New Guy & Looking for powder options

[Dan44149]

Hello all...

Does anyone reload 9mm, .40S&W, and .223 and have an idea of a decent powder that can be used for all 3 to curb costs? I've found info on go to powders for individual cartridges, but was wondering if anyone loaded all 3 with one particular powder....

Thanks for any input.

 

[orionengnr]

Dan--
Welcome to the forum.
I believe that you will find several powders that will work well for 9mm and .40 S&W (Unique or W231 might be a good place to start).

That said, rifle cartridges and pistol cartridges make different demands of their powders, and I think you will end up with one rifle powder and one pistol powder.

When I started (only a few years ago) I did some homework and decided that Winchester 231 would get me started for pistol rounds (9mm, .38 and .45acp) and Winchester 748 would be a good choice for rifle (.223 and .308).

Buy or borrow a couple reloading manuals and see what will best suit your needs. Also, several of the powder manufacturers have good on-line resources. Here are a couple to start with...

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/

http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp

http://www.accuratepowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/accurate_load_data_3.5.pdf

It is a fascinating and rewarding hobby, and there is always something new to learn. Enjoy.

 

[Dan44149]

Thank you!

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

Though technically possible, you would severely sacrifice performance of the 223 if you tried to use a pistol powder.

Using a single powder doesn't really "curb costs" anyway. Certainly, it reduces up front cost but in the long run you use powder at the same rate and have to buy 3 cans of a single powder or 3 cans of multiple powders. Same/same.

Actually, you might find a rifle powder that you like that's cheaper than the pistol powder, so using multiple powders may in fact be cheaper than the theoretical saving of using one.


Anyway, a single powder will certainly work for 9mm and 40, so you're only looking at buying one extra bottle for 223.... like $18-$25

 

[Dan44149]

Valid points... thanks!

 

[grubbylabs]

I also think you would be better served with two different powders.

I like unique because it is cheap and shoots well in my 45 and it meters just fine out of my uni-flow. However, there are several here who do not like unique for different reasons.

 

[Unclenick]

Unique is useful for catsneeze loads in .223, but won't do you much good if you want to operate a self-loader. I've mainly switched from Unique to Hodgdon Universal Clays, which gives about the same performance but which meters more accurately in a wide variety of measures and burns more cleanly than either Unique or Bullseye or 231. If I were getting just one pistol powder for your pistol chamberings, that would probably be the one.

For your .223 there are different optimum choices depending on the bullet weight you want to shoot. Reloader 10X will handle loads that are light as well as do a fair job with the middle weights. It won't quite get the heaviest bullets to best velocities for long range shooting, but if you expect to stay within, say, 400 yards, then it works well enough even with the 77 grain MatchKings.

 

[m&p45acp10+1]

For the pistol rounds I would recomend either TiteGroup, or Bull's Eye. Both work in a wide variety of loads for handgun calibers at reasonable velocities. Also they are both listed in a wide variety of loading manuals so you can find load info for them easily.

For the .223 Hodgdon H335 works well for 55 grain bullets. If you are going for a wide variety of weights then Varget covers a lot of bullet weights, I like it and Reloader 15 for 68 grain bullets and heavier.