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I've been using Winchester 231 for a few years but been thinking of trying something else. 231 seemed to work good but it isn't clean. I've used it mostly for rifle and wheel guns but thinking there might be something better for auto-loaders.

Try Titegroup. It's pretty clean. Remember you are essentially building a fire in your gun you are going to have some residue just like in your grill.

Loading for auto-loader now. Mostly.40 right now.

Certain powders/burn rates work best for certain calibers/applications. There are many options to choose from. I don't load .40 so I can't say for sure what will work. However, I have found Green Dot (underrated powder) to burn quite clean in .45ACP and SR4756 works well in auto pistol cartridges, as does HS-6.

They are pricier, but Vihtavuori have always burned clean for me.

johnferg69 wrote:Loading for auto-loader now. Mostly.40 right now.

I hear Power Pistol works well for higher-pressure loads like .40/.357 Sig/9mm. It's supposed to burn pretty clean, too. It's on my list of powders to acquire for 9mm loading.

I hear Power Pistol works well for higher-pressure loads like .40/.357 Sig/9mm.

thanks. forgot to mention power pistol which is my new favourite powder for 9mm. It should work well in .40.

I like and use Power Pistol for 9mm, 357 sig, and 10mm. It burns pretty clean in the sig and 10mm. 9mm is not quite as clean and when I tried it in .380 it really left a mess on my hands and arms. The only down side to PP is a bit of flash.

Just a thought...

I'm using TiteGroup right now. Switched from Win231 a while back. Pretty clean powder.

With that said, I'm thinking about switching to PowerPistol when the W231 runs out, only for the greater versatility of PowerPistol.

JLaw

I load Vihtavuori 3N37 for .40 in 135/155/165/180 Grain Berry's plated bullets, in Once fired Winchester brass. Never let me down. Sure it costs 10 bucks more per pound but I like how clean it is.

I've heard lots of great things about the Vihtavourti powders and I'd love to try them, but I've not found them in smaller, one pound, quantities in my local area.

mactex wrote:I've heard lots of great things about the Vihtavourti powders and I'd love to try them, but I've not found them in smaller, one pound, quantities in my local area.

If you're ever in Austin, I recall seeing it on the shelves at McBride's.

I'm a 231 fan, but will sometimes use Universal Clays. UC seems to work well ... but I have a hard time getting used to brown powder.

I use mostly Clays for my .40 loads, 3-4grs is all you need, so it makes a 1lb can go pretty far and it's very clean burning. Titegroup, as others have suggested is also a very good powder and burns clean. Some people have problems with inconsistent powder charges as the circular flake powders can be difficult to meter, so be careful.

Edit to clarify on the above a bit : .40cal is a high-pressure cartridge, when your using fast powders like Clays and TG you need to check your powder charge and double check. If 3.4grs is your max charge a small variance could cause a Kaboom if your not careful, especially in pistols that don't have a fully supported chamber.