Powder substitutions

[SHR970]

Thales / ADI has a good chart that you can work with. Now here's the caveat....ADI makes many of the powders that are sold under the Hodgdon's label. If you check the Hodgdons MSDS' you'll see ADI numbers listed for many powders. If you compare the ADI powder data and the Hodgdon data and find a match (Hodgdon uses the ADI data directly) you have a direct cross reference.

Ramshot also rebrands at least one Vectan powder that I know of; info directly from their ballistician.

Then there are the well known cross overs like W571=HS7, W540=HS6, W231=HP38, W296=H110, etc.

ADI Burn Chart

[GP100man]

The burn chart is a good source of info when looking for an alternate or close to present powder & ya can always go directly to the source!!

Hodgdon`s tech line , I`ve never been dissatisfied with Keiths answers or help on a powder .

Sorry I sounded so cold shouldered on my first post ,I was in a hurry, Supper was on

[Shootest]

This is one of my questions, OK i'm shooting paper so what would be an appropriate powder to start with, and if I said I was going to shoot tree rats how would your answer change and why.

I would start with bullet selection not powder selection. For me cast WC are the best for slow fire paper shooting in 357 loaded in 38spl cases. Cast SWC if loading in 357 cases or for timed shooting when a reload is necessary. The SWC design helps quicken the load process. No change for tree rats. For larger game I would pick a JHP or JSP bullet.

How much of that powder do I start with?

Lyman manuals give suggested start loads. If the manual doesn’t start with a 10% reduced load.

My biggest question is- Where do I learn how to pick a powder that is suitable without getting myself into a dangerous situation?

Any powder that is listed for a given bullet weight and type is suitable.

[crooked stripe]

All this information you folks have supplied is far more than I hoped for. I thank you very much. It is greatly appreciated. John

[Unclenick]

I'll put my MSDS derived same-powder/different packaging chart up again, below.

                   | St. Marks  |                        | Thales   |
     Hodgdon       | Mil & OEM  |      Winchester        | (ADI     |  IMR
___________________|__Numbers___|________________________|__________|_______________________
                   |            |                        |          | 
HP-38--------------|-- OBP231 --|- 231 ------------------|----------|-----------------------
                   |   OBP124   |  AALite (WFL)          |          |
Titewad            |   OBP132   |                        |          |
Tightgroup --------|-- OBP242 --|------------------------|----------|-----------------------
                   |   OBP465   |  Super-Handicap (WSH)  |          |
Longshot           |   OBP473   |                        |          |
Lil' Gun ----------|-- OBP516 --|------------------------|----------|-----------------------
Hybrid 100V        |   SHP771   |                        |          |
                   |   SMP224   |  AutoComp              |          |
-------------------|--- WAA90 --|- WST ------------------|----------|-----------------------
H110               |    WC296   |  296                   |          |
HS-6               |    WC540   |                        |          |
-------------------|--- WC748 --|- 748 ------------------|----------|
H414               |    WC760   |  760                   |          |
H335               |    WC844   |                        |          |
BL-C(2)------------|--- WC846 --|------------------------|----------|-----------------------
H380               |    WC852   |                        |          |
US869              |    WC869   |                        |          |
-------------------|-- WMR780 --|- Supreme 780 ----------|----------|-----------------------
                   |   WXC170   |  WSF                   |          |
Clays              |            |                        |  AS30N   |
International Clays|------------|------------------------|- AS50N --|-----------------------
Universal Clays    |            |                        |  AP70N   |
H4227              |            |                        |  AR2205  |  IMR 4227 second source
H4198 -------------|------------|------------------------|- AR2207 -|-----------------------
Benchmark          |            |                        |   BM2    |
H322               |            |                        |  AR2219  |
-------------------|------------|------------------------|- AR2210 -|- IMR 8208 XBR --------
H4895              |            |                        |  AR2206H |
Varget             |            |                        |  AR2208  |
H4350 -------------|------------|------------------------|- AR2209 -|-----------------------
H4831              |            |                        |  AR2213  |
H4831SC            |            |                        | AR2213SC |
H1000 -------------|------------|------------------------|- AR2217 -|-----------------------
Retumbo            |            |                        |  AR2225  |
H50BMG             |            |                        |  AR2218  |
-------------------|------------|------------------------|- AR2215 -|- IMR 4198 second source
                   |            |                        |  AS25BP  |- IMR Trail Boss