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Howdy all, I'm an old guy and have been out of reloading for a long while, but have a buddy who's looking for help to get started up, so I'm gearing up to get back in again. He's looking at 9mm, 45acp and 38/357. NOW, I've got tons of loads worked up in those calibers using Bullseye, Unique, 2400 and W231, but those powders are about as hard to find as an honest politician ;)

SO, would appreciate any suggestions on substitute powders that you'd recommend. If it helps, I'm a "few powders that work for many calibers/loads guy". I've rolled through some forums (left me more confused) and checked out several manuals which can give you options but can't tell you how the powder performs in terms of flash, dirtiness, smoke, accuracy, etc. Finally, where do you usually buy your supplies. I'm in Plano and Gunmaster has the best stock of reloading stuff, but wonder if there are better options. Appreciate any guidance ya'll can provide.

Get Tightgroup and it is available at Cabelas in Allen, TX. It is like $21 per lb. Excellent powder.

Thanks Beiruty! I've got that on my list of possible subs; do you use this for 45 and 9? Also likely to do some .40S&W reloading; will it work for that? Know you also reload lots of rifle; looking for powder to load 223 and 308. Varget looks like a good answer here. Any thoughts? Thanks again!

bagman45 wrote:Thanks Beiruty! I've got that on my list of possible subs; do you use this for 45 and 9? Also likely to do some .40S&W reloading; will it work for that? Know you also reload lots of rifle; looking for powder to load 223 and 308. Varget looks like a good answer here. Any thoughts? Thanks again!

Varget has been hard to find for me. I've used H322 very successfully for .308.

Titegroup is a great all around pistol powder that meters well. I've worked up practice loads in 9/40/45 and almost every other pistol caliber.It really is my general purpose powder for handguns, cleaner than W231/HP38 was for me, especially with lower end loads. My only thing against it is that It burns hotter than I like and tends to produce more smoke than I want with lead bullets, so I have relegated Titegroup for FMJ and plated rounds for the most part.

Power Pistol is another I've enjoyed success with as well as Hodgdon's Autocomp. Longshot and H110/W296 have replaced Unique for me for magnum loads. I also got a pound of CFE Pistol for free recently that I've begun using in 9/40/45, and so far I've been very pleased with the results.

bagman45 wrote:Thanks Beiruty! I've got that on my list of possible subs; do you use this for 45 and 9? Also likely to do some .40S&W reloading; will it work for that? Know you also reload lots of rifle; looking for powder to load 223 and 308. Varget looks like a good answer here. Any thoughts? Thanks again!

Vargat is excellent for 308, for 223 you may consider CFE223 too

Titegroup is also available at most Academy stores and is one of the cheaper powders. The guy I buy powder from uses it as his go to powder for 9/45... he says it's great for both.

Where are you? I've been finding tons of powder (all kinds) lately in the I-35 corridor (Waco to Austin )

Bagman, I am local to you if you need anything reloading related, PM me.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, keep 'em coming!! Also need to update my reloading manuals, as my old Hornady manual from the 80's is a bit out of date now ;). What are your current favorites?

Beiruty, thanks for the offer, will definitely take you up on it as I venture into rifle reloading!

Philbo, thanks, will likely try out some titegroup, can you share your plinking loads, and your magnum loads with H-110? Working up new loads it the biggest PITA, so would be great to have some starting points.

Flechero, I'm in DFW area and it's a bit of a reloading/powder dead zone around here. Only one LGS that stocks much. While close to Cabelas and now Gander Mountain, they have limited selections and very hit and miss.

WTR, don't know where your'e located, but swung by Gunmaster in Plano today and they had plenty of Varget.

Thanks again guys, looking forward to getting back into it. Problem is, that if memory serves, I enjoyed reloading as much as shooting, so would be in a constant cycle of "bye honey, gotta go do some shooting as I'm out of brass to reload"...... Cheers!!

For any and all handgun loads, I would suggest Accurate Arms #2, #5, #7, and #9 (fast to slow, respectively). I load .38 spl, 9mm, .357 mag, .45 acp and .44 mag with these powders. Although I do love Alliant powders (particularly Unique and A2400), I've found that there's no reason to not keep a good stash of the AA powders.

jd

I have been successfully using WSF for quite a while now for pistol loads. Meters well and has loads listed in Hornady and Speer reloading books.

I just bought a pound of Bullseye at my local gunstore. $32 with tax, If you don't mind hazmat you can usually find supplies at http://ammoseek.com/
Cabelas is also very good. http://www.gunbot.net/ is also a good source.

I tend to buy by mailorder as I can rarely find anything locally. End up with hazmat fees but don't have to drive 100 miles each way to Dallas. I don't know that you have to switch to new powders. The old ones are available and with Hillary down I expect them to be around for awhile.

bagman45 wrote:Thanks for the suggestions guys, keep 'em coming!! Also need to update my reloading manuals, as my old Hornady manual from the 80's is a bit out of date now ;). What are your current favorites?

Philbo, thanks, will likely try out some titegroup, can you share your plinking loads, and your magnum loads with H-110? Working up new loads it the biggest PITA, so would be great to have some starting points.

For 9mm my goto load has been:
115 FMJ/plated, 4.4 grains Titegroup, OAL 1.155
If you shorten the OAL length to 1.135 or a little less I have used 4.2 grains, but the above has been more accurate for me and is my effort to recreate WWB. Tens of thousands of this round have been tossed down range over the last decade.

For 45acp:
185 Berry HBRN or 200 RN (both plated bullets) 4.8 grains Titegroup, OAL 1.255
These are enough for accuracy and have performed well in my XD45, Kahr, and many different 1911's for thousands of rounds.

These two calibers constitute the majority of my reloads. Other calibers I reload for are 32 acp, 32 Long, 32 H&R, 327 mag, 380, 38 special, 357 mag, 40 & 10mm, 41 mag, 44 special/mag, 45 colt, 454 Casull. Be happy to share whatever I have on these loads.

Since I've been using a lot of Hogden/Winchester/IMR powders, my start for these is Hodgdon's manual which is an inexpensive magazine type manual available for purchase online; or, all of which can be downloaded online here for free one caliber at a time: https://www.hodgdon.com/basic-manual-inquiry.html

I print out a sheet for each caliber/powder I am working on and record the details for each load as I work them up with notes on how they perform. Then put the pages in a 3 ring binder to keep track of what works best. Lyman and Speer manuals both rest on the shelf as well for cross reference. The High Road forum is also an excellent source for reloading information.

Thanks again guys, very helpful starting points! Philbo, funny you mention the 3-ring binder; I started doing the same back when I started reloading to keep track of load data and results;) It's where all of my current loading information lives - looking forward to dusting it off and adding some new pages!