Your "Go-to" pistol powder

Bullseye.

Works in everything I own from 25ACP, through 9mm, 38 Special and 45 ACP.

My second choice for a go-to powder would be Hi-Skor 800-X since it works a little bit better in 9mm and that's the pistol cartridge I load the most, but still works well in the others.

But, I haven't always taken my own advice. I use Hi-Skor 700-X in 25 ACP since it can push 35 grain bullets to nearly 1,000 fps. I use HP-38 in 9mm since my Taurus likes it. 38 Special often gets Red Dot and my 185 grain 45 ACP loads get Blue Dot. Choosing a powder for each load allows me to tailor the performance of the load to my needs. But, if I could suddenly use only one powder, it would be Bullseye.

In .45 .acp it would be WST or Ramshot Competition. I picked up a bunch of the Competition for under $16 a lb delivered. I've also used Red Dot, Bullseye, Unique, HS-6, 231, Clays, Tite-Group, IMR Target, IMR Red, and Promo.

In 10mm I like Blue Dot or Power Pistol.

In 9mm I'm still trying to find a favorite. I've culled down to one 9mm that I shoot, my Ruger PCC.

.44 Mag Unique or 2400, same for .357 mag.

.38 spl I prefer Bullseye.

I haven't counted but I'd guess I've got close to a dozen and a half pistol powders on hand. I've tried the new IMR Target, Red and Blue. The Target is actually a very decent powder in every cartridge I've tried it in. I wanted to give the Unequal a try but according to Hodgdon that powder won't see the light of day.

At present
WSF for midrange 9mm (about 128-130 PF)
CFE-P or BE86 for FP 9mm (liking Silhouette here as well)
AA#2,HP38 for .45 ACP (need to try WST) (liked N320 but pricey and harder to get)
AA#2 for all .380 except the FP stuff, CFE-P for Zombie .380
.357 well H110, BE86 makes nice middle stuff

Don't own a .40, surprised WSF didn't work well for you in 9mm.
My favorite in 9mm is about 4.4gr WSF with a 125. 1040ish fps

Going to give Sport Pistol and W244 a try and possibly N330 in 9mm (and the others as well but I shoot lots more 9mm than the others)

Next order I am going to get a big can of BE86 and try it as it comes up as good so often on here lately. I also think that stocking up on primers is more important than a specific propellant. Without primers/caps the rest of your reloading stuff is not much good IMHO. You can sub propellant but primers................Just saying

Dudedog said:

Going to give Sport Pistol and W244 a try and possibly N330 in 9mm (and the others as well but I shoot lots more 9mm than the others)

Click to expand...

May I suggest you try W572 over W244 in the 9mm and save the W244 for the 38 Special and 45 Colt?

"Go to"....
I used 230P powder when it was. I converted to 231 after I couldn't get the 230P. I use it for... well everything. No, it is not the best for everything but works well enough. So, my 'go to' for most pistols is 231 or HP38. Add in some 2400 and all of my pistol needs could be covered.

Load with care,

357- I always start out with Unique and once I’ve fully tested it from bottom to top, I move on to others- 2400, 4227 are favorites. Unique is a good low to medium hot load.
44 mag- same
45 acp- nitro 100 showed great promise.
Oh, I’ll add, I only shoot flat base, range-scrap lead boolits.
That’s it for me.
Overall Unique.

Catpop said:

357- I always start out with Unique and once I’ve fully tested it from bottom to top, I move on to others- 2400, 4227 are favorites. Unique is a good low to medium hot load.
44 mag- same
45 acp- nitro 100 showed great promise.
Oh, I’ll add, I only shoot flat base, range-scrap lead boolits.
That’s it for me.
Overall Unique.

Click to expand...

I had good luck with Nitro 100 NF for low recoil loads in 45acp. Two things about it I don't like, the small bottle is only 12oz, so the cost-per-pound is not that obvious, and it also does not meter well. It meters decently (not great) in my Dillon or Uniflow measures, but it is one powder I've had a hard time with in my Lee Autodrum. The flakes are so thin that the powder ends up leaking out.

Since I have other powders that work as good or better, and meter just fine, I used up the last bit of it and won't be buying anymore.

I only load 9mm in large quantities and I pretty much stick with W231, mostly because I have plenty. I also have WSF and Tite Group on the shelf but have never used either. Bought them during the panic in case I couldn't get W231. By the time I ran low on 231 I could get it again and the other stuff still sits. Thought about playing with the WSF in 9MM as most people don't want it.

For 45 Colt I have a couple bottles of Unique hanging around.

-Jeff

AA No. 5 for my revolvers (.38spec,357mag & 44mag)
Pistol I like 700x. (45acp & 9mm)

I like BE-86 in my 9mm and 40. The attached picture is 5.4 grns under xtreme 124 grn hp @ 1.15, shot at 10 yards free hand.

The only powder I've used is CFE Pistol for .380, 9mm and .40S&W. There may be several powders that would be more optimal for each caliber but I like the way CFE meters, it doesn't leak out of my Lee Auto Drum, the smoke and flash are minimal, and my pistols seems to stay reasonably clean.

If I had a chronograph I may be more inclined to try some different powders as I would have some hard data to compare results. I'm not sure I could rely on my senses to differentiate the slight changes one power may have versus another.

Titegroup, sr4756, unique, 2400, aa#5, h110, and bullseye.

May I suggest you try W572 over W244 in the 9mm and save the W244 for the 38 Special and 45 Colt?

Click to expand...

I tried a lb of W572 shot ok, metered ok, but much slower velocity than Hodgdons listed vels in my 5" 9mm 1911.
Bought it thinking about full power stuff in 9mm
Normally Hodgdons "book" vels are pretty close for me in 9mm.
I had no pressure signs at MAX charge but didn't try pushing it. above Hodgdon's listed max.
Not as good vels for me as BE86 or CE-P with listed charges.
Maybe my lot was just on the slow side of the allowable range.
So I wasn't unhappy with W572 it just didn't seem to be as good for FP than some other powders I have used.

Sadly SR4756 and SR7615 are no more, miss them both..
I really liked SR7625 for cast lead in 9mm.

SameOle said:

I like BE-86 in my 9mm and 40. The attached picture is 5.4 grns under xtreme 124 grn hp @ 1.15, shot at 10 yards free hand.

Click to expand...

Mighty nice group my friend.

jaguarxk120 said:

The "goto" powder is Unique: 38, 357, 45ACP, 45 Colt, and 44 Magnum.

It also does very well for light rifle loading.

Click to expand...

Not to mention shotguns, for which Unique got its start.

Col. Harrumph said:

Not to mention shotguns, for which Unique got its start.

Click to expand...

That is correct.

Bullseye was the handgun powder, Unique for shotguns and 2400 was the rifle powder. How things have changed!

That's what's great about reloading/hand loading everybody can have his/her own say in what is a good load and and not have anyone disagree. Then add in all the propellants available today and how can we keep it all straight. Ain't America great.

If your shooting comp, then dial in your pet. If not, there's nothing you can't handload for if you have a can of Unique and 2400.

LGB

Was a big Unique user for .38 Med loads until I tried Universal. You can interchange data with Unique but Universal meters a lot better in my Dillon Press and I think shoots a bit cleaner. For .357 and 44 Mag its 2400 and H110.
HS-6 has become my go to powder for 44 Special.

New to THR forums so I guess I'll start out here with a Hello to all of you and put in a vote for Power Pistol.

LNF150 said:

New to THR forums so I guess I'll start out here with a Hello to all of you and put in a vote for Power Pistol.

Click to expand...

Welcome to THR!
I never have tried Power Pistol. Seems a lot of folks like it though.

Welcome to THR LNF 150,
lots of great people here!

LNF150 said:

New to THR forums so I guess I'll start out here with a Hello to all of you and put in a vote for Power Pistol.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum.

Power Pistol was the first powders I tried, and it worked well in 380, 9, and 40. I did not like the way it worked in 45 (I don't like to load 45 hot) so I started trying different powders. PP is still one of my favorites in the calibers I mentioned, and my pet load for my 16" 9mm AR carbine uses it.