For nearly 99% of my handloads, I'm going for the lightest recoiling, cleanest burning, reliably functioning, and accurate load.
Most factory loads reliably function, but usually fall short on the other things.
I'm mainly a pistol cartridge reloader.
Only in a hunting load am I trying to ramp up on velocity toward your typical factory load. I've loaded up enough of these to last several lifetimes of hunting, for all calibers. They are fun to work up, and test...but are rarely needed compared to target loads.
Just like with the private handloading market, each big powder company has its share of buyers from commercial companies, in fact the majority of their business is to the commercial sector....without the commercial sector, they would likely not profit much off of the private handloading sector, due to the relative low demand. Because of the commercial demand for powder, we're able to take advantage of all the awesome formulations that are out there.
All of the R&D and effort put forward for the commercial sector, we as handloaders are taking advantage of.
I'm not saying the powders are exactly the same, but they are close relatives of each other for sure.
At best, there have been small proprietary differences in powders for commercial vs cannister. Copper fouling Reducing technology, flash suppressant..For example, Alliant BE-86 is a high energy pistol powder that contains flash suppressant and meters excellent (this matters for commercial loading machines as well!) It provides perfect bulk density to provide just about perfect case fill in the cartridges it caters to, which provides a built-in safety factor. Its nearly ideal for 9mm Luger, 40 S&W and 357 SIG (3 most common LE/ Military cartridges) Its no coincidence it's a perfect semi-auto pistol powder, it was made that way on purpose, and was a commercial powder for a long, long time prior to being made available to handloaders. If a powder can beat BE-86 in all the areas of safety and performance in the cartridges it excels in, please do let me know about it.....