dwbethue Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 I shoot a ton of 115gr coated bullets using 4.2gr of Sport Pistol and have been very happy with the load. However Sport Pistol can be tough to find and I'm looking to see what powders others are using for coated bullet loads, especially 115gr loads. Thinking I should identify some backup options now before I run too low or things get too scarce again. Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepFried Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 HP38 works well for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perttime Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 Vihtavuori N320 should work, unless you are looking for high PF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrel45 Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 N320 or #2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 WST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 anything but tight group,, But really Hiteck coating is alot less smokey than the old black moly coating or the uncoated lubed stuff. So really Tight group may be fine. Usual suspects for 9mm minor, 320, Accurate number 2, CLeanshot, American Select, I mean really you can go to a burn rate chart and look between E3 and Unique and pick one. Clean shot which is the old Accurate #2 seems to be a winner on price and availability.. Id probably stock up on that and call it good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
21 shooter Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 I have used N320 and it works fine. I have used WSF and 231, both okay. Fortunately I got some N320 when it was cheaper than it is now. Of course after seeing what some companies are charging N320 still looks good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lgh Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 58 minutes ago, Joe4d said: anything but tight group,, But really Hiteck coating is alot less smokey than the old black moly coating or the uncoated lubed stuff. So really Tight group may be fine. In the past, TG was pretty commonly recommended on this forum. I haven't been able to reload for a couple of years but used a ton of it in the past with 147gr coated. Never a problem but didn't like the fact that it only filled a small volume of the case. Switched to Sport Pistol which I have quite a bit of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 1 hour ago, lgh said: In the past, TG was pretty commonly recommended on this forum. I haven't been able to reload for a couple of years but used a ton of it in the past with 147gr coated. Never a problem but didn't like the fact that it only filled a small volume of the case. Switched to Sport Pistol which I have quite a bit of. what kind of coating ? I have a bunch of tightgroup still I quit using back in my moly coated days.. Might try it again Yeh alot of people used it in 9 minor and 40 major as it was cheap, seemed to be always available, and it worked well.. As mentioned only issue was smoke with the pre hitek style coatings, or wax lubed. Jacketed and copper bullets were more common then before prices got stupid.. I was gathering all my 40 ammo and came across a couple boxes of tighgroup under 180 gr HAP's 40 major match loads.. I used to shoot HAP's at matches and Precesion Moly coated and local hard cast wax in proactice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Mitch Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 Titegroup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bamboo Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 Lots of the common 12ga trap and skeet powders make great pistol powders for our gamer loads. American Select is a favorite for every thing from 38 short colt/9x19 to 45acp. Others are red dot, promo, 700x, e3, clay dot, nobels GM3…you get the idea. For a Plan B powder check out what your powder source has in stock. Shotgun powder usually has good published load data for pistol loads, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postal Bob Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 I use Titegroup with coated bullets. There is some smoke, but nothing like cast lead bullets. The coatings these days is nothing like early moly coating. Shooting outside I rarely notice the smoke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 32 minutes ago, Bamboo said: Lots of the common 12ga trap and skeet powders make great pistol powders for our gamer loads. American Select is a favorite for every thing from 38 short colt/9x19 to 45acp. Others are red dot, promo, 700x, e3, clay dot, nobels GM3…you get the idea. For a Plan B powder check out what your powder source has in stock. Shotgun powder usually has good published load data for pistol loads, too. For everyones info,, Highgun is re labeled tightgroup, for whatever reason. Hodgdon wanted a new powder . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagemann Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 (edited) Titegroup is a little smokey with HiTek or Polymer coated bullets, but to be honest, I never notice the smoke while shooting. Only if I review videos that someone took of me shooting, do I notice the smoke. I never notice it IRL or from 1st person videos. Same goes for N320. Both are good options. Edited April 14 by savagemann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt1911 Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 HP-38 and WST have been great for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwbethue Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 Awesome, thank you for all the replies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpm8300 Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 N320 is prob your best bet; it works well with literally everything - light and heavy bullets, moly, plated, FMJ. I ran AA2 which is very close to N320 as far as burn rate, how it meters, how it feels. N320 is a tick cleaner and more consistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LHshooter Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 I used Titegroup for 147 gr until recently, some smoke but not too bad. Recently switched to N320 and am happy with that in both 147 and 124 bullets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoNsTeR Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 The only powder that beats N320 is N310 (probably not for 115s though). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ysrracer Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 I like Win 244. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
togmaster Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 Tightgroup. I put that "bleep" on everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis22 Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 What am I missing I'm using 244 don't compete but when I look at the numbers it has a very low standard deviation, high velicity per charge weight,very accurate metering,versitle for many calibers inexpensive and available Why is it not more popular Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ysrracer Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 Just now, Dennis22 said: What am I missing I'm using 244 don't compete but when I look at the numbers it has a very low standard deviation, high velicity per charge weight,very accurate metering,versitle for many calibers inexpensive and available Why is it not more popular Agreed, 244 is a great powder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 30 minutes ago, Dennis22 said: What am I missing I'm using 244 don't compete but when I look at the numbers it has a very low standard deviation, high velicity per charge weight,very accurate metering,versitle for many calibers inexpensive and available Why is it not more popular its a reformulated 231.. basically they found a cheaper way to make it.. This powder came out or got known about the same time Sport pistol, and Cleanshot (a reflagged Accurate #2) came about. Its low volume to charge weight made me think it would have consistency issues. Although tightgroup is pretty low volume and works fine. Clean shot and Sport Pistol became available... I am only just now seeing 244,, People already decided on what they wanted to use and were happy with it. Another crowd just stuck with VV 310 and 320... Used to be VV was expensive.. There price stayed about the same and Hodgdons jumped up in price.. Basically actual availability of 244 missed the boat.. Although Sport pistol now seems to be getting rare. 244 is also a bit slower than some of the more popular 9 minor/ 40 major loads and probably has just a bit more bark than say A2.. 244 is probably a really good all around powder for people that load a little bit of every thing and arnt all that concerned with top velocity or absolute minimum recoil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyScuba Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 Given 244 is more dense, I assume it will be cheaper per round? I've got 24lbs of 231 so this is more for curiosity than anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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