Pistol powder choices

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Ive used various pistol powders for target loads including Bullseye, Unique, Accurate No. 2 & W231. I load 45 ACP (4.7 gr. -200 GR LSWC), 38 special (3.5 gr-148 GR LWC) & 44 Mag-44 Spec (6.9 gr -200 GR-LRN). Most recently I used W231 & it's great in all of them. However an experienced bullseye shooter at the range told me I was shooting a very dirty powder. Recommended that I try others. I forgot which ones he mentioned but I had never heard of them before.
Recommendations are welcome.

PS: I appreciate the help I got on my last (first) post. Thanks
 
W231 is on the cleaner side of the ones you list. I've found 700-X and 800-X to be fairly clean, although, ironically, shotgunners will often tell you they are very dirty! I started using them in .38 and .357 because I loaded them for Trap (700-X) and pheasant and duck (800-X) loads, and found them to be much cleaner than Red dot and Blue Dot. I load AA#5 and Bullseye for .45 ACP and .38 Spl., the only two calibers I have presently, though have loaded Unique for both (I always keep a pound of Unique around), and I've loaded .357's with W296 and W571, as well as Blue Dot. .44 Mag I used to load with W571, and Blue Dot.
 
Clean/dirty is relative... you have to clean your pistol anyway, so it's not really an issue. If your brass is excessively dirty on the outside, you probably need to up your charge or go to a faster powder. I have used W231in .45acp, but prefer something a little faster. Red Dot does it for me. Cases are pretty clean outside after shooting. I have loaded RD from 4.0gr-5.0gr in .45 (200gr LSWC, and 230gr FMJ) and found it quite serviceable. There's always another powder to try-- it's part of the fun!
 
I load 165 gr. and 180 gr. FMJ 40 S&W and 230 gr. FMJ 45 ACP. I have always used W231/HP38. IMO, very good powder for these rounds. Changing up powders once in a while will no doubt give you varying results. Probably good and bad. Personally, what I use works very well, and I have no reason to change powders. But to each his own.
 
Hi...
I tend to use the powder that gets me the results that I am looking for with a particular bullet and gun.
I use a lot of different powders, including W296, 2400, AA#7, AA#9, Unique, W231, Bullseye, Blue Dot, HP38, Red Dot and probably a few more for handguns.
I couldn't care less if one is "dirtier" or "cleaner" than another. I am looking for accuracy with the velocity I am trying to achieve with a given bullet in that caliber.
I clean my guns after shooting them...level of dirtiness is irrelevant. Consistency and accuracy in a given velocity window is much more important than a "clean" powder.
 
I load 165 gr. and 180 gr. FMJ 40 S&W and 230 gr. FMJ 45 ACP. I have always used W231/HP38. IMO, very good powder for these rounds. Changing up powders once in a while will no doubt give you varying results. Probably good and bad. Personally, what I use works very well, and I have no reason to change powders. But to each his own.

Try Longshot in that .40. Enormous boost in performance.
 
Clean/dirty is relative... you have to clean your pistol anyway, so it's not really an issue. If your brass is excessively dirty on the outside, you probably need to up your charge or go to a faster powder. I have used W231in .45acp, but prefer something a little faster. Red Dot does it for me. Cases are pretty clean outside after shooting. I have loaded RD from 4.0gr-5.0gr in .45 (200gr LSWC, and 230gr FMJ) and found it quite serviceable. There's always another powder to try-- it's part of the fun!

Yes, exactly. If it works, I'll stick with it. I don't care if it's "dirty". What is the downside? I agree with drband; trying all the other powders, projectiles and myriad of other factors is indeed part of the FUN!
 
There are a wide variety of powders for a reason: There are a whole bunch of different dimensions of performance/attributes that shooters may want. Some of these trade off against one another. Some shooters care (either in general or in a particular application) about some of these attributes, some don't. If the cleanliness of powder is a big deal to you, then it may be worth trying to find something that gives that attribute without giving away what you like about 231.

I will say that I have played with a number of powders in that burn rate (though not all of them), and have come to really love VV N320. It's a little on the pricey side, but it really does a bunch of stuff I like. It burns pretty clean (since I do NOT clean my guns after every range trip, I don't want something so gunky that it starts to interfere with operation - otherwise, I don't care too much), meters very well (insanely well for a stick-shaped powder), produces low ES and SD numbers, and is almost magically low recoil for a given power factor/momentum. While it's a pretty fast powder, it's also just bulky enough to be pretty visible in most cases when running on a progressive or turret. That's the stuff I care about for most of my shooting, so I love it.

You may care about other stuff.
 
I shoot & reload for .45 auto only with B/E, but I have heard that Vihta-Vouri powders are ery clean burning but temperature sensitive. Will clean out your pocketbook quickly too. I have heard & read that 310 & 320 are excellent powders for .45 auto.
 
If you are looking for impressions and suggestions then here are mine. At the moment I have my pistol powders down to 3 favorites, AA#2, HP-38 and Ramshot Silhouette. This is how I find use for them. 380 Auto Silhouette performs best followed by #2. 9mm HP-38, Silhouette and #2. 45Aacp Silhouette and #2.

I was using AA#5 but there is a big overlap with Silhouette and the Silhouette performs the same with a bit less powder. Next I'm going to try some Ramshot Competition to compare against the #2. I know many use HP-38/W231 in their 45's but for some reason I get a lot of muzzle flash with the loads I've tried.
 
I shoot & reload for .45 auto only with B/E, but I have heard that Vihta-Vouri powders are ery clean burning but temperature sensitive.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "temp sensitive," and how much variation in velocity from one month to the next matters to you.
 
I was a fan of Win231/HP38 before I started using BE86. I still like the former but the later is just better suited for my current needs.

OP, if you like Win231/HP38 then don't worry about what anyone says, or give a few others a try. In my case, I was looking for a soft shooting load and the RMR 124 grain/BE86 combo was highly recommended. I tried it and loved it. That said, I haven't started loading 45 ACP yet.

Oh and one other thought. I believe that trying a few different powders and having words for them is a good thing for WHEN the next time things get hard to get.
 
Buying powder has become a lot like buying beer. You look in the cooler and you have your choice of about 50 different beers. All of it tastes like beer, more or less, and will go down like chicken on a june bug on a hot day. About the time you find one you like the store will no longer carry it, mostly because not enough people bought it and the brewing company went to small batch or stopped production altogether. That's marketing.

I only have three powders for the six cartridges that I load. I've used the same powder for a long time and I buy them 8 lbs at a time when I can find them.

There are too many different powders being marketed. We could easily get by with about 10 or fewer. Rifle powder is more specialized but many different powders will work well for both shotgun and pistol. People seem to purchase more based on marketing these days than paying attention to actual results. I think I've tried about 10 and settled on 3. No need to continue to search for a better powder.

Probably one of the reasons for the last powder shortage was companies trying to maintain a supply of 50-100 different types of powder. That didn't work real well.
 
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W231 is an excellent 45 ACP powder, I have shot kegs of it. I am transitioning to all Bullseye loads in the 45 ACP. Bullseye was the powder used in the 1910 developmental cartridges, used through two World Wars, and is still popular among the Bullseye Pistol crowd. Asking shooters on the firing line, when Bullseye got hard to find, a number walked over to Titegroup and found it an outstanding target powder, some are using WST.

I really wonder if the "dirty powder" disease is a psychosomatic condition.
 
I believe any powder will burn cleaner at the max charges, IOW, higher pressures. The 45acp cartridge is low pressure compared to 9mm, 40, 380, etc. As such, it would be good to stick to mid-upper charges. If you think it is dirty, up the charge if possible or go to a faster burning powder. In 45acp, I personally like Clays for lower velocity loads.

As far as "you have to clean the gun anyway", I have had experience with one powder being so dirty in 45acp that the gun would have problems going into battery after just a few mags. So yeah, all things equal, I will go with the cleaner burning powder if possible.
 
BE loads are normally low velocity, low pressure ammo. Very few powders burn clean in these conditions. WST is one of the exceptions. It was designed for shotgun shells, where it's pressure is normally low. WST will burn exceptional clean even at 4.0 gr behind a 185gr LSWC. My BE load with 200 gr LSWC is 4.2 gr is what I use for the long range (50 yrds).

Walkalong mentioned a few other to try.

Once I started using WST I quit looking since it was so clean.
 
Of all those you list only Unique has left my .45 ACP muzzle pretty sooty after an outing which is still no big deal I wipe everything down regardless. Like others have said shoot what works for you. I will say this, Unique is too slow for target loads.
 
As far as "you have to clean the gun anyway", I have had experience with one powder being so dirty in 45acp that the gun would have problems going into battery after just a few mags.

For me, that's the only level of cleanliness I care about - sufficiently clean not to jam up the gun during a day when I'm shooting 500-1k rounds, and sufficiently clean not to require a detail strip more than a couple-three times a year to keep it functioning 100%. Once it's past that threshold, I don't really care how much cleaner it gets.
 
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