Well, sometimes.TxDrifter wrote:
One thing we learned about the caliber powder tables though is that the book is a good reference, but each powder manufacture supplies a current table on their website.
Alliant, for example, has only one bullet weight/type in .380 for only 3 powders. Your only choice is 90grn Gold Dot. Of that, you get Bullseye, Unique, and Power Pistol. That last one isn't very useful, as almost all .380 pistols are short-barreled, and Power Pistol is a relatively slow-burning pistol powder. There are no loads for lead or plated bullets, or anything other than 90 grain, for that matter. The same goes for 9mm, where you get 115/124/147 grain GDHP loads. Depending on bullet weight, you get 3-5 powder selections, and again nothing for lead or plated bullets.
Hodgdon/IMR/Winchester has a better selection of bullet weights for .380, with 90/95/100 grain with between 5 and 11 powders (depending on bullet weight), but only FMJ and JHP bullets, nothing for lead or plated.
Accurate has a relatively dismal number of loads for .380 as well, with only 2 powders represented and only 90 and 95 grain FMJ/JHP bullets, in addition to Barnes XPB (if you like to spend a lot of money reloading). Their 9mm data is better, with a decent selection of loads for lead bullets, and 4 powders represented.
So yes, manufacturer tables are good to have, but I've found them to be severely lacking in the calibers I reload. I've only used one load from a manufacturer so far, Alliant with 124 grain 9mm and Blue Dot, and it turned out to be way too hot for anything but XTP rounds, which seem like they're +P power (with velocities of around 1300fps), even at 0.4 grains below the max load. With FMJ (with OAL adjusted for equal seating depth), I was hitting their reported max load velocities with only 7.1 or 7.2 grains of powder (max is 7.9).
