How good are the following powders for 9mm Loads

Interesting to note... the Hodgdon (website) data has zero data for 9mm/WST.

Charlie98 said:

Interesting to note... the Hodgdon (website) data has zero data for 9mm/WST.

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Yeah.... I had to dig pretty deep into the interwebs to find recommendations for starting charges. Not necessarily published data either. Unfortunately, WST and 9mm is more of word-of-mouth affair these days.

Hornady 4th edition reloading manual has WST data for the 9mm. Page #547 has 124gr bullet data that I use for my 5.0gr/125gr home cast bullet load. Hornady lists their 124gr fmj-fn/fmj-rn/rnl bullets and 4.8gr to 5.4gr of wst.

A link to several reloading manuals that can be downloaded and saved including the Hornady 4th edition.
http://marvinstuart.com/firearm/Manuals/Reloading/Reloading Manuals/

Western publishes data for Ramshot Competition which is as faster, or maybe a bit faster than WST.

Powder companies can't test every possible combination.

Texas10mm said:

Powder companies can't test every possible combination.

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Indeed. But if I was marketing a powder, assuming it was appropriate for the cartridge in question, I would certainly come up with some data for what is an extremely popular cartridge like the 9mm. But that's me...

Walkalong said:

Agreed, Competition seems to be a hair faster, or maybe it's just the higher nitro content, but it usually takes .1 Grs less than WST. WST is my first choice, but during the craziness I bought a 4 pounder of Competition since WST was unavailable anywhere.

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I bought 16 lbs of Competition when bullets.com was going out of business. $46/4 lb was too cheap to pass up.

Charlie98 said:

Indeed. But if I was marketing a powder, assuming it was appropriate for the cartridge in question, I would certainly come up with some data for what is an extremely popular cartridge like the 9mm. But that's me...

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There are at a minimum of four dozen powders on the market that are suitable for 9mm in one application or another. Now add in the 100 different bullets.

Hodgdon alone lists 20 powders for use with 9mm. That's not including WST. They are going to give data for the most popular AND most suitable powders for each cartridge.

PO2Hammer said:

Stock up on W231/HP-38.

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I found 8# on sale for $130-ish (in a reloaders shop, so that was all in plus tax!). All I’ll ever need for 9mm/45acp for a long time

Nature Boy said:

PO2Hammer said:

Stock up on W231/HP-38.

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I found 8# for $130 ... All I’ll ever need for 9mm/45acp for a long time

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+1.

I got plenty of 8#s of pistol powders and thought two to three 8 lb jugs of Promo were good enough to have on hand.

I was wrong.

I just opened my Promo jug #4 and have #5 and #6 on standby for retirement as it is now my primary powder for pistol and carbine loads.

Texas10mm said:

There are at a minimum of four dozen powders on the market that are suitable for 9mm in one application or another. Now add in the 100 different bullets.

Hodgdon alone lists 20 powders for use with 9mm. That's not including WST. They are going to give data for the most popular AND most suitable powders for each cartridge.

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Meh, research proves this out... there isnt about 4 or 5 cartridges with data for WST in Hodgdon's current online data. Shame...

For those looking for WST load data from Hodgdon in 9mm, have you considered trying IMR Target?

Hodgdon has plenty of 9mm load data for Target.

I am looking forward to WST vs Target comparison test and my guess is Target may win.

For light loads , I use Red Dot.

9mmepiphany said:

Yup, I discovered that when I was looking for an IDPA 9mm load. There is information out there, but you have to push harder than some folks might be comfortable with without published data. Nowadays I usually use Be-86 or Sport Pistol for 9mm

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I figured that out when I tried WST and 230grn bullets in the .45ACP... I had to run it at the absolute top charge to duplicate my 6.5grn Unique load, and I feel it's too fast for that. It does work well with 200grn bullets, and likely 185's (although I don't load those.) In 9mm, I've not had very good initial testing with BE86; SportPistol and W244 is next on the ToDo list.

bds said:

For those looking for WST load data from Hodgdon in 9mm, have you considered trying IMR Target?

Hodgdon has plenty of 9mm load data for Target.

I am looking forward to WST vs Target comparison test and my guess is Target may win.

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I don't know why I haven't been able to warm up to the new IMR powders... I love their rifle powders.

MoreIsLess said:

I would use these for light 9mm loads used for competition

• Winchester WST
• Winchester WSF
• Hodgdons Clay
• Hodgdon Universal
• Alliant Power Pistol

I am already familiar with Winchester 231, Bullseye, Titegroup, Accurate #2, I just want to have a back up plan in case I can't find any of the ones I just mentioned. Again these would be for light competition loads

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I only have 11lbs of W231 left so I'm almost in a panic! I am liking W244 now so I might switch over at some point.

As for the 9mm and the powders you list, I have used Universal and it's alright and I have used Clays and do not like it in the 9mm. Clays is way fast for the 9 and Clays takes up such a small amount of the case capacity you can hardly see the powder at the bottom of the case. I have not used the other powders you listed in the 9mm.

IMO powders other than W231, Bullseye, Titegroup or AA #2 you might look at for light 9mm ammo are:
W244
Red Dot - Promo
Green Dot
AA#5
Ramshot Zip
IMR 700x
IMR Red
IMR Target

There are more but those are the powders I can think of off hand. Of course there are well over a dozen more powders if you are looking for higher velocities but that's not what you asked for.

I'm very sure you can find at least 6 powders that will make you very happy in the 9mm for times where powders are hard to find.

MoreIsLess said:

I would use these for light 9mm loads used for competition

• Winchester WST
• Winchester WSF
• Hodgdons Clay
• Hodgdon Universal
• Alliant Power Pistol

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I use WSF with a 147 RMR MW for competition. That is, when I'm not using Sport Pistol. I shoot for 132 PF. If you expand the selection per the other posts, there are a lot of faster powders that will work well.

As I am fairly new to reloading (a little more than a year and a half in so far), I am only loading for .38 special and 9mm. The vast majority of my reloads are 9mm.

I have only used 4 differed pistol powders so far:
Alliant Power Pistol
Alliant Unique
Hodgdon CFE Pistol
Hodgdon Titegroup

Out of the those I definitely prefer Power Pistol the best. I am shooting either 115 or 124 gr Berry's copper plated bullets. I've been using the 10th Edition Hornady book and I have been using middle of the road loads for 9mm, with good results. I think I use 5.6grs on the 115 bullets and 5grs on the 124 bullets. They actually feel pretty hot, but I've never chronoed them.

I also prefer Power Pistol in .38 special as well. At least when I'm using Berry's copper plated 125gr bullets.

I'd like to reload .357 with the powder I already have, and I think power pistol is the way to go. However, none of my powders show up in Hornady's load data book with the type of bullets I'd be using.

I used Unique for some .38 special reloads, but they weren't very consistent.

I use Titegroup for case lead loads.

Overall however, I think Alliant Power Pistol is my favorite, and the main one I'll stock up on.

Some powders I'd like to try in the future for pistols loads are:
Winchester 231
Winchester Autocomp
Hodgdon HS-6
Hodgdon 110

Though the only pistol calibers I currently can reload for are 9mm, .38 special, and .357 mag. I'd like to add 10mm, 45acp, and 45colt in the future, I think sure all those powders plus the ones I already have would give me a ton of options.

American_Fusilier said:

Overall however, I think Alliant Power Pistol is my favorite, and the main one I'll stock up on.

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Power Pistol will definitely light up your life. Welcome to the forum.
Since you have a couple of Alliant powders, you may want to try Sport Pistol. It's a bit faster but less flashy than Power Pistol and works well in the calibers you mention.
If you go the Winchester route, you may want to try W244 in addition or replacement of 231.

lordpaxman said:

Power Pistol will definitely light up your life. Welcome to the forum.
Since you have a couple of Alliant powders, you may want to try Sport Pistol. It's a bit faster but less flashy than Power Pistol and works well in the calibers you mention.
If you go the Winchester route, you may want to try W244 in addition or replacement of 231.

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Hey thanks for the tips!

I still haven't gotten any Winchester powders yet. I started off exclusively with Hodgdon, then added some IMR stuff, and finally got those two Alliant powders.

Powders are very interesting to me and I could just keep buying new ones, however in reality, I could probably get by with exclusively VARGET and Power Pistol, though I do like Hodgdon's CFE line, you can get nice velocities without a ton of pressure in most cases.

I'll definitely be exploring Winchester powders in the future though.

There's a smaller far lesser known powder company called Shooter's World, previously known as Lovex. Their powder tend to cost far less and they still tend to perform great. I use a powder from them called CleanShot, and it really lives up to the name. Super clean burning, reliable, and plenty accurate. I just looked up Power Pistol since it was suggested at the start of the thread and it was listed at 22.09 per pound if you buy it in one pound quantities on Midsouth, and that's before shipping. There's a reloading vendor at my local gun shows who sells Cleanshot for 15.99 for the one pound containers and no shipping is ever paid on my end. Shooter's world also has Major Pistol, Auto Pistol, and Ultimate Pistol powders which they say will work in 9mm. I can quote the descriptions in their load book of these powders if anyone would like.

Shooter's World powders are great, but prices around here have come up to around what Hogdon and Accurate charge. Still might find a deal now and then. I like Clean Shot a lot! It's a powder with the same burn rate as AA#2, and is considered the same in use. I always use the Lovex data to be safe, but I've found it to be the same numbers.

Settled on Titegroup for 9MM and .45. Economical, accurate pour, not flashy, not sooty. The only thing you have to watch is so little of it is required you don’t want to double load -- not a problem if your procedures are sound: Any time you stop for any reason, empty out any case with powder in it and start over.

I really like WSF in 9mm.
Works well medium to Full power.
Not as much velocity on top as some others (BE-86 for example) but still good numbers.
My current match load is 4.5gr-4.6gr of WSF with a RMR MPR 124gr HP
S+B SP, mixed range brass, charges as thrown after setting measure 5" 9mm 1911

String: 5
Date: 9/17/2017
Time: 11:24:26 AM
Grains: 124
Hi Vel: 1037
Low Vel: 1012
Ave Vel: 1021
Ext Spread: 25
Std Dev: 9
RMR MPR JHP 4.5 WSF 1.08
Velocity Power Factor Ft/Lbs
1021 126.604 286.995
1018 126.232 285.311
1012 125.488 281.958
1020 126.48 286.433
1037 128.588 296.061
(note: hot day vels are a bit higher when it is cooler, this lot seems a hair slower than most the ones I have used, normally 4.4gr gets me to about 127-128 PF))
WSF feels softer to me than some faster burning powders, but feel is an individual thing.

I used to shoot a lot of Universal when using lead/coated lead.