don't load less than full-power .357, but can do it well with BE86 if I desire.

I don't see the point of narrowing things down further from one fast powder, one medium and one magnum powder. To my mind trying to do all three with fewer powders entails more compromise that I'm looking for.
 
.45acp- Red Dot
9mm- W231
.44mag- Unique for plinking, W296 for full power
 
Overall I like BE-86 for most calibers. N-110, 2400, and H-110 for magnum loads, 300-MP for 357 and 44mag rifle loads. Clays for reduced recoil 38spl and 45acp loads.
 
I only load .45 acp and I found a nice accurate load with Berrys 230 gr. RN and Unique. Now I'm gonna experiment with my Hornady 185 XTP rebate bullets using Unique, 231,and CFE.
 
For me it's Titegroup. When powder was tough to find I stumbled across 8 lbs of it and due to the low charge weights still have 4 lbs left.

It works ok for 9mm,45acp, and 38 Special. I will say I have not been able to use it with lead projectiles in the 9mm without leading.So I load 9mm with plated 124 RN from Berry's and Everglades with no problems. No leading problems in the 45 or 38.
 
The powder I use most for range ammo is W231/HP-38. Most of my loading is for lower pressure cartridges but for the 9mm and I don't load for the 40 S&W right now.

Back in the day the powder trinity was Bullseye, Unique and 2400 and those powders do very well today too.

My powder trinity is W231/HP-38, W540/HS-6 and W296/H110. I can load any handgun cartridge with one of those three and do it well. With the release of W244 and W572 that might change but only time and testing will tell.
 
My "go to" for pistol loads would still be 231, meters well and I get good results with the cartridges I load (38, 9mm, 45ACP). I pretty much only load target loads, so I do not necessarily recommend that powder for self defense, etc.
 
I can do everything I want with Bullseye, Unique and 2400. If I had to get down to one, it would be Unique. Unique is one of the most flexible powders I have ever used. I tried Universal and in the 44 Special, duplicated the velocities I get with Unique, but accuracy was inferior. Now I have about 3/4 lb of Universal to use, but I won't be using it till my Unique is all gone.
 
preacherJohn said:
I have a wide variety of different powders that I've loaded with over the years. This collection started during the times it was down right difficult to acquire powders and choice wasn't exactly available, and also when money might have been a little tight over these years and purchasing the lesser cost powders was the only option to be able to feed my need. I used to load 38 Special quite a bit, but seem to have gotten away from the revolver scene and shoot mostly semi-auto pistols. Now most of my shooting is with the 9mm, 40 S&W, and 45 acp. And out of these 3 I've pretty much settled in on which I use: HP-38 for the 9, WSF for the 40, and WST for the 45. Each caliber seem to enjoy their own powder. Experimenting with other powders is fun, but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, I pretty much revert back to what has worked best over the long run. I don't shoot competition. Most of my shooting is from punching paper @ 21-25', or shooting steel @ 25yrds in my backyard.
Click to expand...

Our stories are very similar.

The only difference is I only load for 9mm in pistols, although 45 ACP is on my list as I’ve added a 45 since I started reloading.

That aside, I’ve used HP38/W231 and Accurate #7 as both were given to me by a friend when I started. I like HP38/W231 but don’t like the latter.

I still have HP38/W231 and think it’s a good powder but I really like BE-86 with RMR 124 gr bullets. The raves really seemed too good to be true so I was skeptical but had to try the combo. I’ve since jumped on the bandwagon so my HP38/W231 is just waiting for another use. Probably as a backup if things get scare or maybe for 45 ACP when I get the Dies and some bullets.
 
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