Anyone heard of Winchester 235 pistol powder?

[wasa]

Chatting with another reloader over the weekend and he mentioned he uses Winchester 235 powder for 45 acp and 9 mm Lugar. When I asked if he meant Winchester 231, he told me that Winchester 235 is a slightly hotter version of Winchester 231 that Winchester uses in their factory pistol loads. He stays he uses the published starting load for Winchester 231 for this W235 powder.

Google and Bing (yes, tried both) did not come up with a Winchester 235 powder. Has anyone heard of this or did I maybe misunderstand?

Thanks!

 

[Jim Watson]

Never heard of W235.
Maybe it is a surplus or commercial powder.

 

[243winxb]

http://www.theballisticassistant.com/smokeless-powder-catalog/ l dont see it? Manufacturer OEM Powder Listings and more.

 

[LiveLife]

Winchester 235 ... he told me that Winchester 235 is a slightly hotter version of Winchester 231 that Winchester uses in their factory pistol loads.

Maybe he meant W244?

And where did he get this "W235"?

 

[Charlie98]

Maybe he meant W244?

That was my thought...

 

[murf]

tell him "pics or it didn't happen". a pic of the container would be nice.

murf

 

[SlowFuse]

Never heard of it, Agree with post #2. Its possible they have access to some old mil/pull down or commercial powder.

But more likely they misspoke. Maybe got H335 and W231 merged together in the brain? That could be a mess if you actually did mix them up.

 

[Laphroaig]

My guess is that from time to time commercial grade, i.e. non-canister powders find their way into the components market. An example of the type of dealer who might resell such a commodity is Pat's Reloading out of Ohio. Never heard of W235, but I did buy some WC-297 from Pat in 2009.


I split an 8# jug with a buddy so the label in my photo is a Xerox copy; he got the original white bleach jug. I've loaded a fair amount of 30 Carbine and a little .357 with it, and to me its identical to the H110 I had used previously. We paid $90 for 8#, I wonder what H110 sold for in 2009, $150?

To me, part of the allure of loading is sometimes going off of the beaten path.

 

[GooseGestapo]

WC297 is the current factory powder for select .357mag loads. It’s essentially Win296 with a flash suppressant.
I should have gotten some while it was available!
I’ve never heard of WC235.

I once had an individual vehemently argue that he used 3031 in .38spl loads. Found out several years later it was Win231.......

 

[Charlie98]

WC297 is the current factory powder for select .357mag loads. It’s essentially Win296 with a flash suppressant.
I should have gotten some while it was available!
I’ve never heard of WC235.

Given the logic of WC297/W296, I would guess WC235 is a non-canister version of W231 or thereabouts. Makes sense, anyway.

 

[wasa]

I think I'm in agreement with Laphroaig and others above. I contacted this guy asking for a picture of the label and was told that he bought an 8 lb unlabeled jug from a dealer and was told that it was Winchester 235, a hotter version of Winchester 231. Doing some other online searching, I'm learning more about "bulk" or "generic" powder. Here are two links I found

Titegroup Generic - https://fedarm.com/product/csb-1-pistol-powder/

IMR 700X Generic - https://www.canadaammo.com/product/detail/d700-pistol-powder-5lbs/

So, looks like there are many rifle and pistol powders out there that are not sold as IMR, Hodgdon, Winchester, Alliant, Western, VV, Lovex, etc.

Edit - also found this site https://www.mil-spec-industries.net/rifle-powder-wc844 which claims to manufacture smokeless powder for the military. Appear to have WC231, which appears to be generic Winchester 231.

 

[748]

The first thing I thought is its a bulk sold "WC" powder.
You can get a lot of the bulk powder really cheap of you want 4, 8, 16lb or more.

 

[Cannibul]

The first thing I thought is its a bulk sold "WC" powder.
You can get a lot of the bulk powder really cheap of you want 4, 8, 16lb or more.

It used to be cheap. Not anymore. You can save maybe $1-$3 a lb.

 

[LiveLife]

Winchester 235 powder for 45 acp and 9 mm

bulk [commercial powders] sold "WC" powder

It used to be cheap. Not anymore. You can save maybe $1-$3 a lb.

If you want cheap for 45ACP and 9mm, just use Promo sold in 8 lb containers.

Promo is the lowest cost pistol powder you can get and goes a long way as you only need 4.0 gr for 200 gr SWC 45ACP loads and 124 gr 9mm loads.

Pretty accurate too as my Sig 1911 will produce 2" groups at 25 yards and my 9mm PCCs are producing 1.5"-2" groups at 50 yards.

 

[748]

The bulk military pull downs were cheap earlier this year. Give it a few months and it will go back to normal.