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**Mal H** · October 15, 1999, 12:08 PM

Matt, I gotta jump in here and reemphasize what Jack just said. You need one or more good manuals. Almost all bullet and powder manufacturer puts out one. Once you have one you'll want more. One of the main reasons to get a good manual is the safety tips and reloading advice you'll glean from it. To start you should get a more general manual that covers a wide range of bullets and powders, these are Lyman, Sierra, Hodgdon. Some other manuals specialize more on their particular products but they are still excellent manuals, these are Speer, Hornady, Accurate, and one of my favorites, Nosler (they have an interesting story on each caliber included). The Speer or Hornady manual would be an excellent first manual even though they only include their own bullets, the other info is invaluable (Hornady includes a second volume with ballistic tables which may or may not be of much use to you).

Now for your original question - the answer is an unqualified no. Can you select a single powder that will push a bullet out of the barrel of each gun? Of course, but it will be no where near ideal and could be dangerous in one or more of the guns. For example, the slowest powder you could use in the 44M would be much too fast for a .223.

So, the bottom line is, as Jack said, "Now go get those books" and stay safe.

[This message has been edited by Mal H (edited October 15, 1999).]

October 15, 1999, 12:08 PM	#3
Mal H Staff Join Date: March 20, 1999 Location: Somewhere in the woods of Northern Virginia Posts: 16,955	Matt, I gotta jump in here and reemphasize what Jack just said. You need one or more good manuals. Almost all bullet and powder manufacturer puts out one. Once you have one you'll want more. One of the main reasons to get a good manual is the safety tips and reloading advice you'll glean from it. To start you should get a more general manual that covers a wide range of bullets and powders, these are Lyman, Sierra, Hodgdon. Some other manuals specialize more on their particular products but they are still excellent manuals, these are Speer, Hornady, Accurate, and one of my favorites, Nosler (they have an interesting story on each caliber included). The Speer or Hornady manual would be an excellent first manual even though they only include their own bullets, the other info is invaluable (Hornady includes a second volume with ballistic tables which may or may not be of much use to you). Now for your original question - the answer is an unqualified no. Can you select a single powder that will push a bullet out of the barrel of each gun? Of course, but it will be no where near ideal and could be dangerous in one or more of the guns. For example, the slowest powder you could use in the 44M would be much too fast for a .223. So, the bottom line is, as Jack said, "Now go get those books" and stay safe. [This message has been edited by Mal H (edited October 15, 1999).]