DaemonAssassin
Why should we Free BSD?
Do you know the anatomy of a pew?Yeah buddy, Blacksmith101
After Thursday when I pick up my primers, I hope to make some freedom seeds of my own soon.
Do you know the anatomy of a pew?Yeah buddy, Blacksmith101
After Thursday when I pick up my primers, I hope to make some freedom seeds of my own soon.
Love it!!!!!!Do you know the anatomy of a pew?
Nope. I think they may have forgot to put the seal thing on that bottle.Can you see any residue on the mouth of the container?
There are a lot of good options there for the things you want to load. (this post got A LOT longer than I'd intended - my apologies for the great wall of text)
For 45 auto, I tend to use a lot of 200 gr bullets - mostly plated round nose from XTreme Bullets. In fact, I use a lot of XTreme bullets for my pistol loading. They aren't the cheapest bullets out there, but they seem to be pretty consistent in terms of quality, and the plating mitigates leading. Also, I think part of the reason I like 200 gr bullets over 230s is because it mitigates recoil - it's a physic problem. The heavier the bullet, the harder it pushes back, to a degree anyway.
For 9mm, I tend to mostly use 124 gr hollow point when they are available - the Xtreme HP shouldn't be confused with any other kind of defense HP - supposedly the HP helps to stabilize the bullet or something or other. In any case, that's what I buy, or I just get the plain round nose.
For 40, I think I loaded 165 gr plated flat nose bullets.
For 223 for AR I load almost exclusively 55 gr FMJ bullets (for my varmint loads, so far I've only used 50 gr Hornady VMax) because they work well in my ARs, and they seem to do ok out of my precision rifle too, which favors lighter/shorter bullets due to the 1:12 twist of the barrel. If I'm loading my varmint rounds, I use Benchmark for those - superior accuracy and speed, and the Zermatt Origin can handle the pressure of just about anything I throw at it.
I don't load a lot of 38 anymore, but in the past I loaded a lot of 158 gr bullets - they seem to do pretty well.
What's fun about reloading, at least for me, are the options available and figuring out what I want to load. I almost always consult at least 2 manuals before I put together a load for anything though - sometimes 3. I try to find a loading that's a middle-of-the-road loading that matches in all 3 manuals. The way I see it, that hedges my bets that it's going to be a safe load, particularly if I'm just putting together range fodder reloads.
Generally speaking, these are the powders I've used for the calibers I've loaded:
38 spc - Bullseye, W231/HP38
357 Magnum - 2400 (I've only loaded this with a Montana Gold 125 gr JHP)
40 S&W - Longshot (I don't shoot this enough to have run out of the reloads I've made)
41 Mag - AA#9, Herco (I mainly used the Herco as a means to try to use it up, and it's decent for large Magnum pistol)
44 Mag - Unique, Herco (Didn't care for the Herco - LOVE Unique, even if it is dirty)
9mm - Bullseye, W231/HP38, Power Pistol, Titegroup, Universal
45 Auto - Bullseye, W231/HP38, Power Pistol, Longshot, Titegroup, Universal
223 - 3031, CFE223, AA2230, TAC, Benchmark
For my semi auto pistols, I really like Bullseye as just general target load powder - it's economical, accurate, and gets the job done, even if it is a bit dirty. I've used other powders, mainly just to see how they'd perform, but I really like Bullseye, and apparently my Dad did too - he used it for 45 Auto, 38 and 9mm, although he also used a lot of Unique for the 45. He used a lot of Unique anyway - going down through his ledgers from 1958 to his passing in 1997, Bulleye and Unique show up for more pistol loads than anything else, so I don't think it's a mistake that I also like using Bullseye.
trickg,There are a lot of good options there for the things you want to load. (this post got A LOT longer than I'd intended - my apologies for the great wall of text)
For 45 auto, I tend to use a lot of 200 gr bullets - mostly plated round nose from XTreme Bullets. In fact, I use a lot of XTreme bullets for my pistol loading. They aren't the cheapest bullets out there, but they seem to be pretty consistent in terms of quality, and the plating mitigates leading. Also, I think part of the reason I like 200 gr bullets over 230s is because it mitigates recoil - it's a physic problem. The heavier the bullet, the harder it pushes back, to a degree anyway.
For 9mm, I tend to mostly use 124 gr hollow point when they are available - the Xtreme HP shouldn't be confused with any other kind of defense HP - supposedly the HP helps to stabilize the bullet or something or other. In any case, that's what I buy, or I just get the plain round nose.
For 40, I think I loaded 165 gr plated flat nose bullets.
For 223 for AR I load almost exclusively 55 gr FMJ bullets (for my varmint loads, so far I've only used 50 gr Hornady VMax) because they work well in my ARs, and they seem to do ok out of my precision rifle too, which favors lighter/shorter bullets due to the 1:12 twist of the barrel. If I'm loading my varmint rounds, I use Benchmark for those - superior accuracy and speed, and the Zermatt Origin can handle the pressure of just about anything I throw at it.
I don't load a lot of 38 anymore, but in the past I loaded a lot of 158 gr bullets - they seem to do pretty well.
What's fun about reloading, at least for me, are the options available and figuring out what I want to load. I almost always consult at least 2 manuals before I put together a load for anything though - sometimes 3. I try to find a loading that's a middle-of-the-road loading that matches in all 3 manuals. The way I see it, that hedges my bets that it's going to be a safe load, particularly if I'm just putting together range fodder reloads.
Generally speaking, these are the powders I've used for the calibers I've loaded:
38 spc - Bullseye, W231/HP38
357 Magnum - 2400 (I've only loaded this with a Montana Gold 125 gr JHP)
40 S&W - Longshot (I don't shoot this enough to have run out of the reloads I've made)
41 Mag - AA#9, Herco (I mainly used the Herco as a means to try to use it up, and it's decent for large Magnum pistol)
44 Mag - Unique, Herco (Didn't care for the Herco - LOVE Unique, even if it is dirty)
9mm - Bullseye, W231/HP38, Power Pistol, Titegroup, Universal
45 Auto - Bullseye, W231/HP38, Power Pistol, Longshot, Titegroup, Universal
223 - 3031, CFE223, AA2230, TAC, Benchmark
For my semi auto pistols, I really like Bullseye as just general target load powder - it's economical, accurate, and gets the job done, even if it is a bit dirty. I've used other powders, mainly just to see how they'd perform, but I really like Bullseye, and apparently my Dad did too - he used it for 45 Auto, 38 and 9mm, although he also used a lot of Unique for the 45. He used a lot of Unique anyway - going down through his ledgers from 1958 to his passing in 1997, Bulleye and Unique show up for more pistol loads than anything else, so I don't think it's a mistake that I also like using Bullseye.
Thanks Uncle Duke,Bullseye has been a tried and true staple for years. The "148 grain" recommendation mentioned for 38 Special in Post #45 is undoubtedly the lead wadcutter, likely hollow based, with "2.7 to 3 grains of Bullseye". That load range has been so extremely popular amongst 38 Special revolver shooters for so many years that the recommendation was likely very quickly mentioned from memory. Some loads are like that when they've been so good for so long.
With regard to Unique, if I were forced to have only one pistol powder on the shelf to work with across just about the entire handgun spectrum? It would be Unique. The powder is aptly named. It is indeed rather unique with regard to what it can be used for. It certainly isn't always the best choice necessarily. But it's likely to be a good and almost surely a workable choice. Your father no doubt liked Unique for very good reasons.
With both of those powders, it's not coincidence that they've both been around for 125 years and counting.
Thanks SG,For 9mm and .357 Sig, the RMR Nuke is a great bullet. Killer hollowpoints at a good price.
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9mm 124 Gr. RMR JHP (MPR NUKE) | RMR Bullets
We have been wanting to make a really good self defense HP for a while now. In the past our biggest issue with the MPR (Multi Purpose Round) was that it required 1150-1200 fps to reliably expand. This was doable through full size firearms, but left the short barrel conceal carry guns without...www.rmrbullets.com
Somehow even before googling, I thought this might be an Alliant powder.357 Magnum - 2400 (I've only loaded this with a Montana Gold 125 gr JHP)
Here is one thing for new reloaders to learn and understand...
When looking at min/max powder charges in a manual, avoid powders with a very small window between minimum and maximum charge until you are confident in your skills. This is the sign of an unforgiving powder, and you need to be really precise with your charge or bad things can happen.
Take note of H110 vs Acc.#9 for .44 Magnum.
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View attachment 452631
The data pictured is from Lyman 50th. I'm sure other manuals will be slightly different. I prefer to get at least 2 published loads that jibe with each other before moving forward. I never get load data from a random Reddit post or Youtube video.Great point SG.
And your pic is perfect for the next point. I've seen this mentioned a ton online that H110 and W296 are "the same powder" but why is the min,/max data different?!?! I'll stick with what the books say and treat them differently.
SG,The data pictured is from Lyman 50th. I'm sure other manuals will be slightly different. I prefer to get at least 2 published loads that jibe with each other before moving forward. I never get load data from a random Reddit post or Youtube video.
The rule of thumb is to start 10% below max. Interestingly enough, with the H110 loads pictured above, that would take you below the minimum load- thus the powder selection quandary.Squaregrouper,
Good catch there. From that breakdown, it looks like 296 is in a similar 1 gr range, and both H110 and 296 show some of the highest velocities along with N110. Where I would make my mental cautions would be in the Pressure C U P. between the various powder choices.
Do you recommend starting out at or close to the " Starting grains" levels, test the loads through a chronigraph to see how your numbers compare to the published velocities, and adjust from there but keep a safe zone cushion below the max?