I want more data on these powders other than a burn rate number, which I don't know how that is derived. I mean, is it something someone dreams up, or are there standardized tests for "burn rate". And where is that data? And can different lots of the same powder have different burn rates, making the ranking by a single number, rather useless and misleading? The lack of information to the consumer has allowed the industry to sell powders, in different bottles, that were in fact the same powder. I am thinking of HP38/W231, H110/W296. These were the exact same powders but sold at different prices in different shaped and colored bottles. And I don't think these are atypical. I still have the Ken Warner article, on 45ACP powder testing where he "gives up" on HP38 but is totally ecstatic about W231. (Ken never published how many rounds he shot on targets,nor group size. He just ranked things by accurate, v.accurate. I will bet he was shooting three shot groups and making inferences on his flinches!) And I remember, looking in manuals, the same powder charge weights gave different pressures and velocities for HP 38/W231 and H110/W296. And I made decisions on which powder to buy based on that data. That data only reflected the differences in lots. These powders are blended, plus or minus 10% (per Alliant) to a some standard pressure curve. And yet, for decades there would be those recommending H110 for certain applications and just as vehemently claiming bad things about W296 in the same application!
I finally figured out that H110 and W296 were identical by shooting them in my 44 Magnum M1894. With the same bullets and same charge levels, velocities were almost identical. Since the powders looked the same, and shot the same, I suspected, they were the same!
The shooting community really lacks meaningful ways to compare powders. Most of us get our loads from anecdotal sources, that's primarily how I do it. I ask good shooters what they are using, and I more or less take a market survey, assuming the wisdom of crowds works, and copy. And if the powder works well, I will use it.
