[Sevens]

I think this bit is very important: try to NOT read too much in to burn rate charts because they are general in nature. This is easily proven in that if you find different sources for these lists of powders (from fastest to slowest) you'll see how some of the powders jump around a bit in the list.

The burning rate of these powders is sometimes altered over time and certainly a minute bit is possible from lot to lot.

And simply finding something in the burning rate chart/list tells you NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING about how you can specifically use that powder. You cannot safely extrapolate load data between powders, between cartridges or even between bullets weights in the same cartridge with accuracy. There has never been any load data listed with a burn rate list or chart. For load data, you need a published load data source and better yet, you need THREE of them to cross reference to ensure you aren't reading someone's misprint, typo or just plain nutbar load.

Looking at a burn rate chart can give you an idea of a powder you may wish to look in to for further investigation. And if you end up with a can of powder you know little about, a burn rate chart can give you a first-look idea of how it might be used.

I've looked at burn rate charts a number of times over the years I've been loading. If I was instructed 5 minutes from now that I'd never, ever, EVER, the rest of my life ever be allowed to look at another... I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep over it.

Now if you took my cool-whip containers or told me that I couldn't put cut-up squares of paper towel in my tumbler, we'd be fighting. Take away my burn rate list/chart? Meh, I don't even care.

Indeed, a slower powder is required to safely and properly get velocity out of a larger, heavier load. .380 or 9mm would NOT be a good example. .357 Magnum is a fine example.

If you take .357 Mag and use a fast burning powder (AA#2, Bullseye, Titegroup), you can make target level loads with a very light charge weight. They can be accurate, economical and low in recoil. But to be safe and proper, they can't run really high velocities.

When you use a fast burning powder at the top end, the pressure curve is sharp. It doesn't build slowly, it rises very quickly to a peak and can get dangerous. It's EASILY possible to blow up a magnum revolver with a too-heavy charge of a very fast burning powder. Easy.

When you use a slower burning powder (Alliant 2400, AA#9, H110), your charge weight goes up -- in many cases, it goes WAY up. But the pressure curve is much more smooth and almost linear. You increase the powder charge and the velocity increases at a (somewhat) predictable rate. And where the fast burning powder hit it's peak in velocity (and safe use!), you are 200-250 FPS faster when approaching max with a proper slow burning magnum handgun powder.

There are some powders that are so slow that you practically have to fill the case as you reach max loads. Not so with fast burners. With some fast burning and dense powders, you can put three full max charges in one case and still seat a bullet. That's an atom bomb that will destroy any handgun.

It's very good that you ask these questions. It takes some handloaders a long time to consider this subject, one that I believe is very important. Many new handloaders get a bottle of W231 or Titegroup and they want to load everything they own with it because they don't want to spend another $22 for a different powder. They simply don't realize how GOOD it is, in so many ways, to find the proper powder for the job.