Let's talk about TiteGroup

N

Nick_C_S

New member
Spent some time at the ammo loading bench today and finished off my last # of TiteGroup. And I won't be getting any more.

No, this is not a "bag on TG" thread. On the contrary. Let's start at the beginning . . .

A few years back, during the big shortage, I bought six #'s of TiteGroup without ever having used it. Times were desperate. I had less than a # of W231; and a couple #'s of Bullseye that was going fast. Most of my shooting - and I was doing a lot of it - was with target 38 Special. I needed more fast powder - ANY fast powder. Cabela's popped up as having TG so I jumped on it.

As I started my load work ups (and "work downs") with it, my hope turned to disappointment. I noticed as you turn TG down, it hits a point where it leaves behind a lot of grainy residue (a lot like HS-6). It didn't quite turn down to the low pure target levels I was looking for.

But . . . as I worked with it some more, I quickly came to realize that it operated really consistent and clean when it's loaded to "range practice" levels - the kind of ammo at the level typically sold commercially as "Winchester White Box" and the like; and was particularly well suited for semi-autos.

More shooting with TG revealed a concerning phenomenon: it runs really hot. So hot, it seemed to leave behind a lot of lead throughout the barrel when running lead slugs. This wasn't much of a big deal because most of my lead ammo is the above-mentioned target level 38 Special - and TG was already ruled out due to the whole running sooty/grainy thing. It did however, preclude any use of 44 Special and 45 ACP lead ammo. TG gets my guns noticeably hot rather quickly - and does so when not loaded very strong.

So lead was out . . . but I also load a decent share of plated range practice ammo. And that is where I found TiteGroup really shining. TiteGroup does this really really well. If I was the typical loader who just needs to crank out affordable ammo to take my semi-autos (9mm, 40 S&W) to the range and shoot without breaking my wallet, TG may be about all I ever bought. But I'm not.

So without TiteGroup, what now? Winchester 231. It does everything TG can do and does it cooler - so it is also suitable for lead. I also have a good amount of Unique that also needs to be phased out. So Unique is the next to leave my inventory. Not a fan of Unique, but it is suitable for 357 Mag - fairly stout 125's, and fairly mild 158's. Also good-n-stout 230gn 45 ACP - performs well there. But I digress. This post isn't about Unique.

I'm curious what others' experience with TiteGroup is. Me, I liked mine - just not enough to buy more.
 
It’s an economical powder. Nothing to write home about. I agree it’s range load. I don’t like it cuz I can’t leave it in my powder hopper without eating away the hopper. I’m not trashing titegroup. I have tons of it. I have found better powder in solo1000 and 700x for the 9mm. They are fast powders and fill the brass well. Works wonders with light 124 and 115 grains. For anything heavy, it’s Winchester wsf for me. The 165 and 180 gr 40sw and 200/230 45acp loves the wsf. These are my 2 cents


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I had 5 pounds and now I'm down to 1-1/2 pounds and when it's gone I won't get more.

I have also noticed it runs hot & dirty and though it is certainly usable, it's not for me.

I have settled on VihtaVuori n340 for all my 9mm, 40, and 45 Auto and it runs cool and clean and gives great performance for me.

I love it, but not so much the price.
 
I've found that Titegroup is a great powder for light/medium loads in 45ACP. I don't understand why some think it "runs hot" with lead, since all I use are 200gr. LSWC at around 800fps for Bullseye competition, and have never seen any problems with leading. At that level, I actually prefer it to W231/HP38, which runs real dirty.
 
I am also a Titegroup fan, and use it a lot for my 9mm loads, including competition loads. I don't use it because it is cheap, but because I like it.

I recently tried to get on the BE-86 bandwagon, but did not like it at all compared to TG, which is strange because BE-86 seems to get a lot of love out on the Internet. but then again, I did not care for PowerPistol either...

I do have a bunch of W231/HP-38, and love it for certain uses as well.

I am still the old fart that uses Bullseye for .45, so take that into account!
 
Used a pound to load a bunch of plated 9mm. Got bad lead build up in every gun I run lead in. Once it was gone. I have not replaced it. For light loads in .38Special, and .44 Special, as well as .41 Mag. Light target loads I run Trail Boss. Clean and consistent. For my 9mm and .45 auto I prefer 231. Have 2 pounds of Bull's Eye as a back up.
 
Same deal... I was standing there at the LGS and he unloaded a box with some TG in it... so I just grabbed 2 #'s of it. I realized once I got it home and started researching loads for the cartridges I load for, it was probably a waste of money. I recently bought a .44SPC, and there was a generic load for it. I found after 50 rounds I could hardly hold the pistol it was so hot... I don't have that problem with Unique or W231, or the 2 #'s of RedDot I bought for the same reason. TG is an economical powder, for sure, but once I'm done with it, I'm done. Unfortunately, it's lasting forever...
 
I started loading my 9mm with 231 that I typically use for wadcutter loads but tried TiteGroup and I won't use the 231 in my 9mm again. The groups are half the size with TG and it burns a lot cleaner than 231. I don't have any problems with heat either.
 
I load THOUSANDS of rounds of 9mm 115 grain jacketed bullets with tite group and am really pleased with it. Never noticed any heat issues. It does go a long way, a pound will load ~1500 rounds of my favorite recipe. Tjat being said its definitely not the end all be all of pistol powders. Ive loaded it up in 357, it works fine but I dont care for the low charge weight, combined with position sensitivities.

Also serves well in the Wifes .40 cal, but thats practically 9mm anyway.
 
I use TG in my 686 .357 loads, pushing a 150 gr. cast bullet at 1150 fps, w/o leading or heat problems. And very accurate, as its my gong load, and my 14" gong is 260 yds. away. In my XD-40, it runs a 170 cast swc very nicely at 900 fps, and no problems. Been doing it for about 15 yrs., since TG came out, so I guess you could say that I like it.
 
My story goes like this. I just started reloading again about a year ago after being away from it for a long time. So when I started researching supplies for my reloading I started reading the forums for information, which brought me here. I was going to be loading for 9mm so I paid particular attention to those threads to see what others were doing and what they were using.

I then started studying powders and loads with different weight bullets and the one thing I found and decided upon was I wanted a powder that was a bit more forgiving to start with yet was still on the fast side of things. The Titegroup just didn't fit this parameter. So I started with HP-38 and have been more than happy with it and will continue to use it. I have also started to use Ramshot Silhouette and like it even more even though it is a bit slower powder. At present I also have AA#2 on my list to try for 9mm and 380.
 
I like TiteGroup....its been my go to powder for many years...for 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 acp, .38 spl, .357 mag and .44 mag...

It meters well...you have to be careful with it because the published min and max are often only 0.3 grain apart.../ but I use a powder check die so I'm comfortable with the accuracy I'm getting.

Yes, it seems a little dirty at the slower end of the spectrum.../ ...but all I shoot is FMJ bullets so I don't have any experience with lead.

I go thru a lot of it in 9mm, 115gr FMJ Montana Gold...about 25,000 rds this calendar year. ( I have 24 lbs of Universal, that I'm currently using up on some handgun loads...and then I'll go back to TiteGroup).
 
Nobody has yet mentioned the BEST characteristic of Titegroup: it is the most position insensitive powder I have ever used and I've used over 15 different handgun powders over more than a dozen different chamberings. Titegroup is better than any powder I know of when you have a horrendous volume of unused space inside a cartridge case.

I have a love/hate relationship with Titegroup.

I absolutely hate the irrational HEAT and I refuse to use in in .38 Special because of that heat. But I love it anywhere that I need a very small charge weight or I wish to take a snotty round and make a QUALITY light load with it.

I've burnt through about five pounds and five pounds of Titegroup takes a while!

What I hate most about Titegroup is that Hodgdon actually publishes "magnum" loads for it. The mere existence of those published loads leads beginning handloaders to toy with it in places where only an astute handloader ought to be goofing around carefully.

Also, totally agree that Titegroup will etch and eat away a plastic powder hopper.
 
I ran TiteGroup for a few years in the late '90s and early 2000s, and then for another year or two some time between 2008-2011.

It works. It's pretty clean. It's generally predictable ... but not always.

TiteGroup was just too finicky in some of my loads, with such a narrow range from min-to-max (from not cycling the firearm, to over-pressure), that I just got tired of dealing with it. I also found the fast impulse to not work well with semi-autos that had extremely heavy slides (like the Ruger P-series).

Later on, I tried it in .380 Auto and found that narrow charge range window to be even more of an issue -- sometimes as narrow as 0.3 gr from 'barely cycling' to max (and too hot).

I have nearly a full pound of TG sitting in the powder magazine. It's not going to be used any time soon...

I use primarily Unique and HP-38 (W231) for the .32 revolver and 9mm applications now. And, of all things, Red Dot turned out to be a good replacement in the .380 Auto load.
 
Been there done that with TG and don't want any more. Created some very accurate loads for the .40 but did not like the recoil with moderate loads or the dirty cases and residue with light loads. Clays I will use,as well as Universal,but there will be no more TG on my bench.
 
Overall, I like TG. I can use it for 9mm, .38 spl plinkers, .44 spl plinkers, .40 S&W, and .45 auto. At this point it's becoming my back-up powder, as I've found I can get slightly better performance from powders such as Power Pistol, CFE Pistol, Bullseye, etc. But since it will perform adequately through all of those calibers, it's my universal back-up powder in case I go bingo on whatever.

So, for example, even though I'm down to about a pound of CFE Pistol, I know that I have almost ten lbs. of TG, so I don't have to run out and buy CFE P right now. It can wait until I find some on sale. And so forth.
 
it (TiteGroup) is the most position INsensitive powder I have ever used . . . Titegroup is better than any powder I know of when you have a horrendous volume of unused space inside a cartridge case.
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Since it states on Hodgdon's site "Unlike pistol powders of the past, powder position in large cases (45 Colt, 357 Magnum and others) has virtually no effect on velocity." Well, I had to put that to the challenge.

With 38 Special, MoBuCo's 148gn Soft DEWC, using 2.8 grains, through my 4" Model 67: I got 700 f/s with the barrel first pointed down (moving the charge away from the primer); and 726 f/s with the barrel first pointed up (moving the charge against the primer). A 26 f/s difference is pretty darn good, considering I was using the cavernous 38 Special. And at only 2.8 grains, it won't overflow until FIVE charges. Most likely, the difference would be nil if I was testing with the much more confining 9mm or 40 cal.

I absolutely hate the irrational HEAT and I refuse to use in in .38 Special because of that heat.
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TiteGroup gets your gun hot fast. That's for sure. But I do use it a lot for 38 Special. But yes, there are times when I will take a break because my gun is getting so darn hot. Even with my much more massive 686's, still shooting 38's, it gets them really hot over time. It's odd. Hot stuff - and not in a good way.
 
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I have nearly a full pound of TG sitting in the powder magazine. It's not going to be used any time soon...
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Send it my way.

I use tite group for middle of the road .45 Auto loads, and light .41 Mag (.41 Special) loads.

I have no complaints. Burns clean, meters well, and usually has better availability than some of my other pistol powders.
 
I use TG for all my 9mm and .380 loads. It is especially clean shooting when paired with Fiocchi Zero Pollution lead free primers. Fired brass is still shinny inside, it dulls after a few hours of air exposure, but the empty cases are exceptionally clean.
 
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