Newbie "universal" pistol powder question/suggestion

F

fallingrock71

New member
I'm just starting to get my feet wet in reloading. I now have all the components and equipment except for powder. I am going to start out with 9mm, .45 ACP, and .38/357. I was wondering if there is a single powder out there that would cover all of these without making any major compromises on any of these calibers. If so, I'd sure appreciate your recommendations.


Please forgive my laziness. I have and will continue to utilize the search feature. Just haven't had much time for the internet lately.
 
Best way to find out about powders for specific calibers is look in your reloading manual(s), you do have some manuals, don't you? See which powder shows up in all the calibers you mentioned.

I use Universal and Unique, and have used some faster powders like W231, in all the rounds you mentioned, but there are many more useful powders for all three...
 
Unique or Bullseye will load all of those.

Herco is great in .357 with lead bullets, and should be good in .45 ACP too but is probably too bulky for 9mm.
 
Don't forget Blue Dot, HS-6, and HP-38. I would add TiteGroup but that is a very fast burning powder and I would recommend some experience before jumping on that.
 
There really isn't a 'Universal' powder(including Universal Clays).
Partial to Bullseye, myself. Only load cast bullet target loads though. Shooting jacketed bullets regularly is far too expensive. 121 grain Truncated Cones for 9mm. 230 RN or FP's in .45. And 148 grain cast or swaged WC's in .357 cases to .38 velocities. The .357 cases make the lube gunk ring in the cylinders go away. Don't bother with .357 loads.
 
Accurate #5

If I had to choose one powder to load pistol rounds with it would be
accurate # 5. Yes it won't be a great powder for magnum loads,
but it will give good performance in most cartridges. It meters
well in all the powder measures that I have tried it in. With that
said these days we are more likely to have to use the powders
that can be found to be in stock at our Local gun shop. If you got
the money then order your powder and primers online, order
enough to offset the hazmat charges. Get on the email list of
the major powder distributors and be prepared to strike when
shipping specials occur.
 
How fast do you want to go with .357?
If you want full speed .357 loads you're going to need a magnum powder like 2400, H110, W296. Those are basically unusable in .45 auto and 9mm.

If target loads are OK in .357, Bullseye is a good choice for all 3.

Unique certainly works, but doesn't meter well and burns quite dirty in low power .45 loads. After many years of shooting I have come to appreciate clean burning loads.

These days I use just 2 powders, Bullseye for target loads and HS-6 when I want the feel of power in my .357. HS-6 is also excellent in 9mm and works well for heavy bullets in .45.
 
Bullseye is not just for target loads. It won't get you anywhere near the top end for the .357, but it will get you a lot closer than you'd expect. It will get you almost to the top end for 9mm and .45. And you can also do target loads with it ;)
 
Thanks for the input guys. That narrows it down a bit. I'm going to have to see what is available locally. I went to a few places near me. The only place that might have had anything was Bass Pro. A salesman said they had just sold out of Unique but had some Universal. I was going to just buy it but the salesman vanished on me. They were so busy I just gave up. I found out about a few other places a little further from me that usually had powders in stock. Traffic was so bad I felt more like unloading than reloading! Perhaps tomorrow.

I'm certainly not looking to approach any max loads yet. I'm just learning right now. I don't think metering is a concern yet as I'm just starting with a Lee Hand press. I plan on buying a turret press soon but wanted to get a couple thousand rounds under my belt and learn the basics first. Right now I'm just looking for a good and preferably clean burning powder that will make for decent paper punching rounds in the calibers I mentioned.
 
Unique is going to get the most votes.

Finding a good, all-around, versatile propellant when first getting started is all well and good. But . . . a primary reason to handload is to build ammunition that suites your purpose better than any over-the-counter ammo.

As you start building more and more ammo tailored to your purpose(s), you find yourself buying more and more different propellants. Right now, I have twelve :p (handgun only). But I am starting to pair that number down a bit - small compromises to get there will be okay for me ;).
 
I tried universal and unique when I loaded 9mm. I did not like the Universal, seemed to burn dirty, unique was much better.
 
I have found that a "all-in-one" powder for multiple calibers that there is some trade offs in accuracy/performance. I have 3 pistol, 3 rifle calibers, and one shotgun that I actively load. For each one I have a pet load that stands out above the other powder/bullet load combinations.

I have some powders that work well in a couple of groups. I like Blue Dot for 9mm and my 16 Gauge. I also like TiteGroup for 9mm with coated bullets. I like Universal and Bullseye for my 45GAP and HP-38 and Unique for the 44MAG. For rifle I like Reloader 15 for 30-06, H335 for 223, and Reloader 10x for 6.8SPC.

I have specific bullets that I put in front of these powders. They are my pet loads that I have worked up that work well with my weapons. The pistol/shotgun powders will work across all of my pistol platforms but I have found one powder that works better than the rest. Same goes for the rifle powders.
 
I've had good luck with unique and hp-38 in 9mm/45acp. One of those and some win 296 or h110 for the true magnum loads would cover you.

I have seen hp-38/ win 231 and win 296/ h110 in Cabelas the past few weeks. Unique and 2400 I haven't seen in a very long time.
 
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