The Lyman's Pistol and Revolver Handbook, 2nd Ed. (1994) has specific data for heavy .38 and .44 loads, including using the Keith-style bullets and Blue Dot. I don't recall if Longshot is in there since I don't use it. I don't have it handy but it and the 3rd Ed. would be a good ones to add to your library if you're going to load heavy revolver rounds.
Lyman Cast Bullet handbook and 49th both have the same table for that bullet, with Blue Dot at 6.7 grains shown as standard pressure. I suppose going up to +P is rather pointless, as it won't make the large distance between the hole in the paper and the center of the target or the previous hole any less embarrassing just by virtue of happening one millisecond earlier.
I'm sure of the three, Power Pistol would be the cleanest, but if I can't find real data...
I weigh each TG charge and then put a bullet on top to avoid a double charge. The problem of a double charge is very real and catastrophic.
Yeah, *maybe* my GP100 .357 wouldn't explode with a double charge of Titegroup from the .38 table, but I don't want to find out. Really fast powders like that are where I really don't want to fool around. I'm reluctant to get an actual .38 Special revolver to maintain a margin of safety.
For some reason the fastest part of the load tables has grown a lot in the past decade. Bullseye is fast enough for anything I load. Unless I am loading pinker rounds with TG I stay unique or slower.
Agree completely. Unique in a .38 or .357 is ideal for most things you would want to do with a large frame revolver. In a snubby I do tend to prefer faster powders - less flash from the short barrel - but, for real-world use, even in a snub-nose revolver, I still tend to prefer Unique, HS-6, or Accurate No.7 unless I'm looking for a low-pressure lead load, then I'm looking at Red Dot, Bullseye, Accurate No. 2 or No.5. I haven't tried Zip or Silhouette, yet. Need to. Need a round tooit.
Silhouette is slower than unique and my current favorite middle burning pistol powder. For comparison I load 7.0 grains of unique or 8.4 grains Silhouette under my noe 154 rnfp.
Weird. Western's burn chart says Silhouette and True Blue are both faster than Unique. Just barely faster than No.5, more on par with Green Dot and BE86, respectively.
I just look at the load limits in a given cartridge. True blue is slower or the same as Silhouette and universal is faster than unique. The load data supports this by charge weights in 35 caliber rounds. I can't compare the other products as I don't use them. I guess that powders can act differently in different loads but if that were true I have no idea how quickload would compensate.
Which is why I keep telling people not to trust burn charts.
Trust what your chamber tells you.
I had 16 pounds of completion at my dad's house and I loaned and 8lb to a friend that wanted to load shotgun. It's fast for my liking and i will ask for a different powder in return. If powder comes back maybe I can get unique or 2400 instead....Which is why I keep telling people not to trust burn charts.
They're nice for making rough comparisons of similar powders but you really need to load with a powder under a variety of uses to get an idea of its personality. Charts and stats and tables of "data" are nice for a bunch of drunks quizzing other drunks at the bar on a slow Saturday night but, not for much else.
I went through a pound of Competition just figuring out how it likes to be loaded and how much empty space it needs to get going. Turns out, it's a tight, fast powder that doesn't like air gaps but is great for pushing heavy loads.
You could point out to your buddy that Hodgdon has AA#7, HS-6 and Longshot in stock now. Much of what can be done with Unique or 2400 can be done with those as well.
He needed shotgun powder-good fit for him.
Oh, we all want 2400! I love the muzzle flash from that stuff.
Getting payed later means I'm spreading out the dates when the powder was produced. I'm not a believer that it lasts forever and if I can rotate stock that is an added benefit. None of its over 10 years old but it's not getting any younger..... just like me
Good plan!Getting payed later means I'm spreading out the dates when the powder was produced. I'm not a believer that it lasts forever and if I can rotate stock that is an added benefit. None of its over 10 years old but it's not getting any younger..... just like me
