Favorite 9mm Powders

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I have loaded Longshot, WSF, SR 7625, and unique in 9mm and like them all. I like the 7625 and WSF the best. I started out with longshot and its pretty common around here versus unique and WSF. When I started out, I bought a pound of each when I could find them so that I could get a feel for what I liked, now I pick up a pound of those when I see them. That way I always have a pound of something I know I can load in 9mm. SR 7625 is a really universal handgun powder and I really like it so I might be inclined to pay up to $40 a pound for it. WSF is a super good powder too but its about like finding unicorn tears around here. We have Longshot coming out our ears around here. In all likelihood you will have to settle on a shotgun powder and pay a premium(around $40) if you want to reload. It might help if you order a large quantity from an online supplier and eat the Haz-Mat fee... Sorry for my rant... hope it was of some help at least.
 
I discovered True Blue during the 2009 shortages and liked it.

I have used Unique and Blue Dot.

I have Accurate 5 in inventory and would use it in a heartbeat if I ran out of the others.

But, you pretty much cannot go wrong with all the powders listed.
 
I hear ya kcofohio. I use WAP in all my pistol powders. I've got 4 or 5 bottles of Titegroup but have never worked up a load for it. I'm still hacking away at the WAP...which is Silhouette.
 
I use HP-38 and 700-x for both 9mm Luger and 9mm Makarov, mainly because that was what I could find when I got into loading those calibers. I like them because of the way they shoot, but neither one of them meter very consistently at all. At least not in my powder measure. Definitely slows down the reloading process.

I haven't ventured into other powders for those calibers because I have a bunch of this on hand, and it is difficult to find any other powders (or any powder at all) around here.
 
I have not ever found any 231 to try but I have used
in order of preference with MBC 124 lead cone
Universal Clays (favorite-none around at all, meters great for me, clean) 3.8-4
7625 (meters well, clean) 3.9
Unique (meters ok not great, not as clean as Universal) 4.3
4756 (meters well) 4.4
Autocomp (meters ok, better than Unique) 4.5
Longshot (loud, nice muzzle blast:eek:, meters ok about the same as Unique, dirty at lower charge weights)
5.3-5.5

Longshot prefers to be loaded on the med-heavy side.


all have worked ok for me once I had them dialed in.
Universal + Unique both seemed to work well, light, med, and heavy.
I normally load my 9 for around 1020ish fps since the paper targets I shoot don't know any difference, not trying to load to a number but loads that work well for me seem to fall around there.
I would give longshot a + if you want to load to load on the heavy side.

Having said that grab what you can when you can if there are listed loads for it.
IMO if you are not after super light or super heavy (MAX) 9 is forgiving about powders that fall in the burn range of the ones above.

Have not had a chance to try the lb of Bullseye I found the other day at a LGS.

It is faster than I am used to using but it should be interesting to try something on the faster side.

Universal and Unique will work in just about any handgun cartridge, maybe not the best, or the best vel, but very flexible. (9Mak, 9 Luger, .38, .357, .45 APC)
 
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Yeah, you aer going about it the right way. Build a list and buy whats available. You have to right now, at least around here. I haven't seen pistol powder on a shelf in months until a week or do ago saw some Clays.

I have a friend that reloads in huge volume. He set me up with some W231 and WSF. He wont shoot it so I " took it off his hands for him " :)

Good Luck

-Jeff
 
I'm new to reloading as well and I started with vv n-330 and it works fine for me so I grabbed up two more pounds. I use berrys plated bullets so I don't know how they would work with lead bullets.
 
In order of preference:
1) W231 / HP38, or their cousin Ramshot Zip
2) Unique
3) Power Pistol
4) Silhouette
5) True Blue
6) AA #5
 
AA#5 or #7. I use nothing else. They are the cleanest burning of all I've used to include most of what has been mentioned before, and they meter superbly. You can use 5 for anything, lead, jacketed, target loads to self defense. #7 is for full power jacketed projo's only, use it for max velocities
 
The powders I have for reloading 9mm and other pistol calibers are Unique, Bullseye, and IMR SR 4756. You can also go to most of the powder manufactures sites and see reloading data by caliber and that can help you in making a list of powders that will work.

I also have some powder I'm going to try to work up a load for 9mm with and that is Vihtavuori N3SH. From using google it seems people have used it for 9mm but are tight lipped about their "recipes".
 
The great thing about 9mm is the variety of powders that will suffice.
I prefer W231/HP38 but if that's hard to find, I always have a few powders on the shelf that will work. We've started loading some shotshell lately as well and luckily most shotgun powder will double as pistol powder.
 
Has anyone tried using Herco in 9mm? It should be about perfect -- EXCEPT it is so bulky I don't know if you can get a full charge in a 9mm case and still have room for the bullet. But being a flake powder, maybe that's okay.
 
For range loads, I like Win 231, Green Dot, Unique. For full power, Sillhouette, True Blue, HS-6, AA#7, Power Pistol or Unique. If I could only have one powder on hand, it would be Unique.
 
They are a bit challenging to meter consistently.
Click to expand...
I have no problems with Red Dot and it meters pretty consistent for me (within 0.1gr)...I have found Flake powders to be a little ore troublesome. YMMV

+3+4 on Red Dot. One pound will load 1600 plus 9mm rounds and for a fast powder it produces some good velocity without the higher pressure associated with many fast powders. Pretty consistent loads too.

Also like Autocomp, Unique, W231/HP-38 (same powder), and universal for med-max loads.
 
PowerPistol is really great to work with. Nice metering and you get a accurate round with plated projectiles. IMR SR7625 is my next favorite. Meters like a dream and produces a great round.
 
231/HP38 or Titegroup. I have also used Clays & ClayDot with Hodgdon Clays data. I see no difference between H Clays & Alliant ClayDot by weight. Alliant ClayDot is a little cheaper and sometimes easier to find.:evil:
 
Win 231 and Accurate#5(all I could find when I started) work well for me in aGlock19 and Kahr PM9.I load different weight projectile and powder for each firearm.
 
I have used Herco in 9mm, and it does work very well. I also like the performance of Green Dot and Silhouette. Silhouette meters the best of the three on my set-up.
 
Instead of paying $60/lb buy it from Powder Valley. You can pay the hazmat for that & if you get a second can now your saving. Buy in bulk & save even more. Until people quit paying those stupid prices there is always going to be a problem.

Bullseye would be a safe bet.
 
Check bass pro shops. Yesterday I got a lb of bullseye and a lb of blue dot for 24.99 each. Best wishes. I like unique one of the most versatile powders around.
 
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