TexasCHLforum.com

Ok so I am new into reloading but I have cooked up some .308 recently. I used sierra match king with H4895.

I am looking at reloading .223 , 9mm, and eventually .40 S&W. I am mostly just loading for plinking but might want a little more bite with the .223 loads eventually.

I was wondering if anyone had good powder suggestions.

For .223 I was thinking Varget but I was reading on here that a lot of you guys have been using H-335 for better metering. I guess I could also use H4895 again but I was wanting to try something a little different any suggestions between the three?

For 9mm i was thinking a better all around powder for 9mm and .40 so i only need one type since money is tight. For this I was thinking powder pistol, bullseye, or Unique (although I hear it is a little dirty). I want a little faster powder for the pistol stuff. what do you all use? thanks for the info.

H4895 is a good choice for both .308 and .223. I use Accurate 2230 in .223 it is a ball powder meters tremendously well and gives good performance. For day to day pistol loading I use Unique it works very well in every pistol caliber I load. 9mm, 40 S&W, .45 ACP, .38 special and .357 Magnum. I also use Titegroup, HP38 and Trail Boss. If I were only limited to one rifle and one pistol propellant I would go with H4895 and Unique these two powders will work in 99% of the cartridges out there. Maybe not optimum but, never sub standard.

One of my key considerations for powder is whether it will meter reliably. There are too many good, modern powders out now for any application that meter quite well for me to even consider a poorly metering powder.

I'm a fan of buying powders that fit very specific roles even when it means that I end up with 20 different powders. To some folks, especially new folks, this is a ludicrous idea... but get a few years down the road and you may very well see it my way.

I see some other have jumped on the rifle suggestions, so I'll focus on the pistol side, if you are starting with 9mm and will be adding .40 S&W next, I would suggest that Universal is a fine place to start. Think of Universal as a modern equivalent of Unique, and think of Unique as a powder that only gets recommended by folks who learned to handload before 1980. Great powder in it's day, but it's a lousy choice today, starting with its poor metering. (and anyone who want to have a Unique fight can invite me to THAT thread, but we don't need to do it in this one.)

Other options if you don't want to buy Universal could be Ramshot Zip, Accurate #2, Titegroup, Bullseye or Win231. Universal is not only a flexible powder but it meters well and it's low in price (especially when you buy 4 or 8 pounders!) and it's got the backing of the Hodgdon Online Reloading Data Center (which also covers Winchester and IMR branded powders) and blows away everyone else in the industry... especially Alliant. I love Alliant powders but there online data source SUCKS.

Universal is like Unique in that it will cover a wide variety of pistol cartridges quite well. It will produce solid middle-of-the-road performance in many cartridges, but it will never give the absolute "best" performance as compared to a powder more narrowly suited. There are a dozen different powders that will also work, but I'd suggest Universal as a starting point for a new pistol handloader.

The package will actually say "Hodgdon Universal Clays" but the "clays" portion of the name introduces mass confusion because they also market a "clays" and an "international clays" and it's simply best to get used to saying "UNIVERSAL" and forget that "clays" is even on there.

For .223 plinking loads, I've found that Vihtavuori N135 is a great powder, and I get *very* good accuracy and consistency with it. In my rifle using 55gr FMJ-BT bullets, the sweet spot seems to be 24.7 grains. My test batch gave me a 5-round 7/16" group at 50m:



This load pushes around 2950fps through my rifle. I've also had good luck with IMR 3031 at the top end of the load data from IMR - 24.8gr (compressed charge) using the same 55gr FMJ-BT bullets. These have cannelures, so all the loads I do with those bullets get an OAL of 2.230". I got 1/2" groups at 50m with this load, pushing along at around 3100fps.

For what it's worth, Varget didn't do well at all for me, and grouped terribly with every charge I tried. I think it's more suited to .308 than it is .223.

VV310 is what I use for my 9mm...folks I know reloading for 40 like the VV320 also I believe.