Powder Choice?

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right winger

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Gentlemen,

I have been using Power Pistol in my 9mm, 40sw, 10mm and 45 acp pistols. It works well and has good velocities but also seems to have a lot of flash. I have noticed that others speak highly of Universal Clays and would like to know why. Could you tell me which you prefer and why?
Thanks in advance for your input and opinions,
right winger
 
Different powders do very well at certain things, and usually don't do well at a lot of things. Power Pistol does really well at higher performance semi-auto pistol loads.

I have no experience with Universal Clays, but I have a lot of experience with a powder that Universal Clays is made to mimic: Unique. Unique has been made for a very long time. Unique (and Universal Clays) is made to do a lot of things reasonably well. Universal Clays is made with a smaller grain size, so it should meter better than Unique, and it's supposed to be cleaner than Unique, although IIRC Unique has been reformulated to meet the competition. If you chose to load calibers other than what you're loading now, there's a high probability you could do it without another jug of powder you'll have to store. The only downside is that you won't get quite as high a velocities with Universal Clays as you did with Power Pistol.
 
Universal Clays is all I use for my 38, 9mm, and 45 loads (along with my 20 and 28 gauge. While similar to Unique in many ways, one thing that stands out is how much cleaner it burns than Unique. Unique always left a lot of residue behind in the barrel, Universal does not
 
+1 on clean burning. I used Universal in the early days of match shooting and noticed almost no black fouling from ignition. Very light brown coating from firing.

Also, charges filled the case well, so no worries for double charge.
 
Ramshot Silhouette is one to consider. It will push those calibers hard, as PP can, and is treated with flash supressants.

Universal is an excellent powder. Accurate and clean burning. I really like it in .40. I just don't know about its flash characteristics. Never shot it in the evening, and haven't read anything about it in that regard.
 
We actually did night shooting at an outdoor range that's open 24/7 in Central California about 10 years ago (we were testing night sights and effects of muzzle flash on our constricted pupils from the flash).

I do remember W231 had minimal muzzle flash out of 9/40 (Beretta, CZ75, Ruger P89/P95, Sig 226, G17/G22) and 45 (G30, 1911s) with WSF/HS6 with more muzzle flash. I think Universal flash was moderate, but more than W231. I think faster burning powder will give you less muzzle flash.
 
If you're not happy with Universal you might want to give Winchester's ne AutoComp a try. It was specifically made for short straight wall calibers. I also like A#5 in place of Power Pistol, it's a very clean and accurate powder which meters well.

W231 will work very well in the 9mm and .45 Auto and reasonably well in the 40 S&W but I don't think you will be happy with the results in the 10mm.
 
I have used Titegroup in my .40 S&W. It worked fine for plated and jacketed bullets. It meters well and was very clean burning. With my lead bullets, however, there was a lot of smoke. I found Accurate #7 to be superior for my lead loads in every regard. Accurate #2 performed almost identically to the Titegroup. So, I would save AA#2 and Titegroup for plated or jacketed bullets.

I just loaded some lead rounds with Accurate #5 tonight, I will post my results tomorrow after swinging by the range. I can say that I fired 10 lead rounds of Accurate #5 over the chrono tonight and the velocities were consistent and there was hardly any smoke. So, I'm hoping that these loads are as accurate (no pun intended) as the AA#7.

I really like Accurate's powders. The meter extremely well, they are inexpensive and so far have been the best powders in my Walther P99.
 
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