Which powder for 9mm and 45acp?

Red Dot.

Unique. Lots of load data and easy to use.

Hp38/w231

morrow said:

Hp38/w231

Click to expand...

^^^ Gotta agree with this.

loneviking said:

Unique.

Click to expand...

OP requested powder that meters well in the Pro Auto Disk. My experience with Unique and Pro Auto Disk has been variation of up to .2+ gr charge-to-charge. In comparison, W231/HP-38 meters consistenly with less than .1 gr variation and often with less than .05 gr (of all the ball and small flake powders I have tried, W231/HP-38 has metered best for me in the Pro Auto Disk).

zdc1775 said:

I would be using 125 gr. cast bullets in the 9mm and 200 gr. cast in the 45. I am looking for somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 fps for the 9mm and 850 fps for the 45.

Click to expand...

1999 Winchester load data lists the following for 9mm 125 gr lead RN bullet.



I am using Missouri 18 BHN 125 gr RN (SmallBall) and 3.8 gr of W231/HP-38 at shorter 1.080"-1.100" OAL due to the rounder nose profile and that should generate around 1000 fps.


Hodgdon website lists the following for the 45ACP 200 gr SWC:

200 gr CAST LSWC W231/HP-38 OAL 1.225" Start 4.4 gr (771 fps) 11,000 CUP - Max 5.6 gr (914 fps) 16,900 CUP

Click to expand...

My favorite 45ACP load is Missouri 12 BHN 200 gr SWC (Bullseye #1) and 5.0 gr of W231/HP-38 at 1.245"-1.26" OAL (depending on the pistol) and should come close to your target velocity of 850 fps.

Plus one for Unique.

Win 231/HP38 are the same powder according to the Hogdon Annual manual and as Hogdon now "owns" Win and other powders, they should know. ALL Hogdon ball powders are the same as Win ball powders, as they now own the St. Marks Powder plant that Olin (Win) built and it is the ONLY ball powder maker in the US. Win 231 is my "go to powder" for all handgun cartridges unless I need magnum power.

Unique and Bulleyes are good powders as well. but Bullseye tends to be a bit dirty. All handgun cartridges loaded by the US military through WWII were loaded with Bulleye, so yes, it can do the job, but Win 231 and Unique are probably more useful powders.

Vlad357 said:

Plus one for Unique.

loneviking said:

Unique.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

OP requested powder that meters well in the Pro Auto Disk.

Legion489 said:

Hogdon now "owns" Win and other powders

Click to expand...

Hodgdon doesn't own Winchester, just licensed to sell their powders. OTOH, Hodgdon does own IMR.


http://www.hodgdon.com/history.html

Hodgdon purchased IMR® Powder Company in October 2003 ... In March 2006, Hodgdon Powder Company and Winchester® Ammunition announced that Winchester® branded reloading powders would be licensed to Hodgdon.

Click to expand...

Win 231/HP38 are the same powder according to the Hogdon Annual manual and as Hogdon now "owns" Win and other powders, they should know. ALL Hogdon ball powders are the same as Win ball powders, as they now own the St. Marks Powder plant that Olin (Win) built and it is the ONLY ball powder maker in the US. Win 231 is my "go to powder" for all handgun cartridges unless I need magnum power.

Unique and Bulleyes are good powders as well. but Bullseye tends to be a bit dirty. All handgun cartridges loaded by the US military through WWII were loaded with Bulleye, so yes, it can do the job, but Win 231 and Unique are probably more useful powders.

^ bds
It's been a while since I've used Unique but doesn't it meter the same as Red Dot?
I find that it (RD) throws very well in my Lee disk setup.

Certaindeaf, comparison picture below shows flattened small ball powder W231/HP-38 with flake powders Unique and Promo (I have been using Promo with Red Dot load data). Unique is larger than Bullseye flakes and both Unique and Promo charge weights vary up to .2+ gr (Promo will vary even more than Unique). The comparison was done on my newer Pro Auto Disk (I have three). Interestingly, when I used my 17 year old Pro Auto Disk, my weight variation decreased with even large flake Promo, so I have the older Pro Auto Disk dedicated for Promo.

Also, note that W231/HP-38 has shiny coating on the surface. This coating seems to coat the Pro Auto Disk sliding surfaces and lubricate parts. I always recommend W231/HP-38 to break-in new Pro Auto DIsk (about 50 or so cycles and actions start to get coated/lubricated. I never clean my Pro Auto Disk surfaces, just wipe off excess powder with paper towel. With W231/HP-38, the shiny surface you see on disks is not wear, just shiny lubricating coating from powder.

I use Red-Dot and W231/HP38 in pistols. I shoot both 9MM and 45ACP. I also use a Lee turret press with the Auto-Disk Pro. It seems to throw very consistent charges with both RD and W231.

I like Red Dot quite a bit for this. I've found it rarely varies more than .1 grain in charge weights between 3.7 and 4.8 grains.

I use Bullseye for both.

Another vote for W231/HP38. Meters great, relatively clean, consistant. Burns a little cleaner when pushed a little harder than min loads. LOTS of loads per pound. One observation, HP38 is always a little cheaper than W231...

Another vote for HP-38. Great powder. Although, you can't go wrong with Bullseye or Red Dot either.

WST Try it you'll like for the velocities you mentioned.

Another vote for W-231.

Unique. Runs well in both. Lots of data. Forgiving powder.

I like of Solo 1000 for cast loads in 9 and 45.

Bullseye and Unique both work well.

My favorite handgun powder is W231/HP-38. I use it for most calibers because it's clean, meters like water and produces accurate ammo. It's outstanding in the .38 Special and .45 Auto and works very well in the 9mm too.

I load a 124gr LRN bullet in the 9mm with 4.0gr W231 all the time. That load might not achieve the velocity you're looking for but since the Max charge is 4.4gr you have plenty of room to get there.

I usually load only 230gr bullets in the 45 Auto but when I do load a 200gr bullet I use the same charge weight as with 230gr bullets, 5.5gr W231/HP-38.

HP-38 & Bullseye will both work. HP-38 is my favorite in both of those calibers though.

Wow 24 posts and i don't think i saw accurate #5 mentioned anywhere in the thread. I saw red dot mentioned a few times, but red dot doesn't meter as well as unique especially in the smaller cavities. My personal preference is for unique, but when using my progressive press (doesn't shake the powder measure like a lee turret) i turn to accurate #5 which has the same applications in handgun use as does unique. It is an extremely fine spherical powder that meters better than water. It's also a better powder in .45 acp than is 231/hp38.