Powder and Primer questions

[Giant81]

*warning* noob questions ahead

This may be a dumb question, but is there a powder that is useful for everything? I know that I can get a powder that will work pretty well for 9mm 40 and 45, but is there a powder that would work half way descent for 9mm, 45ACP, .223, .30-06, 12GA, 7.62x39, etc.. I know that any powder like that would not be the best powder for any of them, but I figure if I'm going to stock up on something, I might as get a powder I can use in everything then save some money and get a couple 8lb containers of it.

The question I had about primers is how much of a difference is there between primers? I know some are softer so work better in guns with lighter springs, but is there a huge difference in their ability to ignite the powder? I was originally planning on just buying whatever was cheapest but if I moved from say CCI's to Federals because they were on sale or to Winchester because I needed to get some locally and say that's all they had, would I notice a difference in the performance of the rounds taking into account the same recipe?

Thank you for the help

[Sarge]

WST MAY work for your pistols and shotgun.

Personally I think you are going to be able to do what it is you are trying to do. i.e. One powder for everything.

Same with primers. Of course the shotgun primers are out of the picture as they are well, shotgun primers. You will need hotter primers to set off those long rifle rounds.

This is why loading rooms have shelves full of components. No one powder or primer is going to work for every application. If they did that would be great and result in us needing smaller shelves.

[GrumpyOne]

Seriously doubt you'll find a powder that will work in your pistol and your rifle. Rifle powders are much slower than even the slowest pistol powder.

[BBeavers]

Blue Dot will work, especially for plinking loads - it's just not the best.I find it is a good powder, but it takes a little more than some of the faster powders and you might run into a compressed load for hot 9mm rounds. There is published load data for pistol, rifle and shot shells, including all the ones listing in the OP. Primers are a different story; Since priming is more a one at a time type evolution and I only load large and small pistol, switching primers doesn't seem as big of a deal to me. It would be nice to have just one to deal with though!

[Giant81]

well I know that I'll have different primers for rifle, shotgun, pistol and even have different primers per caliber depending on size. But in the world of say small pistol primers, is there a huge difference between them other than hardness? Are some hotter and if some are, do they require me to re-engineer my loads around a hotter primer?

Regarding powder, at worst I'd like to have just one powder for pistol, one for rifle and one for shotgun. Preferably I'd like to find an inexpensive powder I can use to load as many of those as possible and blue dot may be it, but I wasn't sure. Most of these will be plinking loads I'm sure but I'd like to start loading ammo for use in shooting USPSA and I'd like to start loading my own hunting rounds in the .30-06. Thanks for the help.

[DWFAN]

Winchester WSF, Win 231, and Titegroup would work for .45 and 9mm quite well. WSF may work for even shotgun?

Clays would work for 12ga and .45, iffy in 9mm, but can be done with care.

[Poppa Bear]

You have a lot of potential for common powders when loading for shotgun and pistol, both require fast powders. Pistol because of the short barrel length, shotgun because you want to try and have all powder burned before the shell has released its contents. Fast powders have a quick pressure spike that sends the projectile out of the gun in that limited length.

Rifle requires a slower powder to get the best results because you want to allow part of the powder to burn while the bullet is traveling down the barrel. This gives you the speed desired in a rifle without having the danger of the cartridge blowing up the gun because the powder all burned in the case creating a pressure level higher than the action can withstand. Instead you have a slower pressure build up that levels off as the increasing pressure is spread out over greater area as the bullet travels down the barrel. This gives you a higher muzzle velocity as the bullet is under constant acceleration due to the consistent pressure building up behind it.

So it is possible to get by with two powders, one for pistol and shotgun, the other for rifle. It is not really feasible to have one powder that works for all three.

[acekc]

well I know that I'll have different primers for rifle, shotgun, pistol and even have different primers per caliber depending on size. But in the world of say small pistol primers, is there a huge difference between them other than hardness? Are some hotter and if some are, do they require me to re-engineer my loads around a hotter primer?

Regarding powder, at worst I'd like to have just one powder for pistol, one for rifle and one for shotgun. Preferably I'd like to find an inexpensive powder I can use to load as many of those as possible and blue dot may be it, but I wasn't sure. Most of these will be plinking loads I'm sure but I'd like to start loading ammo for use in shooting USPSA and I'd like to start loading my own hunting rounds in the .30-06. Thanks for the help.

I don't think there is typically much variation between the "heat" of primer brands if that's what you're asking. An obvious question is how close you are to the ragged edge: If you're producing plinking loads that are in the middle of the range of acceptable weights for a given powder, it's extremely unlikely that changing from brand X to brand Y primer will push you into an overpressure situation. If on the other hand you're right at a manufacturer's max load using the brass, primer brand, etc. that they specify, it's probably worth backing off if you decide to change primer brands.

As you mentioned you shouldn't have trouble finding a powder for 9mm, .40 and .45. As for a rifle powder, look into H4895. Here's a quote from Hodgdon's web site: "This is a most versatile rifle powder. This member of the Extreme Extruded line powder is great for 17 Remington, 250-3000 Savage, 308 Winchester and 458 Winchester, to name just a few. It is amazingly accurate in every cartridge where it is listed in our data. It had its origin in the 30-06 as a military powder and was the first powder Bruce Hodgdon sold to the loading public."

Link to an article on H4895's versatility re reduced power loads:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/reduced_recoil_H4895.htm

Edited March 1, 2012 by acekc

[BOOST]

N320 for all your pistol

And

Varget for all your rifle

[Linear Thinker]

This may be a dumb question, but is there a powder that is useful for everything? I know that I can get a powder that will work pretty well for 9mm 40 and 45, but is there a powder that would work half way descent for 9mm, 45ACP, .223, .30-06, 12GA, 7.62x39, etc.. I know that any powder like that would not be the best powder for any of them, but I figure if I'm going to stock up on something, I might as get a powder I can use in everything then save some money and get a couple 8lb containers of it.

Winchester 231 can be used for most pistol calibers, so it's about as universal as they get. Works for shotguns as well.

IMR4895 is a nearly universal rifle powder.

Once you develop reloading experience, you will want to find better powders for each application.

The question I had about primers is how much of a difference is there between primers? I know some are softer so work better in guns with lighter springs, but is there a huge difference in their ability to ignite the powder? I was originally planning on just buying whatever was cheapest but if I moved from say CCI's to Federals because they were on sale or to Winchester because I needed to get some locally and say that's all they had, would I notice a difference in the performance of the rounds taking into account the same recipe?

There is very little difference in primers ability to ignite the powder (brisance) between brands. Just use whatever the loading manual calls for, eg. large pistol primer, or large Magnum pistol primer.

[M1Garand]

Unless you can find a reloading manual with loads for rifle, shotgun and pistol for the same powder, don't try it. I've reloaded since 1960 and have not found a powder that is good for all. If someone told me of a powder tghatg would work and it wasn't in the manual for all three, I still wouldn't use it. IMO

[Giant81]

After doing some research I've found that at the least, I'll need 2 powders. One for pistols/shotgun and one for rifles.

So far I've been using Unique for pistol but I want to move to something that meters a bit better but is still forgiving.

I've also started loading 5.56 with IMR4895, but I've heard enough good things about Varget to get a pound and see how it works out. I'd like to stick to the same powder in pistol and shotgun, but I've heard I should possibly look at different powders for my 5.56 loads and my 30cal loads.

Edited April 1, 2012 by Giant81