If you could only have two powders for reloading

[jmorris]

231 & 748, but I use them less than I did when I was more worried about saving $20 than having a good load.

[A_Gamehog]

Black Powder for my 1858 new Army Pistols, and BP rifles and Varget for the modern rifles.

[4runnerman]

RL-15 for rifles and Unique for pistols.

[shootniron]

I only reload pistol, so W231 and Bullseye.

[parisite]

Bullseye and 2400.

[Idaho Spud]

IMR 4064 & Unique. I could find reasonable loads with these two for my reloading, although 4064 in 223 is iffy, but do-able.

[hooligan1]

IMR 4350 and H4350 I guess.

[mikehaas]

With only 2 powders, I wouldn't choose 2 so close in burn rate - I would want a fast one and a slower one. The faster powder will have to work in both shotgun and pistols for which I have data. So probably something like Winchester WST. (12 gua, 40 S&W, 45 ACP, 9mm, etc)

For a rifle powder, probably Hodgdon BL-C(2) - has applications from .17 right through the .458 Win Mag and some .50 cals.

FYI, my Powder Application Guide is darn-near perfect for this kind of research...
http://ammoguide.com/cgi-bin/aipowders.cgi

The PAG is free for all visitors - you don't even need an account. If not, just press the "Enter as DEMO" button on the login page.

BTW, this tool was created a couple years ago after a friend called me from a gun show. He had found a great deal on some unfamiliar powder and thought that AmmoGuide should help him figure out what it could be used in. I agreed. Seems a lot more useful to me than "burn rate charts". -Mike

[Jim243]

When I started reloading, the most number of loads listed were for H-4895 and Win 231. I guess I would stick with those.

Jim

[Brian Pfleuger]

I guess I'd go with 800x and w748.

[MW surveyor]

Hate to say it but probably Unique and Bullseye.

[MADISON]

I started out with UNIQUE and Winchester 748.
After finding that UNIQUE would not produce the accuracy
I desired, I added Winchester 231.

[wncchester]

"I'm looking for the fewest powders and already there is one that I had not considered. Thank you very much."

I'm suggesting that unless you just want to go to a range and make noise, a reloader picking two powders for a range of cartridges is a poor procedure. Not only will using the better choices cost you less in the long run but using a "make do" powder choice will defeat much of what reloading is about; making the best ammo we can possibly make. Putting dreams of packing a SHTF bug-out bag aside, you would do better to take as much loaded ammo as you could carry rather than a reloading kit to a remote place and hopeing to live off the land. (For me, it would be a Ruger 10/22 with two extra magazines and as many bricks of ammo as I could stumble under.)

You asked us what two powders we might prefer. That IS hypothetical and vague in that you didn't say what you wanted the info for until now. And you still haven't given us a clue about your actual needs would be except an initial undefined reference to handguns and a shotgun. ??

All of the better powder choices for any practical uses in any cartridges will be listed in a loading manual, none of us will have any valid insights the book makers do not know. Unless our cartridge lists are the same as your's, our better choices will likely be wildly different from what would be useful to you anyway.

You're welcome.

[Sevens]

Good points wncchester but you've got to know that not every reloader is wildly attracted to the hobby side of what we do. There are plenty of handgun game shooters (IPSC, IDPA, others) who merely need ammo that makes the required specifications of the event, and they don't need even 10 FPS over that (and frankly, they don't WANT even 10 fps over that!) and they really don't require extreme accuracy either, shooting for the "A" zone on a large target at a short distance, but doing it quickly.

For those folks, covering more than one chambering with similar components is a real time saver both at the bench and also when it comes to buying and stocking the components.

Not sure why you can't see that angle. As for the topic itself...
Like so many others...

...it's just conversation.

[wncchester]

"Not sure why you can't see that angle."

I very much do see it; just don't agree. Can't visualise how it speeds anything at all at a bench nor can I see how it could possibly cut costs. But the man's talking about bug-out bags, so... I question the value of that but I'm just making conversation, what I think doesn't matter a bit!

[Sevens]

How do you guys keep tract of what powder was last in the measure if you don't want to empty it after every time in the loading room? This currently isn't a problem for me since I only load two and they both look different.

Leaving powder in the measure is a habit I would suggest to avoid. Some do it... can't tell 'em not to. But consider that:

Powder was meant to be stored in the darkened plastic container that it's shipped and sold in. That container is resistant to it's chemical properties, which the hoppers of many powder measures are not. Many measures will yellow over time, some will even see the plastic fogging or otherwise "changing" because of powder left in them.

Also, the very idea that you might accidentally pour a powder in to the wrong container because you left it in the hopper and you weren't 100% sure which powder it was is really, really bad and setting yourself up for a real failure. At the least, you'd contaminate the entire contents of a one, 4, 5 or 8 pound jug of powder by dumping a whole lot of the WRONG powder in to it. That's at the least... at the worst, you could very well blow up one of your firearms if you had an unintentionally mixed powder or you had a mis-identified powder and you built a load for it.

Imagine working with a large bottle neck rifle round and accidentally charging it with a fast burning pistol powder because you couldn't identify it? That would be a grenade, pure and simple, and it would be a miracle if your rifle survived it.

My technique at the bench is that all of my powders are in my powder cache and only ONE bottle can be on the bench at any one time. When I have powder in my measure hopper, I also have a bottle on the bench. When it's time to empty the measure at the end of that day, the bottle is right there and there are no other bottles and NO CONFUSION.

This has worked well for me and I would suggest you consider a similar practice.

[Saltydog235]

Varget and H4350. I'm not so sure that you couldn't load Varget in everything out there and get decent results.

[Sarge]

How do you guys keep tract of what powder was last in the measure if you don't want to empty it after every time in the loading room?

A 1" piece of masking tape with the powder and charge weight written on it, stuck on the front of the hopper where I can't miss it. Label changes with with each new setting.

[hogcowboy]

You asked us what two powders we might prefer. That IS hypothetical and vague in that you didn't say what you wanted the info for until now. And you still haven't given us a clue about your actual needs would be except an initial undefined reference to handguns and a shotgun. ??

I don't think anyone knows exactly what kind of problem one might find themselves should all heck break out. That's the reason for the vagueness. Just look at the folks in Joplin Mo. I have no idea exactly what that would be like but I can imagine. Just finding powder is bound to be impossible and if you can find any, can you make it work. That's the reason for wanting to know what powders might work with the biggest number of guns. Non specific. What did people use before we had the number of refined powders we have today. I'm not trying to be confrontational. Getting the most accurate load is not what I'm looking for. I'm doing that today. Call it hypothetical if you want but recent events say maybe not. Does that make any kind of sense? Hopefully I would have enough loaded ammo that I wouldn't have to worry anyway but you simply never know.

[sserdlihc]

imr4350 and unique

[GURU1911]

In my mind, that is a no-brainer with the handgun & rifle cartridges i have been shooting for almost 40 years: Unique & 4350

guru1911

[cryogenic419]

Probably Varget for rifles and H.Universal for everything else

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by larry5081

...That's the reason for wanting to know what powders might work with the biggest number of guns. Non specific. What did people use before we had the number of refined powders we have today. I'm not trying to be confrontational. Getting the most accurate load is not what I'm looking for. I'm doing that today. Call it hypothetical if you want but recent events say maybe not. Does that make any kind of sense? Hopefully I would have enough loaded ammo that I wouldn't have to worry anyway but you simply never know.

If those are your criteria, it's hard to beat Winchester 748 for rifles. The AmmoGuide page in the link on page 2 of this thread shows loads for 75 cartridges, from .10 Squirrel to .700 Hubel Express. For handguns (and many rifles) Unique is listed in 85 cartridges from .218 BEE to .500 Linebaugh.

In reality, if your criteria is "functional", there really are virtually no wrong answers. Any pistol powder can be made to work in any handgun and a wide array of rifle cartridges, any rifle powder (with the possible exception of dedicated "big bore" powders like Hodgdon 50BMG) can be made to work in any rifle cartridge.

[Champion5]

Win231/Unique

[NWPilgrim]

Your choice of cartridges plays a role in how will a couple of powders can span most of your firearms.

I you have wide range from smallest to largest then it may be impossible. but careful selection of chamberings will make it fairly easy.

Instead of a .357 Magnum for HD/target shooting you could get a pistol in 9mm, .40 or .45ACP, or just plan on .38 Special as your "plan B". Bullseye, W231, Unique, Universal and Power Pistol can be used for almost anything from .380ACP to .45ACP, including .38 Special and .44 Special.

For rifle the .223 and .308 can conveniently use most of the same mid-range powders and those two cartridges will cover most needs from prairie dogs to elk, plus target shooting and competitions. Any one of RL15, Varget, H4895, BL-C2, IMR4064, and TAC would serve both cartridges.

Or you can match overbore small caliber with a larger caliber and slower powder such as .243 100 gr and .30-06 180 gr loads using 4350 or 4831.