Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

What are your Favorite Loads for Common Pistol & Rifle Calibers


benos

Recommended Posts

.40 and .45 lead WST -less smoke, fairly soft

Big plus 1 from me on these two. I admit I load more for economics than for cutting edge competition.

Have used WST in .45 since the 80s. Now use WST for .40 too since WSL was dropped by Winchester and my stach of WSL was depleted.

Been loading Universal Clays in 9MM, .38 etc... as of late. Caught a deal on an 8lb jug....did not like it in 40 or 45 so it is being used wherever else I can burn it. It is a little dirty though.

Using Tac these days on .223. Personally this too is a matter of economics. I am OK with several other powders I have loaded over the years. I just look for 3000 FPS or so with ~ 25 grains.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 116
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

.45 ACP

Winchester Super Target (WST)

It's the first one I tried and never had any reason to look elsewhere.

.38 Super

Vihta Vuori N350

Recommended by the person who built up my STI Eagle 6.0/Schueman Tribrid II open gun. Still worth it for the relatively few rounds I go through in the course of a year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

.38 Special: WW 231 (Winchester). In both +P level loads with jacketed bullets, and target loads with lead wadcutters, works well, with little residue.

9MM: TiteGroup (Hodgdon). It works well with 115, 124 or 147 grain bullets, so you can load light bullet/fast load, or heavy bullet/slow load, with the same powder.

.45 ACP: Clays (Hodgdon). With plated bullets, very clean. I've fired 500 rounds in a single session from my S&W Model 625 revolver without having to brush any excess powder residue out from under the extractor star. That's important to a wheelgunner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brian,

What a great idea! :cheers:

Whenever some one searches the forum for powder, major, minor, caliber, etc they should find this thread as a comprehensive guide for info. Perhaps this thread will become a sticky? I certainly would have liked to have a one stop shop when I started out. Wading thorugh archived posts on this subject can become time consuming and confusing.

40 Major - Jacketed or plated bullets - Titegroup. Reasonable cost & somewhat clean burning at major PF. Most accurate powder that I have tested.

Clean burning, low smoke, nice recoil for major and accurate with 180 gn lead - Solo 1000.

40 Minor - Jacketed or plated bullets - Clays - Very clean, soft shooting and reasonable accuracy. Don't use much - 2.9 to 3.1 gn - powder goes a long way. Perhaps the most economical powder to use for minor due to low charge throws. Being cheap has it drawbacks - since the charge is so light their is a chance for a double charge which could cause a KB.

USE WITH EXTREME CAUTION!

WST is a good choice for lead & minor. Reduced smoke, soft shooting & inexpensive. Charge weights in the 3.3 - 3.5 range also make this powder cost effective. Just remember it is inverse temperature sensitive. The hotter(>80) the outdoor temperature the slower it will run; the colder (<50) the faster it will run. YMMV

Bullets tested with above powders using a M&P 40, 4.25 barrel:

Berry's Perferred 180 gn RNFP

Precision 185 RNFP

Montana Gold FMJ RN 180 gn

Montana Gold FMJ RN 200 gn

Penn bullet co- lead RNFP 165 gn

Penn bullet co- lead TC 180 gn

Masterblaster 180 gn TC

Mastercast of PA 180 gn TC (lead)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For 38's 700-x, unique, 2400

44mag - 4227, unique, 2400

45's 700-x, unique

223- 748 & IMR 4895

270 & 30 cal Imr 4895, 3031, 4064 & accurate 3100

I used to have 4-5 powders for each caliber this got to be too much to keep track of so I have wittled this down the last 3-4 years to these I am thinking of trying Solo or Clays for my 45 but have shyed away as I don't want another powder around until I burn up what I have..... Folks laugh at my 45 loads as old school "why don't you use the newer powders? they shoot well for me so why change although the 45's with unique are a little snappy compared to my 700-x load my son shoots the 700-x doesn't shoot well in my gun..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 Major: W231 or HP38 with a 200gr lead SWC; maybe not the absolute best today, but lots of IPSC history with this load combination.

223/308: AA2520 for one powder that is an outstanding choice in both calibers with medium to heavy bullets. It also meters very well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't reload for rifle so not gonna venture into that. Ditto for Open pistol calibers. I've only loaded 9mm, 40 and 45, and have only done it for the last 4 years, so not an expert. Here goes my story anyway...

The best powder I've used is definitely VV N-320, but it's expensive and for a while availability was kinda' scarce. So I had to look elsewhere. I used it for 9mm, 40 major and minor as well as for 45.

However, when I started actively shooting revolver, 2 years ago, I switched to Hodgdon Clays for my 45's. It just doesn't get any better than that! Recoil is soft, consistent measuring and works very well with all the bullets I've tried, FMJ, plated and moly-coated. Soon to discover how does it work with cast lead. Anyone?

My boys are the limited shooters in the house. When I had to start reloading larger quantities I had to look for economy, thus I needed a replacement for the N-320. Here I learned about Titegroup and bought a 8lb keg. It's a great powder but I also learned that maybe burns too hot for the new moly-coated bullets I was using for the boys ammo. Thus I changed to another readily-available and inexpensive alternative: Ramshot Competition. It has worked good so far for limited loads, but it leaves more soot than TG or N320, and I always shoot for 170PF because it is not as consistent as the others I've used.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For .40 moly lube bullets, I found universal clays (NOT straight clays) creates less smoke than other brands of powder. It's also readily available and fairly cheap. I'll also chime in for VVN320 for .40

Back in the day, I used a lot of 231 for 9mm and .45; easily found, inexpensive, always clean, and accurate but it can be temp sensitive - slowing when cold.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For 9, 40, and 45, if price weren't an issue, I would use V320 for all three. clean and accurate. But it being about $150 for eight pounds has me using TiteGroup. At about $95-100 for eight pounds it fits my needs. It smokes a bit if down-loaded to minor, but if loaded normal to hot, is pretty clean. It tends to leave deposits which make me clean my gun a bit more often (well, every 2000-3000 rounds or when it quits :surprise: ) and it burns HOT. Run a 32 round COF in the summer time and you better not grab the front of your slide to unload and show clear :blink:

For .308 I have been happy with RL-15. There may be better ones on the market, but I just haven't gotten around to using them yet.

Great Idea for a topic,

dj

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9mm jacketed in any weight - Tightgroup

9mm Moly 147 - Ramshot Competition, WST, Solo 1000

40 S&W Jacketed - Tightgroup, Universal Clays

40 S&W Moly - Universal Clays

45 ACP - Clay for everything

22-250 - H380 for 40gr to 55gr bullets

223 - W748 ain't too shabby

308 - Varget, sometimes Benchmark

30-06 - H4831sc for 165-180gr bullets

The rest of my data is in CO on other calibers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Production 9mm Loads

9mm 115gr FMJ = Winchester Super Field (5.3gr), backup VV N340

9mm 124gr FMJ = N320 (4.1gr) backup WSF (4.9gr.) or Universal (4.6gr)

9mm 135gr lead = N320

9mm 147gr lead = N320, backup WST

_____________________________________________________________

.357 mag, 140gr lead truncated cone = Universal (6.2gr), backup N340

____________________________________________________________

Loads for SW625 Revolver

45acp 200gr lead or moly coated= WST (5.0gr), backup = N320

45acp 200gr plated = N320 (5.1gr), backup WST

45acp 230gr lead or moly coated = N310 (3.8gr), backup for practice loads - Clays (3.8gr)

45acp 230gr plated = N-310 (4.0gr), backup - Clays (4.0gr)

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

40 S&W (Lead- hard cast & moly coated)

Hodgdon Universal Clays

Pretty clean burning; Moderate recoil; Accurate but tends to vary from lot to lot and somewhat temperature sensitive, easy to locate.

Hodgdon Titegroup

Sooty and dirty burning; Moderate recoil; Accurate but tends to vary from lot to lot and very temperature sensitive, easy to locate.

45 ACP (Lead- hard cast)

Hodgdon Clays

Moderately clean burning; Light recoil; Safe to use; Inexpensive, easy to locate.

Hodgdon Titegroup

Sooty and dirty burning; Moderate recoil; Accurate but tends to vary from lot to lot and very temperature sensitive, easy to locate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I've only gone through load development with .45 so far.

N320 - IPSC (170 pf)

N340 - Faster velocity hunting/SD stuff (190 pf)

I'm trying out IMR4895 for .223, but have not taken it to the chrono. It is strange on the meter, but calms down after about 10 throws...I'm going to try some 748 if I'm not really happy with the groups.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hope that this isn't off track, but I'd like to know from the experienced shooters out there which powders show a lot of temperature sensitivity and which way that sensitivity takes the round. That is as the temp goes up does the pf and velocity go up or down?

Bill

Here are some opinions based on some recent observations. YMMV and all that. Hope this helps:

40 S&W / major PF / 180 jacketed

  • Primaries: 700X ($), PB ($$), and N320 ($$$). Clean, accurate, soft, low smoke, least affected by temperature. I've had good experiences with all three but like 700X right now due to lower cost.
  • Alternate: Titegroup. Temp sensitve in the conventional way (warmer = faster). Manageable if you keep good notes.
  • Others tried: WST (inverse temp sensitive e.g. cooler = faster, harder to manage), U-clays (temp stable but with pushy recoil, high ES/SD at 170 PF, slightly less accurate than some other powders but still acceptable for USPSA use), WSF (similar to U-clays but temp sensitive), Unique (similar to U-clays plus dirty), and 231 (real close to the load ceiling at 170 PF with FMJs, conventionally temperature sensitivity, could be risky).

40 S&W / major PF / 180 lead or moly

  • Primary: PB. Smokes a little more than WST, about the same as 231, and much less than the other powders listed. Seems temperature stable in comparison to other powders listed. Good availability in my area. Accurate and consistent. Drawbacks: $128 for 8 lb jug vs about a hundred bucks for TG/231/etc.
  • Alternate: 231. This has a lot of the same benefits as PB but is definitely temp sensitive. This is a very minor drawback, because at least it is directly proportional (warmer = faster) and is very manageable. Just gotta keep good notes and map your loads to the temps.
  • Others tried: WST (inverse temp sensitive, harder to manage), U-clays (pushy recoil, high ES/SD at 170 PF), WSF (same as U-clays plus temp sensitive), Unique (Same as U-clays plus dirty), and 700X (smoky and gunky with lead bullets but clean with jacketed... has soft recoil, is accurate and is relatively temperature stable... burns hot like TG but not quite as bad). I haven't tried N320 with lead yet, I got so excited testing it with jacketed bullets that I used it all up.

40 S&W / minor PF / 180 lead, moly, or jacketed

  • Primary: Clays. Clean, soft and relatively temperature stable.
  • Alternates: Titegroup for jacketed only, conventionally temp sensitive. WST for lead or moly, inversely temp sensitive.

45 ACP / major PF / 200-230 lead, moly or jacketed

  • Primary: Clays
  • Alternates: 231, WST, 700X
  • Avoid: Universal clays

Edited by big_kahuna
Link to comment
Share on other sites




×
×
  • Create New...