Pistol powder

[cleric]

I need to reload some pistols again and am looking for a powder reccomendation.

looking at cfe pistol, primarily 9mm and 45. Maybe the odd ball every now and then.

 

[Downtown]

W231 is the classic. Pretty much does everything in my reloading room. Is it the best for Keith .44 Special? No, but as an all around powder it's hard to beat. You could also try HP38.

 

[cleric]

Yeah my only concern with 231 is it looks slower on 9mm heavy loads

 

[Spblademaker]

Bullseye ain’t bad

 

[Downtown]

Certainly there are specific powders better for specific applications. I just threw that out there as a good powder for a bunch of different stuff. If one power was the best, I wouldn't have so many in my garage

 

[GhostFace]

Bullseye ain’t bad

I find it to be dirty. HS6 and Longshot are all that I use...

 

[ShtrRdy]

If you want the fastest load you can build for 9mm and 45 ACP then you're gonna have to use different powders.

 

[IronicTwitch]

Alliant Sport Pistol and N320 are the go to powder for USPSA lately

 

[918v]

I find it to be dirty. HS6 and Longshot are all that I use...

Is HS6 that much cleaner?

I like Power Pistol for the 9 and Bullseye for the 45, the classic powders for these cartridges. They produce the best accuracy in each.

 

[Winningdog]

I load 45 auto, 9mm, and 45 Colt. Unique works well in all three. I keep some bullseye and power pistol around as well.

 

[Nimothy]

Yeah my only concern with 231 is it looks slower on 9mm heavy loads

It’s probably the best 45 powder around arguably, 5.2ish and a 230 hardball is kinda is kinda a staple load. For 9mm I prefer it to anything for 147 loads for my sub gun. Not so great in the 124’s they seem to be high on the pressure side before it’ll work the slide in my glocks. I’d say give that cfe pistol a try I’ve had pretty good luck with it. 5.3gr and a berrys plated 124 is very accurate and also polite in my mp5 clone, ar9, and my glocks.

 

[clcustom1911]

Power Pistol, AutoComp, W231 are my 3 that do whatever I tell them to.

 

[Nimothy]

Power Pistol, AutoComp, W231 are my 3 that do whatever I tell them to.

I know this is probably a non issue for most, but once I started shooting Mostly carbines in 9mm I had to quit using autocomp. That stuff is the dirtiest powder I’ve ever shot. I’m to lazy for that stuff, cleaning a pistol everytime you shoot 100 rounds is one thing but a blow back ar9, that shit’s for the birds.

 

[XLR308]

I have been loading for pistol rounds since the mid 90's and for 9mm and 45acp I still haven't ventured away from HS-6 and W231.
They just work and are accurate.
If you want more performance there are better options but are you capable of making offhand hits at beyond pistol ranges ?
Think of it that way.
I'm not Jerry Myculak but can hold my own with a pistol at close range and don't think a little more velocity means jack shit until you step up to a high performance round like the difference between a 44 special and a full power 44 mag round.
A better analogy would be 45acp and 460rowland.

 

[GhostFace]

Is HS6 that much cleaner?

I like Power Pistol for the 9 and Bullseye for the 45, the classic powders for these cartridges. They produce the best accuracy in each.

We used Bullseye for our .45s when we had them, we were issued S&W 645s/4506/4506+ until about 2005 andthen P220ST. I know we used lead, copper washed lead and finally fmj and bullseye was filthy with all of the loads. The loads were accurate but dirty. When I took over one of the first things I did was buy HS6 when we ran out of Bullseye. The pistols were so much cleaner, Bullseye left a lot of carbon...it looked like soot from a chimney. Now we are issued 320 9mms and we still use HS6 because of the accuracy and it burns cleaner. I use Longshot mostly now for my own personal reloading, it burns clean like HS6. If given a choice I avoid Bullseye.

 

[Alabusa]

I would recommend BE-86 for all things 9mm.