best all around pistol powder

L

lowbud

New member
Hi everyone. I'm new to reloading. well... pistol anyway. Been reloading shotshells for years. Anyway, being that things are hard to find and getting quite pricey i'm looking for a good overall powder for the following:

9mm
32 s&w long
38/357
44 spc/mag
45 acp


The bullets I have are:

9mm 125GR. R.N
38 158 GR. R.N.
44 200GR. R.N.F.P.
45 200 GR. S.W.C.

I'm not looking for hot loads. just something to enjoy a day at the range or out in the yard.

Thanks.
 
B

BillCA

New member
Alliant Unique is what I generally keep around for utility.

But Green Dot or Red Dot powders will work for all these calibers too.
 
W

webby4x4

New member
But Green Dot or Red Dot powders will work for all these calibers too.
Click to expand...

I'm no reloading veteran, but I thought Red Dot and Green Dot were for shotshell. Can these be used in pistol too?? Alliants site shows these for shotshell use only.

Rick
 
W

webby4x4

New member
Interesting! I had heard one or two people say that a while back, but I just ignored it and stayed with traditional pistol powders (e.g. Bullseye, Power Pistol, etc.).

thanks,
RW
 
P

Pathfinder45

New member
WINCHESTER 231 or .....

......Hodgdon's HP-38 should be ideal for mild loads. Those two powders may as well be identical in my experience with .45 Colt.
 
Z

zippy13

New member
I'm with webby4x4, I get a lot of mileage from Bullseye; but, I load to punch holes in paper.
.38 Spcl. WC & SWC
.357 Rem. Mag. WC & SWC
.44 Rem Mag. (buffered) WC & SWC
.45 ACP SWC
 
D

darkgael

New member
Powders

Unique, Red Dot, Bullseye.
BTW - though Bullseye is certainly a traditional pistol powder, if you check a shotshell reloading manual, you will find some excellent shotshell loadings that use Bullseye. This is especially true of low pressure/low recoil target loads (2 3/4"Win. AA hull + 16.5 grs of Bullseye + WAA12SL wad + two 20 ga. 0.125" nitro cards under the shot + Win 209 primer + 7/8 oz. shot. Typical).
Pete
 
B

B.L.E.

New member
There is a lot of overlap between shotgun and pistol powders. A lot of the slower burning powders for .44 magnums and .357 magnums make good .410 shotshell powders. Hodgon Li'l Gun, a new .22Hornet favorite was developed as a .410 shotgun powder.
 
4

45Marlin carbine

Moderator
for cast slugs a faster powder is 'generally' better suited.
for jacketed slugs a mid-range or slower will do better.
I use BE or R Dot for cast slugs with great results.
all I've loaded jacketed for is service/military type rounds and Power Pistol gets the nod. I'm not sure if it's a good choice for .357 heavy slugs but it will do for general shooting.
 
G

gb_in_ga

New member
Bullseye ought to work. HP-38/W231 ought to work as well. Unique or Universal should work, too.

...Those two powders may as well be identical in my experience with .45 Colt.
Click to expand...
HP-38 and W231 ARE identical other than the usual lot number variations. Documented as such by the manufacturers, and illustrated by the current Hodgdon/Winchester load tables.
 
T

tiberius10721

Moderator
I used to use same powder for 45 acp 38special and 357 magnum till i tried alliant 2400 for 357 magnum.alliant 2400 turned my 357 magnum into a high powered cannon!accurate as heck also.my load came from lee manual 14 grains 2400 behind 158 jacketed bullet.1500-1600 ftps!It seems for the magnum calibers like 44,357,41 you get so much better performance with powder like alliant 2400.
 
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