Post by hacker54 on Sept 27, 2015 20:15:31 GMT -5
Time for discussing powders. Just looking for opinions on how you select your powders for your firearms that you load for. For handgun in the four inch barrel and less I like to use a powder of the type that is in the fast to medium burn rate class and this also depends on what type of bullet lead vs jacketed. For lead either swaged or hard cast I prefer the faster rate like a W231/HP-38 or a shotshell powder that is close to this. For the jacketed I lean toward a medium burn rate and this would also cover my short barreled 357 magnum. As for the magnum I don't want a lot of muzzle flash and flash from the cylinder gap. Now for longer that a four inch I would go with a slower mag type powder so I get it to burn more in the barrel. Now for bullet weight in stated barrels lengths. For the under four inch in 38/357 I prefer as light as 95 up to 150 as the heaviest and yes I do use the 158 also but not as much. In my little 9 115s and 124s/125s in jacketed and the same with lead. In the 40 S&W I stay between 170 to 180 in both types.
Now for the rifles. I have found that what I stated above seems to work in rifles as well. For the lead bullet the faster rate works well and the medium to medium slow work for the jacketed depending on weight. Again barrel length comes into play here as well. The longer the barrel a little slower the rate I want. Since I don't have a mag rifle I don't need mag type of powder. Again mag powders shine in the longer barrel 24 up to 26 inch. Getting a complete burn of the powder the more consistent the rounds. Case in point a friend loaded for his Marlin 30/30 with 20 inch barrel with IMR 3031. Now his load was good on target but complained about the little sticks that he had to clean out after firing. So he tried a couple in my single shot with 22 inch barrel and not one little stick of powder was in my bore. That two more inches in length made the difference. In my rifle it burned the powder more efficiently.
So I'm wandering what's your opinion.
Now for the rifles. I have found that what I stated above seems to work in rifles as well. For the lead bullet the faster rate works well and the medium to medium slow work for the jacketed depending on weight. Again barrel length comes into play here as well. The longer the barrel a little slower the rate I want. Since I don't have a mag rifle I don't need mag type of powder. Again mag powders shine in the longer barrel 24 up to 26 inch. Getting a complete burn of the powder the more consistent the rounds. Case in point a friend loaded for his Marlin 30/30 with 20 inch barrel with IMR 3031. Now his load was good on target but complained about the little sticks that he had to clean out after firing. So he tried a couple in my single shot with 22 inch barrel and not one little stick of powder was in my bore. That two more inches in length made the difference. In my rifle it burned the powder more efficiently.
So I'm wandering what's your opinion.
My daughter came from Missouri, my son and grand son, my wife and I had a nice dinner of grilled "porter house" pork chops, corn on the cobb, my son, G'son and I share 10/5. G'son is 4 minutes early though @ 10/4.
Pooh I hope you find to right house . 
