Changing different powders

[RugerSteve]

I am changing from HP-38 to either Titegroup or Power Pistol. I emptied all the powder from the powder drop, but there is still some (very little) sticking from static on the side of the drop. Will this minute amount be a problem with either of the other two powders or should I blow it out with air?
I am also trying to decide which powder I want to try next . I will be doing 9mm, 115gr, 124gr, and 147gr.

 

[cwall64]

When I change powder I normally use a little paint brush that came with my RCBS Chargemaster to clean it up as much as possible. I haven't had any issues so far, but it might not be the best practice to not clean powder drop 100%!

 

[Rule3]

Ummmmmm. Just wipe it out with a towel if it is actually powder(or a can of air) It probably is just graphite dust. I change powders all the time and just dump out what's in there and fill with the next brand.

For 9mm , Power Pistol if you have it,

 

[Jesse Heywood]

To keep it from occurring wipe everything down with a used drier sheet or spray with Static Guard.

 

[SwaneeSR]

I use the used dryer sheet method.

The Power Pistol works well in 9mm and what I am using now. When that is used up, I am going to move to Tite Group and give that a try. No complaints about Power Pistol except I have not been able to find any more in a long time.

 

[RugerSteve]

Do you guys have any good recipes.? I am only loading 9 mm at this time.
The two new powders that I have are Titegroup and Power Pistol.
These are the bullets that I'm using: 115 grain flat point Precission coated bullets, 115 grain round nose plated bullets, 115 grain RN coated bullets, 124 grain flat point plated extreme bullets, & 147 grain flat point coated blue bullets.
I just used a dryer sheet and it worked great thank you ,but probably will also blow it out with an air can.

 

[Rule3]

Power pistol is a slower burning powder and IMHO is better for 9mm and 40 SW which are high pressure rounds.

Yes, people use TG and there is data for it but it is just to fast and finicky for the 9mm. There is very little room for error and a overcharge is not a good thing. I do not even mess with the stuff. Your HP 38 or even Unique are better choices.

Data is in you manuals and Alliants web site.

 

[LiveLife]

+1. Titegroup indeed has narrower load range and W231/HP-38 is more forgiving.

While W231/HP-38 is more flexible to produce mid-to-high range loads with 124/125 gr bullet, with 115 gr bullet 4.6 gr will barely start to reliably cycle the slides of my Glocks, especially compact/subcompacts with stiffer recoil springs. So conduct your powder work up from published start charge and incrementally increase the powder charge until you get reliable slide cycling and accuracy.

Titegroup can produce slightly more accurate loads than W231/HP-38 and here's my shot group pictures at 25 yards using Berry's regular plated 124 gr RN at 1.160" OAL - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=9382933#post9382933

If you can get some BE-86 which has similar burn rate as Power Pistol with flash suppressant and has produced consistently very accurate loads for 9/40/45 (sub 2" shot group pictures of RMR HM 124 gr RN with WST/BE-86 with 1.160" OAL at 25 yards - WST works for 9mm but minor PF/optimal accuracy loads require compressing powder charge and can be spiky with chamber pressures thus no 9mm load data from Hodgdon) - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=9655361#post9655361

Other members should come along and post their favorite Power Pistol loads.

 

[LiveLife]

changing from HP-38 to Titegroup .. I will be doing 9mm ... 147gr.

Although these are ZCast 147 gr lead FN at 10 yards with W231/HP-38 and Titegroup, they should give you accuracy comparison between two powders (I also added Promo/Bullseye loads for comparison) - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=748940

147 gr ZCast with 3.1/3.3/3.5 gr Titegroup

147 gr ZCast with 3.5 gr W231/HP-38 and 3.1-3.5 gr Promo

147 gr ZCast with 2.7/2.9/3.2 gr Bullseye

 

[Kaldor]

I have used both for 9mm. They both work fine. I used the PP on 124gr, and it worked good. I use TG on 147gr and 124gr.

I prefer TG overall now. A little goes a long ways. Never have to worry about compressed charges. Yes, it has a narrow load window, so you have to be precise, .1gr off could be bad at the upper end. Easy to double charge. In short, you need to be on your game to load with it IMHO.

Great info from BDS!!

 

[cali_blues]

I am changing from HP-38 to either Titegroup or Power Pistol. I emptied all the powder from the powder drop, but there is still some (very little) sticking from static on the side of the drop. Will this minute amount be a problem with either of the other two powders or should I blow it out with air?
I am also trying to decide which powder I want to try next . I will be doing 9mm, 115gr, 124gr, and 147gr.

As others have said, use a small paintbrush, or some compressed air, to get all of the old powder out. If a few flecks are still stuck in there after trying that, they probably aren't going to come out with the new powder anyway.

Do you guys have any good recipes.? I am only loading 9 mm at this time.
The two new powders that I have are Titegroup and Power Pistol.
These are the bullets that I'm using: 115 grain flat point Precission coated bullets, 115 grain round nose plated bullets, 115 grain RN coated bullets, 124 grain flat point plated extreme bullets, & 147 grain flat point coated blue bullets.
I just used a dryer sheet and it worked great thank you ,but probably will also blow it out with an air can.

4.0gr of Titegroup under a 124gr has been an excellent load for me. Using Xtreme RN, I load to 1.150-155 OAL. Using RMR RN thick plated, 1.135-140.

 

[GJSchulze]

Double charge? Titegroup is easy to triple charge if loading for 147 gr. Bullet.

For a 147gr bullet I use 4.2gr Power Pistol giving me about a 132 power factor. 4.0 gr gives you a 125 PF. A double charge fills the case and is easy to see. 5.0gr is about the max charge before you start compressing the powder.

3.2 or 3.3 gr of Titegroup for 147gr bullet is close to minimum charge. The max charge is only about 0.3 gr more. It is too easy to over charge without noticing, IMO.

 

[Oldman1151]

Deleted

 

[RugerSteve]

Checked Alliant site and they only show 3 9mm recipes, and they are for GDHP's. Not too informative site.

 

[Dudedog]

When I run into the stuck grains I wipe them out with a used drier stat sheet, seems to help unstick them.

Titegroup and Powerpistol.
Titegroup-unforgiving, small volume of powder able to triple charge in 9mm Kaboom for sure.
I do like 3.5 (lighter than recommend start charge) with 125 lead, soft shooting. I have used 3.7 and 3.9 with plated.

Powerpistol-forgiving (some people say very forgiving), about same case fill as HP38/231, douple charge is obivious. Nice muzzle flash if you like that.

BE86-sort of like Unique that meters well or Powerpistol without the large flash. (note different data) About the same case fill as HP38.

One powder that gets overlooked a lot is WSF. It seems to work well for me. About the same case fill as HP38. The only reason I mention it is because it gets over looked.

 

[Dudedog]

Rugersteve,
for BE86 or Powerpistol?
Lyman data with lead bullets.
120gr 1.065 OAL PowerPistol Start 5.0gr 1107fps 27700 CUP MAX 5.6gr 1190fps 31300 CUP
147gr 1.05 OAL Powerpistol Start 4.1gr 939fps 26100 CUP MAX 4.6gr 1033fps 30200 CUP

If I don't have plated data I start with the lead bullet start charge.
Powerpistol seems happier when loaded towards the higher side IMO, dirty at light charges.

 

[Mad Chemist]

5.7gr of Power pistol with 124gr plated bullet is one of my favorite loads for my S&W Sheild. It has also performed well from my G19 and a buddy's XD. I load mine around 1.130-1.35" these days.

 

[Potatohead]

Their was a thread here a while back with this subject..pretty sure the consensus ended up being that most dump it, maybe give it a flick with a paintbrush, and then carry on

 

[dds51968]

I load Berrys, Ranier, Xtreme in 115gr rn with 4.2 Titegroup @ 1.135 with very good accuracy and functionality.

David

 

[Mad Chemist]

3.9gr of Titegroup works well with 124gr plated bullets at a similar OAL. It is soft shooting but will still cycle a the springs on a compact pistol.

 

[Toprudder]

Use a small brush (think artists camel-hair brush) to sweep the stray powder granules out.

I like both Power Pistol and Titegroup, but in 9MM I prefer Power Pistol. I shoot mainly reduced loads and Power Pistol does well and is relatively clean.

 

[Kaldor]

Double charge? Titegroup is easy to triple charge if loading for 147 gr. Bullet.

For a 147gr bullet I use 4.2gr Power Pistol giving me about a 132 power factor. 4.0 gr gives you a 125 PF. A double charge fills the case and is easy to see. 5.0gr is about the max charge before you start compressing the powder.

3.2 or 3.3 gr of Titegroup for 147gr bullet is close to minimum charge. The max charge is only about 0.3 gr more. It is too easy to over charge without noticing, IMO.

For sure. However, in this case I feel that running on a progressive actually helps me avoid double charges because unless Im doing something really stupid, its almost impossible to double charge a case.

I shoot my 147's at 3gr out of my M&P Pro 5". Its a pussycat load, super light recoiling to the point you can actually limp wrist and cause a FTE if you dont have a firm grip. My wife and son have this happen quite often. When I shoot, the cases just barely eject maybe a foot high, and a foot to the right, consistent enough I can usually put over half of them in a 5 gallon bucket.

And yup, 3.3 of Titegroup is the max Ive shot with 147gr Hi-Tek coated. Its snappy. Going from 3 to 3.1 to 3.2 to 3.3, you can actually feel the gun working harder. Load data for Titegroup is all over the place though. I dont have my books in front of me but Hodgdon shows a max of 3.6gr, and Im certain Hornady is about the same. However, Lyman data for jacketed 147s is hot, and lead data is almost hotter than Hodgdon's and Hornady's jacketed data.

For coated I use the average of jacketed and lead data because you can push coated a little harder, but not quite all the way to jacketed speeds. For example, if the starting load for lead is 3gr, and jacketed is 3.6, I start at 3.3 for coated.