Polkwright
Active Member
Now, as in the past shortages, we sometimes can find powder but not the ones we want. What unusual/unpopular powders have you used?
During the post Sandy Hook panic I was looking for powders to help me stretch my inventory of W231.
I found and used:
700-X
Works super well, but is the second worst metering powder in the world. Extremely accurate with an SNS Casting 125gr LRN in the .38 Special. I got it to meter but I had to jump through a lot of hoops. I still use it with that bullet.
800-X
The worst metering powder in the world. Good for full power loads in the .357 and .41 magnum. But forget trying to meter it. Dip and trickle is the way (weigh? lol) to go. I think this has been discontinued. I can't find any load data for handguns on the Hodgdon site. There is data out there.
There's better options (because of the metering issue) but if it's all you can get it worked well for me in the .357 and .41. But I don't shoot a lot of full power loads anymore. I have some still but don't use it other than an occasional box of .357 that I load using just a dipper.
TiteWAD
I always capitalize the WAD because people confuse it with Titegroup, which was on the list of powders I wanted and somebody misread. I ended up with a pound of TiteWAD. Which is a lot because this stuff is super, super, fast. The fastest powder I've ever used. It works well in the .45 ACP. Not a lot of data for this powder but if you aren't paranoid about double charges it'll work. There's only data for .45 ACP and 9mm that I can find. I may never use this can up but I still load it in .45 ACP.
I never used it in 9mm as there's only data for one bullet and it's too fast to "experiment" with. If I was going too, I'd run the 9mm test loads through my convertible Blackhawk as it's the toughest 9mm I know of. I have better things to do.
These were all on the shelf during the last shortage because nobody wanted them. But they worked for me. Anybody else try stuff that's not your first choice but just because it was available, and it worked well enough?
During the post Sandy Hook panic I was looking for powders to help me stretch my inventory of W231.
I found and used:
700-X
Works super well, but is the second worst metering powder in the world. Extremely accurate with an SNS Casting 125gr LRN in the .38 Special. I got it to meter but I had to jump through a lot of hoops. I still use it with that bullet.
800-X
The worst metering powder in the world. Good for full power loads in the .357 and .41 magnum. But forget trying to meter it. Dip and trickle is the way (weigh? lol) to go. I think this has been discontinued. I can't find any load data for handguns on the Hodgdon site. There is data out there.
There's better options (because of the metering issue) but if it's all you can get it worked well for me in the .357 and .41. But I don't shoot a lot of full power loads anymore. I have some still but don't use it other than an occasional box of .357 that I load using just a dipper.
TiteWAD
I always capitalize the WAD because people confuse it with Titegroup, which was on the list of powders I wanted and somebody misread. I ended up with a pound of TiteWAD. Which is a lot because this stuff is super, super, fast. The fastest powder I've ever used. It works well in the .45 ACP. Not a lot of data for this powder but if you aren't paranoid about double charges it'll work. There's only data for .45 ACP and 9mm that I can find. I may never use this can up but I still load it in .45 ACP.
I never used it in 9mm as there's only data for one bullet and it's too fast to "experiment" with. If I was going too, I'd run the 9mm test loads through my convertible Blackhawk as it's the toughest 9mm I know of. I have better things to do.
These were all on the shelf during the last shortage because nobody wanted them. But they worked for me. Anybody else try stuff that's not your first choice but just because it was available, and it worked well enough?
