What Powder

[Grizz2720]

I am going to start reloading rifle and pistol ammo. After looking at the huge variety of choices for powder, Are there any brands or formulas to start with. I like to start with say 2 powders for rifle and two powders for pistol. Any body got some favorite powder they can recommend?
The calibers would be not in any order. 308, 223, 45 acp, and 45 lc 9mm
Thanks GRizz

[andrewjs18]

I am going to start reloading rifle and pistol ammo. After looking at the huge variety of choices for powder, Are there any brands or formulas to start with. I like to start with say 2 powders for rifle and two powders for pistol. Any body got some favorite powder they can recommend?
The calibers would be not in any order. 308, 223, 45 acp, and 45 lc 9mm
Thanks GRizz

in my 9mm, I like unique...748 is a popular powder for .223 and is what I use...don't load the other calibers you listed.

[Xringshooter]

Not a home right now so can't get to my loads but Titegroup, Lil Gun, Universal, Clays, Unique, Bullseye, 231 would all work in your handgun loads. If I could only use 2 then I would probably keep Titegroup and Clays (toss up between it and Unique) around. There are many more also that would work. Again several powders can be used for the .308 and the .223. I don't do .308 but I have used Varget and IMR 4895 very successfully in my .223's.

[Lone Wolf]

Ive had very good results with IMR 4064 in .308 and Winchester 748 in .223. For 9mm Luger, 45 ACP and 45 Colt, Alliant Unique would do fine. These are by no means the only choices but a good starting point. Get yourself a good reloading manual and check out all thats available.

[rtrageser]

IMR 4064 is supposed to be the go to powder for any cartridge based on the .308. I hear good things about titegroup and bullseye for the 45ACP. Can't help you on the other powders

[GeorgeF]

Reloading manuals!!! Buy one or better yet two. Get a Lee and a Lyman (my recommendation) and research powders. Unless the information comes directly from a powder manufacturer or a reloading company (Lee, Dillon, etc) i would not trust ANY info on loads on the internet. Go by the info in the reloading manuals.

You may have to get two or three different powders but you have to research what types of bullets you are using as well. Not every powder works for every type of bullet. You are free to experiment, but I prefer to go by the numbers set forth by the pros.

Good luck!

[Grizz2720]

Thanks I appreciate the starting points. I had reloaded 308 30yrs ago pulled out my old manual and thought better of using it so I went out and bought a lyman and a hornady manual started flipping through them and realized I could go poor real quick if I bought all the brands and variety of powder out there. So I figured I could get a starting point here. and I was right.
Thanks again.

[Pete D.]

For the pistol cartridges that you have mentioned, I use Unique and Bullseye.
For the rifle cartridges (.308 Win./.223 Rem.), I like Reloader 15 and/or IMR 4895.
The Lyman #49 Manual is a first choice for me.
Pete

[WVBob]

The on line sites you can use are the ones from the Powder Co's. http://www.hodgdon.com/ is one of the better sites, http://www.alliantpowder.com/ is another.

[hornady]

I went through the same dilemma I wanted to basically only have two powders for all my reloads. I ended up with HP 38 for pistol its been out for some time so finding loads was pretty easy. And HP 38 is basically Win 231 but about a buck a can cheaper than Win 231.for rifle it’s a little different. With matching powder bullet case and primer. I settled on IMR 3031. Kind of like the 30 06 analogy not the best for any, but will work for most anything.I am not shooting bench rest comp, but getting nice groups at 100 yards in 223, 3030, 270, and 3006, but I also have 8 reloading books I have collected over the past 40 years. and just ordered the Lyman 49th.