How many powders do you really need?

[AJMD429]

Still trying to dilute out some of our inevitable pre-election political OT's - we've done the "if you could have just [2,3,4] guns" topic, but here's another along the same lines:

How many powders could you get by with, and still reload most common rounds adequately?

I'm thinking you'd need at minimum a powder for big pistols like maybe 2400, one for straight wall rifles, one for bottleneck rifles (maybe 'big' and 'small' would need different powders there, say for .223 vs. .30-06 or 300 WinMag.), and perhaps one for the smallest pistol rounds if you load the likes of 9mm.

[mescalero1]

I have an assortment, whittleing it down would be helpful, logisticlly

[Lefty Dude]

We did this several Months ago, Right ?

[Rusty]

According to the manuals I could reload .357, .44 mag, .30-30, and .223 with 2400.

[DerekR]

I've settled on Unique for my .38, .357, .45ACP and .45 Colt. I also use it for reduced cast bullet loads in my rifles. W748 for the 30/30, .32WS and .308. That catches alomst everything I reload for.

[pharmseller]

Lessee, foot powder, behind powder, baking powder, tobacco powder (snuff, don't you know), powdered sugar, what else?

Q

[El Chivo]

It depends on how many calibers you want to load for, and for what purposes. If you hunt big game with your 30-30 and jacketed bullets, you only need one powder. If you want to hunt small game, big game, plink, shoot silhouette, take a class at Camp Perry, shoot in your basement in the middle of the night, shoot soft lead, hard lead, jacketed, Barnes copper, then you need a variety of loads.

I want to get it down to two if I can, one rifle and one pistol. I think I can address all my rifle needs with one powder, H4895. Works great for full power loads and it can be loaded down for silhouette, and it is accurate.

I need to find an equally effective powder for .357. So far I like SR 4759 with 180 grain lead bullets, I like the way it fills the case. I was getting leading with 2400 and Lasercast bullets, so started looking for something slower and cooler. I also got some IMR 4227 which I haven't tried yet. Looks a lot like 2400, but it's supposed to be slower. Now I get to spend year testing loads with all these.

[El Chivo]

Lessee, foot powder, behind powder, baking powder, tobacco powder (snuff, don't you know), powdered sugar, what else?

Q

you forgot Cruex...

[Old Savage]

5 to 7 depending on what we are going to shoot.

[meanc]

Right now, I only use four. 2400, Bullseye, Lil' gun, IMR 3031.

I could get by with just Bullseye, and as Rusty said, 2400 in the 30-30 and 45-70.

So two would work for me.

[mescalero1]

This is in line of my post last night, how many can I logisticlly support; considering I can only shoot 1 at a time.
I do not intend to provide arms for the great unwashed, who did not make proper preperation for hard times.
So as a single man, it seems; I must provide commonality; as far as possible, in my own armanent.

[reo]

I have read the posts on one rifle, pistol, powder, bullet, mould, etc and several months ago after two decades of considering it, I came up with mine, and have been putting theory into practice. I have sold off the collection except the 22's (LR's and WMR's), a Blackhawk in 45 colt, and a Marlin 336 in 30-30. (Of near 100 rifles, shotguns and pistols the last rifle has not sold, a Henry in 45C, so it will be a nice gift for someone or be a trade on another 336. Someone has to want it. ) I use 2400 for the powder although I still keep Bullseye around. I have settled on the 2400 load with 18.5 grains of 2400 for the RCBS 255 Keith. Still working on the "the one" for the 30-30. It's between the Ranch Dog mould, which is amazing and the RCBS 180 flat nose, which is well, uninspiring so far. I'm going to get real picky, weighing cases, turning necks, primer pockets, weighing bullets, trying different cartridge OAL's, etc, etc, I am hoping I can get around 18 grains of 2400 to work. With that said, I still want to experiment with one more powder/ jacketed bullet combination. But to answer the question, I only NEED one powder, 2400, but I WANT Bullseye, it is to much fun.

[mescalero1]

Reo,
That is ecourgeing, I feel like I need to simpliy things.
Perhaps these loads will lead to more commonality.

[Tycer]

If I could only keep one, I'd keep Unique. I keep big jugs of Reloder7, Lil'Gun, IMR3031, Unique, Longshot and Clays

[reo]

Reo,
That is ecourgeing, I feel like I need to simpliy things.
Perhaps these loads will lead to more commonality.

It has always been fun to get a new gun/caliber go through the process of getting it to do what you want but at the end, "the perfect rifle/pistol" always faded away in to some new what if and another rifle. Now I have what is not the best compromise rifle/pistol for everything. But I know their limitations and strengths and I can except them instead of chasing the next perfect gun. It was stimulating during the process of chasing the perfect rifle/pistol, but it has not brought me the joy of truly getting to know a weapon. I have fired nearly everything the Army has to offer in small arms and spent a long time with several systems. The benefit was you had one load and you knew what it would do. When you give up a weapon up after a war, you felt like you lost a part of yourself. But as a civilian I was always chasing that something again. The only way to get it back was to choose the civilian army of reo's weapon and build that muscle memory and familiarity. Outfitting my children is equally as easy, now they are getting their 30-30's. And to stay on track with the topic, 2400 will be in their cases too except for a few of those new powder/jacketed bullet loads I referred to earlier.

[Hobie]

Lessee, Unique, IMR-3031, L'ilGun or H110, IMR or H 4350 are absolutes for me. Then there are RL-7, H4198, H4895, H322, H335, W748 (for .223 Rem, maybe .308 Win), Bullseye, IMR SR4759, BP (in various grades), and, yes there are more I can't think of off-hand.

[Slick13]

Reloder 15 works well in three of my rifle (.25-35, .30-30, 03A3), and should work fine in the fourth (Savage 114, .30-06 traded into last Friday, and haven't had the chance to run any reloads through it yet). Shotgun, for target loads I'd probably go with Green Dot in the 12 ga, Unique for 12 and 16 ga. hunting loads and for my .45 Colt. So if I had to, I could limit myself to those three powders, but I've also got one to eight pound jugs of e3, Winchester AA Super Handicap, Red Dot, BL-C(2), Varget, H4895, H4350, Reloder 7, IMR3031, and AA2460 sitting around at home.

~Michael

[Marc]

I think I need around 30. I haven't taken a count lately. It might be more. There are also some new ones to try. Might be I need 50!

[Old Ironsights]

Because I'm limiting my calibers anyway:

2400
BP

Then, for extra OOMPF, if I have the space/money:

LilGun
RX7

Haven't settled on a Shotgun Powder yet.

[PawPaw]

Hmmm

Bullseye and Unique for the pistol calibers, along with Blue Dot for the magnums.

Then, there's IMR4831 for my son's rifle and Rel22 for the .243 and -06.

There's a half-can of 3031 for the j-bullets in .30-30, but most of that caliber is used up with 4895 and cast bullet loads. The 45-70 uses a lot of 777. I've got a couple of cans of Rel15 that I got to load for .308, but I don't know if I'll ever use it all up.

I could make do with Bullseye, Unique, 4895 and 777, but what's the fun in that?

[Doc Hudson]

For me, the answer is three, FFg blackpowder, Unique, and IMR 4198. Those three would get me by, but I'd miss Win 296, and a couple of rifle powders.

[rjohns94]

I use Unique for 38, 357, 45lc, 45acp.

I use black powder for the sharps, shotgun and the .54 flintlock, FF and FFFF

I use match ammo for the steyr so I don't reload for it

I havent reloaded for the .457/ 45-70 or 30-30 yet so I will have to look for something for them, so I am interested to see the results here.

[Old Savage]

3031 and 2400 would cover the 45-70 and 30-30.

[Modoc ED]

Lessee, foot powder, behind powder, baking powder, tobacco powder (snuff, don't you know), powdered sugar, what else?

Q

I think you forgot the ole proverbial "powder to blow your *** away".
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I don't handload for handguns.

I use H-4350 for .30-06
IMR-3031 for .30-30
H-322 for .444 Marlin (265gr bullets and heavier (hunting))
H-4198 for .444 Marlin (240gr bullets for walk around/plinking)

[Slick13]

Haven't settled on a Shotgun Powder yet.

What gauge are you shooting and what are you looking to do?

~Michael

[Old Ironsights]

Haven't settled on a Shotgun Powder yet.

What gauge are you shooting and what are you looking to do?

~Michael

Haven't decided yet really. That's why I haven't decided.

Mostly 2.5" - 16ga for Crow probably.

[Slick13]

Haven't settled on a Shotgun Powder yet.

What gauge are you shooting and what are you looking to do?

~Michael

Haven't decided yet really. That's why I haven't decided.

Mostly 2.5" - 16ga for Crow probably.

2 1/2"? Do you have an old 2 9/16" chambered gun? Can't help much with 16 ga data other than pass along that Downrange is supposed to be coming out with a new 16 ga. wad for 3/4 oz and 7/8 oz loads, and Claybuster is supposed to be coming out with a copy of the old Winchester WAA16 wad for 1 oz loads. Remington still makes a wad suited to 1 1/8 oz loads, and I think with Federal hulls you can load up to 1 1/4 oz with that Remington wad. Powders? Unique, Blue Dot, or Longshot depending on how much shot you want to push and how fast you want to push it.

~Michael

[Old Ironsights]

I have 2-1/2" data available. There is a whole forum dedicated to the 16 ga.

I just haven't decided what I want to do yet.

[rhead]

Unique, 2400 and 4350 are must haves to function. 3031 and lilgun improve preformance in the 45 70, 30 30 and hornet. The others are toys or somewhat redundant.

[gon2shoot]

Been doin just that experiment lately, I could "get by" with 2400 and H4198. Wouldn't necessarily be purty but I wouldn't suffer much either.

[Old Time Hunter]

Unique, H4198, and H4895....only smokeless that I use. 'Course Black Powder don't count, 'cause thats holy powder.

Unique works in everything, including shotguns
H4198 works in everthing...usually straight walled cartridges
H4895 handles all bottle neck cartridges...even allows for 60% loads with no issues.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I`m with Hobie and Marc. There aint enough different kinds of powder made today. Cant wait for new ones to come out so I can try them.

[44LVR]

Looking at my powder selection, I see more than 30 different powders.

But I could get with 2. Unique and 3031. Those two comprise 50% of all my powder anyway.

44

[Old Savage]

The best ones to do all the jobs I want to do that is what I think I really need, not how few could I get by with.

[J Miller]

How many powders do you really need?

Three:

Unique for all my handgun needs
748 for my medium rifle calibers
760 for my larger rifle calibers


Joe

[rjohns94]

thanks OS, will those powders handle cast bullets in the 45-70 and 30-30? I haven't sat down yet to look these things over. I need to get a good cast bullet reloading manual. Setting up my 45 ACP this weekend after loading up some .38/.357 ammo. Once I get the .45acp all loaded, I will be looking towards 45-70 and 30-30.

[2ndovc]

Mike,

Have had excellent results with Varget in my 45-70 & 450Marlin. Working on a 444Marlin load, though I haven't gotten it to the range yet.

Haven't tried it in the 30-30. Don't shoot that one much.

Like OS I've used IMR-3031 in both with good results.



jb

[Bluehawk]

It would be nice to reduce. Right now I can do everything I need for rifles with 4 powders Varget , H4895, AA5744, and IMR3031. I have only one gun ( a 30-06 ) that will shoot with only one load that uses 180 Speer spitzers and IM R 4831 ( I coud get rid of that gun I guess ) .
Handguns I could do with H110 ( W296) AND uNIQUE .
I do keep IMR 4350 around for loading my sons 270 Win and my other sons 7mm -08. I COULD do most of that with the H4895 .
Add a little more room and then I add 2400, AA2230,IMR 4064, 4227,4756,VN550,RE #7, Re#9, Re#15 stuff im right back where I started