Whats the most versatile rifle, shotgun and pistol powder ?

[hounddawg]

if you could only have one rifle, one shotgun and one pistol powder on the shelf, what would they be ? There are quite a few that will work for most commonly reloaded calibers. A few examples would be Varget, CFE .223, IMR4895, Benchmark. Those are the ones I have experience with and I am sure there are quite a few others that cover a wide range. So if you only have one what would would you choose ? You can pick up to three total, but only one per discipline

[OzeanJaeger]

Something fast for shotshells.

I keep a jug of 700X just in case things get tight. I can make it work in just about anything except magnum rifles. Given time I could probably figure that out too, but it would be a very narrow range of charge.

[USSR]

Are you saying one powder for all 3, or one powder for each of the 3 (total 3 powders)?

Don

[Dufus]

One powder for all three: Red Dot. I have used it in rifle, handgun, and shotgun

Shotgun: Green Dot. I have used it in a lot of 12 and 20 ga loads over 54 years.

Handgun: VV N340. It works in every caliber that I have in handguns

Rifle: H4895. It works for me in 222 Rem up to the 460 Wby.

[hounddawg]

Are you saying one powder for all 3, or one powder for each of the 3 (total 3 powders)?

One rifle, one pistol, and one shotgun if you want. I don't do shotgun so for me it would be Varget and Win 231, I will go back and edit the OP

[Ifishsum]

For me it would probably be Green Dot for shotgun, Unique for pistol and 4895 (either H or IMR) for rifle. I feel I could make a decent load for almost anything with those three

[USSR]

I can do this with just 2 powders: Solo 1000 for shotgun and handgun, and IMR 4895 for rifle.

Don

[jmr40]

If I had to choose only one powder for my rifles, I'd probably limit my rifles to cartridges where that powder were optimal.

[bamaranger]

Don't load for shotgun

Unique for handguns.

For rifles, Varget, probably, or 4064

[std7mag]

For rifle would be either Varget or RL15.

For shotgun/pistol would be Unique.

[OzeanJaeger]

I thought he was asking for one powder that you COULD load for all three. So it would have to be a faster powder. The slow ones just won’t work at all in a pistol.

[Stats Shooter]

One for all 3.....Red Dot

For Rifle - 4064

Pistol - HS6

Shotgun - Longshot

[disseminator]

Don't load for shotguns.

Rifle: Ramshot BIG GAME

Pistol: VihtaVuori N340

[Geezerbiker]

If I had to stock only one powder it would be Unique. If I were limited to 2, it would be Unique and either 4895 or 3031. Both 3031 and 4895 are very flexible but don't do everything well.

Tony

[Salmoneye]

If I could have just one powder, it would be Red Dot...

[reloader28]

Green Dot or Unique, though I've never tried either with a jacketed bullet. Cast bullets make it easy

[BWM]

hand gun Win 231 rifle 223 up IMR 4064 These 2 will load a lot of different calibers.

[hdwhit]

hounddawg wrote:
if you could only have one rifle, one shotgun and one pistol powder on the shelf

Rifle: IMR-4198 (works in both .223/5.56 and 22 Spitfire/5.7 Johnson)

Shotgun: Blue Dot (works in my 12 gauge loads and 45 ACP with 185 grain bullets)

Pistol: Hi-Skor 800X (works in everything else I load from 25 ACP, 9mm, 38 Special) although if I could only get Alliant Powders for pistol, I would happily trade 800X for Bullseye or Sport Pistol.

But these are all compromise choices since they have to cover more than one cartridge/loading and so none of them can be readily optimized for the cartridge. This is why I use:

25 ACP - Hi-Skor 700X
9mm - Bullseye or HP-38
38 Spl - Bullseye, HP-38, Unique, Red Dot, Green Dot or Blue Dot.
45 ACP - Bullseye or Blue Dot
223/5.56 - IMRs 4198, 3031, 4064, Winchester 748 or Benchmark
22 Spitfire - IMR 4227, Hodgdon (formerly Hercules) 2400 or Winchester 630.

As I see it, if someone is going to reload cartridges in a factory setting, they need to keep the variety of powders they use to a minimum for inventory control and cost control, but reloading today is generally not a quest for the lowest cost, but a pursuit of the very best performance that can be achieved from a particular combination of gun and cartridge.

[hounddawg]

The reason I started this thread was a friend is devoting a small section of his shop for reloading gear and will only have a limited space for powders and he asked me what the most popular/versatile powders are.

[Tsquared]

Limited space means keeping a low inventory of supplies. At one time I was in that boat and only reloaded 9mm pistol.

Shotgun will take a different press - I would pass on any shotgun reloading as it does take a bit more space. Blue Dot was my dad's favorite for shotgun and pistol. I like Longshot.

Pistol has a few powders that I have found good recipes. My current favorite for 9 and 45 is CFE-pistol. I like BlueDot for 44Mag/Spl and .38/357, but I do not load much of either anymore. Also look at Universal, Bullseye, and Unique as they all work very good across many different calibers.

Rifle I am using H335 for .223 and 6.8SPC. I do like AA2200 a bit better for some of the bullet profiles for 6.8Spc.

[hounddawg]

sorry once again I was not clear, this is for his business not for personal use. He owns a small local gun shop and has never reloaded. Think maybe one 6 foot store shelf of powder and primers, perhaps two some common caliber bullets and shot.

[OzeanJaeger]

Ha, I thought you meant for the end of the world and you only get one powder.

What are the best selling powders would be a better question.

[Charlie98]

this is for his business not for personal use. He owns a small local gun shop and has never reloaded. Think maybe one 6 foot store shelf of powder and primers, perhaps two some common caliber bullets and shot.

Not to sound droll... but he needs to talk to his customers and stock what they want to buy. Are they reloading to hunt? Sport or competitive shoot? Benchresters? Cowboy shooters? Skeet or waterfowl? The list is endless and the needs can be quite specific. Take just the .30cal rifle bullet selection alone...

But to answer your original question...

Unique, WST, IMR4895... Both Unique and WST can be used in handgun or shotgun loads, and you can load just about anything with IMR4895.

[Tsquared]

sorry once again I was not clear, this is for his business not for personal use. He owns a small local gun shop and has never reloaded. Think maybe one 6 foot store shelf of powder and primers, perhaps two some common caliber bullets and shot.

That changes everything. I would skip stocking any bullets or shot and cases of any kind. He needs to get with his distributor and get case lot pricing on small pistol primers, large pistol primers, and large & small rifle primers. Order at the first price break and go heaviest on the small pistol, the large pistol, and a case of small rifle and Large Rifle.

He is going to need some backroom storage as powder is usually sold in case lot and he will need some variety. He can put 2 bottles out per to maximize variety as you can see from the other responses there is a lot of variety.

My LGS has a 3' wide shelving unit that is 6' high in his little shop. He keeps a case of Small Pistol Primer and Large Pistol Primer, 5 bricks of small rifle, 5 bricks of Large Rifle and 2 each of the magnum primers - this takes up half a shelf. The bottom shelf is full of 4 and 8 lb jugs (one each) of his best seller powders. The rest is 4 bottles each of a variety of rifle, pistol, and shotgun powders. His regular customers will not even bother going to the shelf and just tell him what they want and he fills the order from his stock room.

[FITASC]

Won't a commercial seller also need to follow Fire laws regarding storage over a certain amount? He might want to also contact his insurance carrier