Fast Pistol Powder Options

Unique?
.40

Accurate #2 will do what you want and meters wonderfully.

Don’t discount Red Dot— it will also do the job but is a little coarser. Still meters pretty well.

TiteGroup is pretty close to Bullseye. Red dot is a bit faster. I'd get info from my reloading manual(s) for data on these.

Nice chart; https://www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/burn-rate-color.pdf

Fast is fast. There is no magic between different companies/brands as far as the chemistry.

As you say "Does such a powder exist or is the hotter burn temp just a characteristic of fast burn rate powder?"
They may not be "hotter" just faster Some slow powder have high notro content so they are "hot" burners. Like LongShot. Power Pistol

The "list"

https://www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/burn-rate-color.pdf

The TiteBoom fans should be checking in.
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Unique is not a "fast powder"

mdi said:

TiteGroup is pretty close to Bullseye.

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I've found TG to be one of the hottest powders I've ever used.

I also agree... Unique is not a fast powder, and can be quite dirty at low- to mid-load charges.

WST is what I use and it burns 100 times cleaner than BE.

Zendude said:

I’ve heard good things about Accurate #2. Does it perform well in 38 special where the case volume to powder volume ratio is high and operating pressure is low?

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Accurate Powders recommends it. I don't have any but would buy it when I run out of all the others I have,

http://www.accuratepowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/WPHandloading-Guide-7.0-Web-REV.pdf

around page 19 or so.

Blue68f100 said:

WST is what I use and it burns 100 times cleaner than BE.

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I've been testing BE-86 against WST in 9mm and .45 ACP... BE-86 is as slow a burner as Unique, so it works well with medium and up loads, WST works better with light- to medium loads. I still think WST burns cleaner than BE... as you mentioned... but BE burns cleaner than Unique within it's efficiency envelope.

I put a drop of Hot Sauce in each case when I want them hotter....

Sport Pistol.

http://www.shootingtimes.com/editorial/alliant-sport-pistol-powder/99181#

I like titewad. It's fluffy and acts like titegroup. There is limited load data compared to some other powders.

titegroup and clean shot will fit your needs.

frankmako said:

titegroup and clean shot will fit your needs.

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Clean Shot is the same as Accurate #2.

Really. Check it out.

Zendude said:

Accurate Solo looks a little closer to BE than #2 regarding burn rate. Any experience with Solo?

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Solo 1000 is a great pistol powder, one of my favorites. But, you wont be able to find it in stock anywhere, hasn't been available for years now.

As to the question of fast pistol powders, as mentioned above Accurate #2 is extremely good. Nothing meters better so the consistency cant be beat and Ive had extremely good results with it. Another powder that works great is Vectan 9.5, accurate, clean, and meters real well. The long time gold standard of pistol powders has been VV N320. It works well but is almost twice as expensive as the rest.

Clays

I like Clays, but it is very peaky and unforgiving. I used Solo 1000 many years ago when it was still made in Scotland, and liked how clean it was and its performance. Used International in many rounds and found it clean, but as with Clays can get peaky. Not a lot of data for it, and they have really changed its appearance since going from it being made in Austrailia (what I used). I really like 700x for a lot of pistol calibers, and you might too. Red Dot is really great for me in several calibers, and as correctly noted in this thread its pressure curve is 'faster' than Bullseye - A lot of folks believe otherwise, but it ain't so.

Red Dot like the rest of these large flake propellants, ain't metering as well as a good ball propellant, but my results in a progressive press never seemed to show that to be worth diddly. Good luck.