Worst powder you have used

SlamFire1 and Sport45 both mentioned not so great performance w/ BlueDot. I have seen similar results in 38 special, 9mm and 45. It does not meter when for small loads like 38, 9mm and 45 loads in my Lee autodisk and burns dirty as I see flecks of unburnt powder on my arms after shooting in these calibers.

However, in defense of BlueDot, the manufacturer says it’s a Magnum powder for Magnum shotshell and Magnum handgun loads . See:

http://www.alliantpowder.com/products/powder/blue_dot.aspx

When I use it in a 357 w/ magnum loads, it works really well. The problem w/ not metering well goes away as the hole the powder goes through is one of the larger ones. It also got a bad rap from a ‘Safety notice’ when using 125 grain JHP bullets in 357 loads. I speculate, someone must have had a gun blow up on them for doing something wrong and sued Alliant Powder when using a 125 grain bullet.

chuck

Clays Universal
Tried and tried it in my gov't model from below min to a little above max w/230 gr FMJ's and cast. Not even 1 load brought my groups any smaller than 3" @ 25 yds. Went back to my Unique loads and instantly cut the groups in half. (All testing done off a rest) Gave what I had left away to someone who could appreciate it more.

800X sent burning flakes onto my paint job.

Clays Universal

Click to expand...

What's that?

Is this it?

By far I'm going to nominate Hodgdon's LIL-GUN


In my trials and tribulations with this powder enjoyed NO accuracy to speak of and WILD pressure spikes even within published data that would render a NEW 357mag case fired from a carbine unreloadable

This is funny. I REALLY like Universal Clays. Use it in .45 acp and moderate loads for .45 Colt. Meters well, clean burn.

I have seen similar results in 38 special, 9mm and 45. It does not meter when for small loads like 38, 9mm and 45 loads in my Lee autodisk and burns dirty as I see flecks of unburnt powder on my arms after shooting in these calibers.

Click to expand...

All those are exceptionally poor applications for BD. I use Blue Dot for screamer loads in my G20. Gives best velocity and clean burn. Gotta push it to make it work. In the 10mm, the load is compressed or very near it.

The worst for me was (yes, the new and improved) Unique. It was worse than awful. Had a guy at the range ask if I was using black power in my Ruger. Gave away 3/4th of the jug.

The other I cannot figure out is H-110/WW-296. I know there are lots of guys that love it. I tried it in .454 and my SOCOM. Supposed to be THE powder for those applications. Velocity was erratic enough to be scary. My friend loves it in his .44 mag. I gave him what was left of mine. He bought an 8# jug after trying it. Go figure.

In my trials and tribulations with this powder enjoyed NO accuracy to speak of and WILD pressure spikes even within published data that would render a NEW 357mag case fired from a carbine unreloadable

Click to expand...

I've read that on multiple sites. That's why I didn't use it in my SOCOM.

I suspect there are certain case volume/primer bristance issues that come into play with magnum powders. If you're just on the edge of a good burn, pressure can spike all over the place. When I tried H-110 in the .454, it was wild. One round would give moderate recoil. Next round with the same exact hand weighed charge would almost kick the gun out of your hand.

One powder ever frustrated me, Blue Dot. Never could dial in decent accuracy in 357 or 44 Magnum. But, then discovered 296 and 4227.

Winchester Action Pistol/Ramshot Silhouette.

After 100 rounds, I had enough unburnt powder to load another round.

Click to expand...

Must have been light loads. Silhouette is a high performance powder.

All those are exceptionally poor applications for BD. I use Blue Dot for screamer loads in my G20. Gives best velocity and clean burn. Gotta push it to make it work. In the 10mm, the load is compressed or very near it.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't push Bluedot. it gets weird quick.

The other I cannot figure out is H-110/WW-296.

Click to expand...

When I tried H-110 in the .454, it was wild. One round would give moderate recoil. Next round with the same exact hand weighed charge would almost kick the gun out of your hand

Click to expand...

One thing my 45win mag carbine taught me was that if you don't/cant crimp the living pee out of your cartridges and use the hottest primers you can find you'll be in for a total crapshoot

Blue Dot. Even in 357 Mag it left enough unburnt powder behind I began to wonder why I bothered to load it up so high. I gave it to a guy who shot 10mm and likes it. I think it is best for really high pressure applications like that. I really don't see how the heck it works in anything.

Runner up is 800-X. It meters like Oreo cookies. Unfortunately I found my best 25 acp load with 800-X. You almost have to use tweezers and stack the flakes one by one like pancakes in the 25 acp shell.
800-X is the best hands-down powder I ever found for 40 S&W. Thank Goodness I don't own a .40 and won't need to load any ever again (probably).

I could make do happily with Titegroup for anything from 25 ACP up to 454 Casull and have done so. But right now I would say Titegroup, Accurate #9 for the real Magnums, H-335 and Varget.

OH, and some PROMO for anything Red Dot could be used in (Namely, lead boolits in rifle calibers, and any pistol caliber). Yeah, PROMO isn't much easier to measure than Red Dot but it works fine in my Lee.

Not that my opinion is "valid" because I've only used "two" (technically three) powders... My least favorite of the two (Varget vs HP38/Win231) is the HP38/Win231. Why? Soot, soot, soot, soot and MORE soot.

.45 ACP at 5.0 gr and 230gr RN Rainier plated bullets loaded to 1.25-1.27 (didn't matter really) in mixed headstamped cases with CCI300 primers just burns like, as others put, flaming dirt. After 500 rounds I don't have a white front sight, it's all greyish, brownish, black. I've upped the charge to the 5.4 region in hopes that it will soot less (QL says better % burned) and still be accurate, but I'm not holding my breath. Pain to clean out!

Varget on the other hand is nice But it gets loaded into .308 WIN, not .45 ACP

I haven't had much luck with H-1000 in several mag rifles that I tried it with.

Universal Clays. I had some unburnt flakes keep my gun from going into battery.

Koski

I wouldn't use the term ''bad powder'', as most canister-grade powders have a use for which they are very good. It just may not be the use you intended...

Powders I bought once (but won't buy again) are Bullseye, 700X, 800X, TiteGroup, Accurate #5, Accurate #7, HP38, Accurate 5744, and SR4756 (the jury's still out on VihtaVuori N105). Are they bad powders? Not at all. It's just that I've found other powders that either perform much better in my specific applications, or perform the same at less cost.

I almost put Unique on this list but I keep buying it, if only for shotshell loads and to develop new loads. In a SHTF scenario, Unique might be all I can find locally, and it would be nice to have loads with my favorite weapons and bullets already developed ...

Ridgway

You basically typed what was on my mind.

I have powders that didn't work for what i was trying but I wouldn't say they were bad just I haven't found what they were good for yet. Some of the others hates I really like. I haven't used Blue Dot but I use 10B101 which I'm told acts just like it & this is my favorite powder. It is my go to for all experiments before branching out to others. I really like Red Dot & Bullseye also. Bullseye was my first & only powder for years.

I have 2 powders right now that I don't have a use for yet. I haven't found anything that Varget works well in & WC872 has yet to find a use(probably won't in my guns).

Unique...metering is a PIA

HS-800X in 28 ga. reloading after the dealer warned me that it did not meter uniformly. That was an understatement. I expereinced my first reloadfing bloopers with many light or non existent powder drops.

I like Hodgdon powders, but not this one.

We too had problems with Lil'Gun. .32-20 odd caking when ignited, globs of powder in the chamber/barrel, slugs stuck in barrel. We were using published load data and proper/good primers, snug crimp. Never have seen anything like that before or since.

Don't know what caused it, but do not try to use that powder any longer.

I've read how other reloaders love it, but not us.

Old Unique: Way too much residue and poor metering from the measure. So bad, I never bothered with the reformulated stuff.

Blue Dot: When you get to the right operating pressures, its a flash bulb. Out side of pressure range, very peaky or very sooty. My only use for it is in shotshells.

800X: Metering??? What's that?

Unique, Meters like ****. The new formula is cleaner burning but still dirty. I don't like fast burn powders like TG. I've heard of more guns blown up by this powder than any other. Definitely not for new comers.

I will never buy 800X again unless I start using a trickler on every round

Had to use a hammer on the powder measure to meter H-570.

In my .357 Maximum, in order: Lil'Gun, AA-1680 and H110
LilGun did exactly what R.W.Dale described; erratic velocities and over-pressure signs with moderate charges.
AA-1680 was quite accurate but covered the brass in soot. Didn't develop enough pressure to suit me.
H110 showed me where the bad rep of the Maximum came from. Sprayed residue from the barrel gap like a sandblaster.
I'd include W680 in this as it never was consistent but its not available any more.