Your most versatile powder(s) is....

UNIQUE, W231, Universal, Blue Dot, Herco, TG, 4895, Varget, h335, maybe RL7, and 4064....Most of my Favs

AA5744. Is there anything is won’t load.

unique for pistol and cast lead rifle

Variety is the spice of life. After the 08 shortage I was introduced to many powders I would have never tried. Some of the old standbys fell by the wayside.

Just getting back into reloading myself and plan on using Universal or HP-38/W231 for the pistol rounds I am going to load.

joneb said:

Variety is the spice of life. After the 08 shortage I was introduced to many powders I would have never tried. Some of the old standbys fell by the wayside.

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That's funny... I picked up a few powders during that time that I don't normally use. Of them, one has become one of my favorites... IMR4227. Originally I hated it, it stank, and performance was not that good in the .41 pistols. I decided to burn it all up by loading it for the 1894 Marlin in .41... THAT's where it performed. It has supplanted both Unique and W296 in the Marlin for 99% of it's loads.

I wasn't so lucky with other powders... I got some W231, which is a good powder, but I just don't load cartridges where it would be a good fit. Same with RedDot. I was actually impressed with RedDot in the .45ACP, but there are other powders that do better. TiteGroup has been the bane of the reloading bench; I've used it a few different places and I really don't like how it shoots... the caveat to this is the crap lasts forever! I bought 2# of it and it seems like it keeps replenishing itself every time I use it. I've decided to burn it up in the 9mm, where it seems to work best, but at this rate, of the original 2# I bought, there will be 3# left when I die...

I could send a bullet down range out of a lot of stuff I own with IMR 3031 and W231. That said, jack of all trades are generally master of none, so I have them but don't use them as much as I used to.

Another vote for Winchester 231.

Can't believe I'm the only one who's mentioned BLC2.

For rifle, I’d say Varget. It seems to work well in everything from .223 to .30-06.

For pistol, I’ve only used Titegroup and it produces very accurate loads. I’ve used it from .380 ACP to .45ACP to include .357 mag and it produces accurate and reliable ammo. There are even subsonic .223 loads that use Titegroup.

I load four cartridges based on the 30-06 case and for me the best overall powder has been Reloader 17. It is accurate, generates high velocity and is easy on cases. Those cartridges include the 25-06 117/120 grain, 270 Winchester 130 grain, 30-06 150 grain and 338-06 180 grain. If I didn't have any other powder I could get along with Reloader 17. For the 270 Winchester 140 grain and the 30-06 165 grain I am also using H4350 but I could get along without it.

H110
Varget

For me it's Hodgson Universal and IMR 4895.

Coin flip between Varget, Benchmark, or 4064.

joneb said:

Variety is the spice of life. After the 08 shortage I was introduced to many powders I would have never tried. Some of the old standbys fell by the wayside.

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For me, it was the shortage of 2012-2013. I had just started reloading and all of a sudden powder was hard to find. I did not want to order enough powder at once to make the hazmat fee worthwhile, so I was left with whatever I could find at gun shows. When I found a pound of something, I bought it. I've tried over 30 different pistol powders as a result. Some I liked, some are ok, some I did not like. As I mentioned before, BE86 is one I really like. I'm in the process of using up some of the powders I don't like, or revisiting them in new (to me) calibers. I now have a lot of data that I can use in the future, if powder becomes scarce again at least I will have an idea of what I can get by with.

I tried a bunch of things during the first shortage( my first - shortage of 2012-2013), does it have listed loads for 9mm yes!, buy it.
I got 4 lbs of WSF and hoped it would work well, turned out to be my new favorite for 9mm.

Dudedog said:

I got 4 lbs of WSF and hoped it would work well, turned out to be my new favorite for 9mm.

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I tried WSF for 9x19 Luger and it did well, I favor BE-86 for 9x19. For a 3" 696 44 spl with a MBC 210gr rnfp coated WSF is a favorite of mine.

Dudedog said:

I got 4 lbs of WSF and hoped it would work well, turned out to be my new favorite for 9mm.

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When I started back in '12 I got 2# of W231 and 2# of WSF from a friend who got me started reloading. The W231 is long gone and many pounds after. I still have the WSF on the shelf never opened I've heard it works well for 9mm. I should try it some day.

I think the most versatile is likely Unique which I use in 45 Colt. I use something else for my other pistols but I am sure unique would work.

With rifle I load for 3 calibers and use 3 powders, and have a 4th on the shelf but likely H4895 would work for all 3. I use H4895 in a light load for 30-06.

-Jeff

Alliant 2400.

With the exceptions of 9mm and .45 ACP, it'll work in every handgun and rifle cartridge I reload for, from .223 to .375 H&H.

Is there anything Unique won’t load? If I could only have one powder it would be Unique. I don’t think I would have to give up a caliber, long or short, nor a shot shell gauge. Would it be optimal in anything, no, but I could still be shooting everything I own.

Gonna throw a new one AA#5. Works very well in every pistol cartridge I load.

A few of the fast and medium speed shotgun/pistol powders are fairly narrow in their recommendations, but most of them are rather versatile. I am currently using the following with a degree of success in a variety of handgun applications: W231, W244, American Select, BE-86, and Power Pistol. In the past I have also used Red Dot, No.5, Unique, Competition, HS-6, Titegroup, and Univesal, with success across a variety of handgun cartridges.

If necessary, I could probably narrow my handgun powders down to just two, but I enjoy the versatility and benefits available from a selection of powders. Plus, I'm not going to get the results I want from eight different handgun cartridges if I limit my powder choice to two.

Though not as versatile as faster powders, Alliant 2400 is usable across a fairly wide range of the revolver cartridges, and works in the 22 Hornet as well.

I don't reload and shoot enough rifle ammo to comment on the versatility of rifle powders, except that I have used the faster ones like IMR4198 and H4895 for full power loads in some of the lower capacity rifle cartridges, and down loaded them successfully in some of the Magnums.

The original question was most versatile not best in rifle, pistol or shotgun so it is a toss up with unique or trailboss. Both can do pistol and rifle and one can also do shotgun I believe.

I use lots of BE-86 in 9mm and Bullseye in 38 & 357, but could do either one in all 3 with no problems. In 223 it’s BLC-2 and/or H335.

I think I could reload for almost everything I have using just Win231 and BLC(2).

WB