If you could only have two powders for reloading

T

TXGunNut

New member
When you load from 5.56 to 45-90, add in .38 target loads to 45 Colt hunting loads then throw in a c&b revolver and a Hawken style caplock with .45 and .54 cal barrels the idea of only two powders is a bit of a stretch. :rolleyes: Didn't even consider shotguns. Oops!
If I check the shelf and find less than a dozen powders I figure I'm out of something. If I had to do it I'd have one safe dedicated to safe queens. I haven't been lucky enough to find two cartridges that I load that like the same powder. Come to think of it, I have two 30-06's that can't seem to agree on one powder.
In theory I could possibly do all my smokeless loading with Unique and one of the 4350's. Glad I don't have to.
 
S

SRE

New member
Pistol - Herco
Rifle - H4895

Just my preferences in conjunction with calibers I like to reload
 
C

chasep255

New member
I started reloading this year so I am relatively new. I actually only have two powders that I load with. They are H-335 and Power Pistol. I am loading 30-06, 223, 40, and 45. I think I may soon need a different powder for 30-06 and maybe 45. How do you guys keep tract of what powder was last in the measure if you don't want to empty it after every time in the loading room? This currently isn't a problem for me since I only load two and they both look different.
 
J

jmorris

New member
231 & 748, but I use them less than I did when I was more worried about saving $20 than having a good load.
 
I

Idaho Spud

New member
IMR 4064 & Unique. I could find reasonable loads with these two for my reloading, although 4064 in 223 is iffy, but do-able.
 
M

mikehaas

New member
With only 2 powders, I wouldn't choose 2 so close in burn rate - I would want a fast one and a slower one. The faster powder will have to work in both shotgun and pistols for which I have data. So probably something like Winchester WST. (12 gua, 40 S&W, 45 ACP, 9mm, etc)

For a rifle powder, probably Hodgdon BL-C(2) - has applications from .17 right through the .458 Win Mag and some .50 cals.

FYI, my Powder Application Guide is darn-near perfect for this kind of research...
http://ammoguide.com/cgi-bin/aipowders.cgi

The PAG is free for all visitors - you don't even need an account. If not, just press the "Enter as DEMO" button on the login page.

BTW, this tool was created a couple years ago after a friend called me from a gun show. He had found a great deal on some unfamiliar powder and thought that AmmoGuide should help him figure out what it could be used in. I agreed. Seems a lot more useful to me than "burn rate charts". -Mike
 
J

Jim243

New member
When I started reloading, the most number of loads listed were for H-4895 and Win 231. I guess I would stick with those.

Jim
 
M

MADISON

New member
Just 2 powders?

I started out with UNIQUE and Winchester 748.
After finding that UNIQUE would not produce the accuracy
I desired, I added Winchester 231.
 
W

wncchester

New member
"I'm looking for the fewest powders and already there is one that I had not considered. Thank you very much."

I'm suggesting that unless you just want to go to a range and make noise, a reloader picking two powders for a range of cartridges is a poor procedure. Not only will using the better choices cost you less in the long run but using a "make do" powder choice will defeat much of what reloading is about; making the best ammo we can possibly make. Putting dreams of packing a SHTF bug-out bag aside, you would do better to take as much loaded ammo as you could carry rather than a reloading kit to a remote place and hopeing to live off the land. (For me, it would be a Ruger 10/22 with two extra magazines and as many bricks of ammo as I could stumble under.)

You asked us what two powders we might prefer. That IS hypothetical and vague in that you didn't say what you wanted the info for until now. And you still haven't given us a clue about your actual needs would be except an initial undefined reference to handguns and a shotgun. ??

All of the better powder choices for any practical uses in any cartridges will be listed in a loading manual, none of us will have any valid insights the book makers do not know. Unless our cartridge lists are the same as your's, our better choices will likely be wildly different from what would be useful to you anyway.

You're welcome.
 
Last edited:
S

Sevens

New member
Good points wncchester but you've got to know that not every reloader is wildly attracted to the hobby side of what we do. There are plenty of handgun game shooters (IPSC, IDPA, others) who merely need ammo that makes the required specifications of the event, and they don't need even 10 FPS over that (and frankly, they don't WANT even 10 fps over that!) and they really don't require extreme accuracy either, shooting for the "A" zone on a large target at a short distance, but doing it quickly.

For those folks, covering more than one chambering with similar components is a real time saver both at the bench and also when it comes to buying and stocking the components.

Not sure why you can't see that angle. As for the topic itself...
Like so many others...

...it's just conversation. :)
 
W

wncchester

New member
"Not sure why you can't see that angle."

I very much do see it; just don't agree. Can't visualise how it speeds anything at all at a bench nor can I see how it could possibly cut costs. But the man's talking about bug-out bags, so... I question the value of that but I'm just making conversation, what I think doesn't matter a bit! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top