Redhawk already tried 231 and the results were less than gratifying as I recall. When I started handloading I made it a practice to never use powders that could be double-charged in magnum cases. Consequently, I have never double-charged a case of any type and I follow the practice for all the cartridges I reload. Personally, I feel that this is the approach we should be teaching new reloaders, especially since a large number of them are going right to the progressive press. The benefit of higher density loads is more uniform ballistics and there are even powders available that excell at this. Ramshot True Blue is a very high density powder that will give good case fill in most handgun cartridges, while providing single digit standard deviations. You follow?
If I were loading with powder economy as a priority, I would be looking at Hodgdon Titegroup or others that are less sensitive to powder positioning. Since there are 7000 grains in a pound of powder, I don't worry much about how much it will take to fill the case to a higher load density. AA#5 and Unique/Universal are good economy powders, but I bypass them to slightly slower powders like HS-6, VV N340, Herco, VV 3N37, AA#7, Ramshot True Blue, VV N350 and Blue Dot. With any of these powders you can load to lower velocities and still get good load density and like I said before, True Blue excells, although it is relatively new and just beginning to catch on. Competition shooters seemed to have caught on and are finding it an excellent alternative to the higher priced Vihtavuori powders. Now that's economy!
Leftoverdj, mentioned earlier that someone didn't understand what H.P.White stated about pressure peak, so why don't he start a thread and explain what he meant, because disagreeing without any evidence to back his claim is meaningless and I would be very happy to provide the conclusion that White labaratories arrived at. While it may seem contentious, it might also show some reloaders why it is very beneficial to understand why powders have their own unique pressure curve that will allow them to choose a better powder for specific applications. While your at it LODJ, why don't you tell us what powders you have been using in the .41 Magnum.
