How many different kinds of powder do you have?

I pushed 15 and that's a little low on smokeless then there is the black over 10 brands and grade there. face it I have a problem. 30 years of collection.

hueyville said:

May take it all, pour it in a barrel and make a custom blend

Click to expand...

Please tell us all that was meant as a joke.

Sitting on about 15 varieties, really only make heavy use out of about 6-7 of them.

I learned in the famine 4 years ago to branch out and try some different powders besides sticking to just my favorite ones. So I can use the other powders because I developed data on them already. But the powders I use most I've tried to get at least one 8 lb jug of if they had it, or five 1 lb cans.



I also learned to buy when I saw something I used whether or not I needed it three months, or even a year from now. I made a trip to the local shop maybe once every six to eight weeks and bought little bits here and there. Spent nothing more than a couple hundred a trip, maybe less than a hundred others.


Fortunately going into this I'm sitting on about 20k in primers, 12-13k in bullets, and 45-50 lbs of powder.

Of course, it's all spread out across maybe 8 different handgun and 8 different rifle cartridges.

For example, I shoot High Power service rifle matches. I've only got about 4,000 small rifle primers. That's pretty much one year's worth of matches, plus some practice in between. Then I'm out.



So fella's, when things get back to normal, do yourselves a favor and buy a little bit each month or two. For some folks a little bit is 2 lbs of powder each trip and 1k in primers every other. For me it was 1 or 2k in primers, 4-8 lbs of powder each trip.

Some guys will do the big bulk order thing from Powder Valley or Graf's, and I've both organized and participated in those with guys at my club before. The challenge is saving up the money, and placing the order when all the different stuff you want is actually in stock.

Right now I have 21 different powders on the shelf not counting the 3 IMR/Hodgdon variants for 4198, 4895 and 4350 or counting the 2 Winchester/Hodgdon clones of W231/HP-38 and W296/H110. I also have no Green Dot, Red Dot, AA#2 or Zip on the shelf right now but did recently. If you count the variants and the ones I am out of right now the grand total would be 30 powders but currently only 26!

Now that I wrote in down that sounds a little nuts actually! LOL

Pistol powders:
300-MP, Lil' Gun, H110, Trail Boss, Unique, Power Pistol

Rifle Powders:
RL-22, H4381, H4350, H355, CFE223, TAC, A2230

So, currently.... 13 different powders, in various quantities from less than 1# to full 8# kegs, to load for 4 pistol and 5 rifle cartridges.

I'm pretty new to reloading, so not too many:

.357 - Alliant 2400
9mm - Hodgdon Titegroup
30-06 - IMR 4350
.444 - Hodgdon 4198

Will soon add Unique to load my dad's favorite - .32 H&R Mag.

Win 231 for 9mm and 40
Bullseye for 45 ACP
Unique, Longshot to have something new to play with.
H110 for 30 Carbine and 41 Mag.

4895 for my Garand loads
Varget for 223 and 308
WC844 and WC846 for the same, but cheaper...

I usually have a few half used bottles of rifle powder for load testing...I think I enjoy working up and experimenting more than just finding what works and producing it!

Boomer mentioned black powder. I have lots. Some I buy, others people give me when they quit black powder shooting. Any opinions on shelf life for this in double sealed temperature controlled environment. In stock I have every thing from A-1 for large artillery to 1f through 5f. Somehow I have accumulated a dozen one pound cans of 4f in one box of which varies from 5 to 30 years old. I have read not to keep this long but every few years I take oldest and newest can plus a random and do a burn rate test. The older cans seem to look, smell and burn same as newer. That said, many pounds of 4f cooking off and then possibly upsetting the rest would probably not be pretty. If it passes the practical test I assume its o.k., who has a different opinion and why. Also, these cans could be combined into about eight as some are short on volume.

I have three mostly full cans of 5f which can be exciting, the 4f mentioned, about five of 3f, six of 2f, two of 1f and a 20 pound keg of A-1 in a factory sealed barrel never been opened. At some time it was surplussed from the U.S. military. All of this is in an OSHA approved powder magazine I purchased from an explosives company when I was still using dynamite regularly. Since I don't do explosives work anymore I have split the black powder equally into the two magazines. I retasked my OSHA explosion proof, radio frequency shielded blasting cap container for storing as many primers as will fit. Stinking box cost more than the primers even with today prices. I only own one black powder pistol, two rifles and a medium sized cannon. The cannon is what keeps me from divesting myself as it eats a lot if I use it. But the 4f and 5f have me thinking.

I thought it was about a dozen, but I just counted and it's 21, not including blackpowder and BP substitutes. (a few of those I won't be replacing when I use them up)

HMMM off the top of my head

Unique
H380
H335
IMR 4064
IMR 3031
W231
Lil' Gun

Maybe some SR 4756

Wow! I just looked at what I have but then I've fairly new to reloading and still looking for what works best.

Accurate No 2
Accurate No 5
Alliant - Unique
Alliant - Bullseye
Hodgdon HP-38
Hodgdon TiteGroups
Hodgdon Clays
Hodgdon Universal Clays
Hodgdon Lil'Gun
Winchester Super Target (WST)
Winchester AA Lite
IMR - Trailboss
IMR Powder 3031
IMR Powder 4198
Alliant - Reloader 7

Black powder and subs all FFg
Pyrodex RS
Schuetzen
Swiss
KIK
Goex

H110 for 30 carbine 231 and green dot for pistol 2495 and RL17 for rifle.

I only have two powders that I use.

American Select: 12 gauge Clay Loads

Unique: 20 gauge Clay Loads, .32 H&R Mag, .38 Spl,. .38 Spl+P, .357 Mag

These fit my needs and my reloading space is limited.

I have 23 different powders, 24 if you separate the supposedly identical HP-38 and W231, which I do. They're split a dozen each for rifle and handgun, by chance rather than design.

All but two of these (Varget and Bullseye) I have bought in single pound canisters so I can test loads and find out what works best. At least six of the rifle powders I bought specifically for .223 Remington loads.

Varget is a go-to powder for .223 for a whole bunch of folks, and it does work well for most bullet weights. It makes a good 45-70 as well I hear.

Bullseye is...well, Bullseye! I've use it to good effect in every handgun cartridge I load from .45ACP to .380 except .44 Mag and .44 SPL. Those get H-110, 2400, or #9.

Having a variety means I can load anything I load with at least three different powders and get good results, and that means when one or two are OOS I can still use the third. Maybe someday I'll find a load for each cartridge that is so good that I won't load anything else, but I'm not there yet.

When I reloaded in the 60/70's I accumulated about 20 different powders. Most only slightly used.
When I started again about three years ago I am only loading for handguns. I surveyed the loading data and bought a pound of HP38. When I finished that I started buying it in 8# jugs. Haven't bought anything else since.
The really nice thing about reloading, and the USA, we each get to do whatever we want.

I currently have in stock 47 lbs total of 14 different powders. Not counting partial cans.

At least 17, not in a position to take inventory right now.

I currently have 9 (13 1lb jugs, mixed amounts) and I have 4 (4 8lb jugs and 3 1lb jugs, but only 4 types) more ordered from Powder Valley. 2 (1lb jugs) that I currently have won't get used unless I somehow burn through the roughly 9lbs left on the shelf and the 34lbs that are on the way, all before this time next year. I've had to do some experimenting to keep shooting. But it's turned out pretty good so far. For instance, I never would have bought Benchmark, Red Dot, or True Blue if it weren't for this current shortage. But I've found some very accurate loads with them and will probably buy more in the future.

Sometimes a dog s**** in your yard and you step in it, if you're lucky that dog ate a gold nugget the day before.

24 types not including black, up and down through the burn rates, some darn near identical. Most for rifle 22 through 45 cal say 80%, the rest 9mm through 45 handgun.

Bullseye, Unique, HS6, AA#7

BlC2, H322, H335, Rl-15

Unique and Rl-15 are the two that handle the majority of my needs.

I have 43 different powders, but I only seem to use:
Power Pistol for semi auto pistols
H110 for revolvers
H4350 for rifles.

And sorry to say, I shoot factory ammo in shotguns

20 kinds of powder
14 dies for rifle, pistol, sg

Yes my wife knows. She doesn't say anything and I don't say anything about her 5 sewing machines.

We both suffer from SABLE ( Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy)

Jerry,
I was on a ranch in MT in 1984, down in their basement.
The old rancher had zillions of Winchester M70s and reloading equipment. That seemed like all good stuff to me.

The woman had a library of sewing patterns neatly arranged on shelves. My reaction was, "Humph. She will never use any of this stuff again."

I have 8 different powders. Most of them are just a one pound bottle to try.

Pistol
WST
HS-6
Bullseye
Titegroup

Rifle
H-335
BLC2
W748
WC-844