Boatload O' Bullseye

[hdwhit]

As many have elsewhere posted, it seemed in the run-up to Christmas, Gander Mountain raised all the prices in their retail stores. The one exception seemed to be powder and primers which were no higher than any place else in the area (and in some cases, cheaper). After they were sold and started liquidating their inventory, I went to the store and got four pounds of Bullseye for 20% off. I also went back a few weeks later and got some other powders as well.

I load 9mm, 38 Special and 45 ACP and looking at the manuals, Bullseye seems suitable for use in all three. I also have HP-38 and Hi-Skor 800X powders as well which also seem suitable for all three.

My question is, if you were going to pick from among:

• Bullseye,
  
• HP-38 and
  
• 800X

for

• 9mm 115 grain JHP
  
• 38 Special 158 JHP
  
• 45 ACP 185 JHP and
  
• 45 ACP 200 LSWC

loads, which powder would you assign to which cartridge and why?

In responding, please note that the bullets and powders have already been bought, so loads using each are necessary and the only variable is which powder to put in which cartridge. Along with why you made that recommendation.

Thank you.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Bullseye and HP38/Win 231, in that order for all your listed calibers and bullets.

While IMR 800X produces some high velocities, with low pressures, it meters like cornflakes. The other two powders will do just about anything you need done with what you've got listed.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Jack B.]

Bullseye for all. But I've been using Bullseye for a very long time so I'm pregidous. Four lbs. of Bullseye will last you a long time since charge weights are so small. Be careful its easy to miss a double charge while reloading. I bought 5 lbs. back in 2013 and I still have 2 lbs. left from that batch.

 

[RugerOldArmy]

I just love Bullseye for .45 ACP. You'll very likely like how it shoots. I also use it in .357 Mag for .38 Special-level loads with HBWC(s), and am very satisfied with the accuracy.

HP38/Win231 will work well for you too. I can't comment on 800X. For 9x19 I prefer Unique.

 

[gotboostvr]

I use bullseye in 45acp (200gr lswc-230gr plated) 38spcl (125gr plated- 158grLSWC/JHP) 44spcl (200gr LSWC/plated-240gr LSWC) and it works great in all of them. Meters very well too.

Anything other than "hot" ammo, I use bullseye in. 2400 or 4227 for my magnum loads. I did pick up some power pistol to play with in 45 Super, but haven't gotten around to any load development yet.

 

[someguy2800]

I like bullseye and 700x for any low pressure cartridge, so I would use that for 38 special and 45. I like powders like HP38 for high pressure rounds like 9mm and light 357 magnum. Never used 800x so no opinion.

 

[hdwhit]

ReloaderFred wrote:
While IMR 800X produces some high velocities, with low pressures, it meters like cornflakes.

That's not a real problem for me. Except for my "standardized" .223 Remington loads where I can consistently throw the charges volumetrically, I throw all charges light and trickle them up to the desired weight.

 

[hdwhit]

someguy2800 wrote:
...700x for any low pressure cartridge...

I've got about a third of a pound of 700-X left over from the days when I was reloading 20 gauge. It is reserved for use in my 25 ACP loads. I have a couple hundred Hornady 35 grain XTP bullets left and Hornady claims 1.5 grains of 700-X will put it up to 950-1,000 fps. I have 24 loaded that way right now, but I've never put them across my chronograph to see if that claim is realistic.

One of the nice things about loading 25 ACP is that a pound of powder lasts forever.

 

[Jack B.]

That's not a real problem for me. Except for my "standardized" .223 Remington loads where I can consistently throw the charges volumetrically, I throw all charges light and trickle them up to the desired weight.[/QUOTE
Never have known anybody use 700X or 800X in a rifle cartridge before. Interesting.

 

[hdwhit]

Jack B wrote:
Bullseye for all.

Can't do that.

On my automatics, past history has taught me I recover about 60-65% of my brass with the rest being "lost in the weeds". That means any case I put into my reloading stream will - statistically speaking - be lost after the 5th reloading, so I have balanced my brass, primer and bullet purchases assuming an average of 3 reloadings of what I have now.

I simply don't have enough Bullseye to load all of my 9mm, 38 Special and 45 ACP three times over, so someone has got to live with at least one of the other powders.

 

[ReloaderFred]

I believe hdwhit is referring to the metering, not the actual powder usage. IMR 800X is pretty much limited to handgun and shotgun loading, in my experience. From his posts, I gather he's not a high volume reloader, so his method of trickling his charges works for small batches. I load in increments of a thousand rounds for the calibers I shoot a lot of, so metering is important to me.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[hdwhit]

Jack B. wrote:
Never have known anybody use 700X or 800X in a rifle cartridge before. Interesting.

I'm sorry if I made that post confusing.

I don't use 700-X or 800-X in any of my rifle loads.

I have a .223 Remington load that I "standardized" decades ago for use in my Mini-14. I carefully worked up recipes to use IMR-4198, IMR-3031 or WW-748 with a 60 grain Hornady bullet so that at 100 yards my point of aim and point of impact were the same no matter which powder was used in the cartridge. I worked out how to throw those charges volumetrically with very good consistency. Those rounds also deliver similar consistency in my sons' ARs, so I'm very happy with them.

For everything else (25 ACP, 9mm, 38 Special, 45 ACP, 5.7mm Johnson, and before I stopped loading it, 30 Carbine), I throw light charges into the pan on my scale and trickle them up to the desired weight. The fact that 800-X "meters like corn flakes" doesn't cause me a problem because the powder trickler finishes the job.

Hope I cleared that up and didn't make it more obtuse than it was.

Sorry about that.

 

[hdwhit]

ReloaderFred wrote:
From his posts, I gather he's not a high volume reloader, so his method of trickling his charges works for small batches.

You are correct, I work in batches of 50 or 100 cases at a time.

Typically, when I get some fired cases in, it will take me a week to move them through the process where they are cleaned, decapped, inspected, sorted, primer pocket crimp removed (if needed), resized, trimmed (if a caliber that I trim), chamfered, deburred, tumbled, dried, inspected, primed, the primer "sealed" (principally a cosmetic thing), inspected again, placed in a box for storage and the paperwork completed and filed.

And that's just to get the brass ready to be loaded at some time in the future.

I load in increments of a thousand rounds...

I think in terms of shooting about 12,000 more rounds in my lifetime.

Hope this helps.

The entire discussion helps because it gives me additional perspectives to consider so that I know I'm not engaging in a sort of "tunnel vision" as my I make my decisions.

 

[Cannibul]

I stopped at the local GM on Sunday, it's close to Academy so I made the stop. The only powder they had in stock was WST. Now I love WST and use a lot of it. It was 25% off. That made it $30 a lb. I passed on the 12 lbs they had. I could get two kegs of Promo for that price.

I've went through 2 lbs of WST, 1 lb of IMR Target and a pound of Power Pistol this week. I've been loading 10mm and .45 ACP.

 

[gunlaw]

800x does meter like cornflakes, but I get great results in 10mmwith 180g lead or plated bullets.

 

[Walkalong]

You did well getting Bullseye and W-231, as either one will work well with all three calibers.

 

[hdwhit]

Walkalong wrote:
You did well getting Bullseye and W-231, as either one will work well with all three calibers.

Thanks.

I tried to choose powders with broad applications from among what was available.

My problem is that if I assume a load of about 5 grains, then I don't have enough Bullseye, HP-38 or 800-X to load all the rounds I expect to fire. And since it can consume 100 or more rounds developing a load, I would like to minimize the number of individual loads that I have to develop and settle on a powder for each caliber so that I only have to develop one load.

I was hoping for an explanation of why - for example - Bullseye might be best for 45 ACP, HP-38 might be acceptable for 9mm, with 800-X a likewise acceptable choice for 38 Special as the best overall utilization of the powders.

 

[ReloaderFred]

My "go to" powder for .45 acp is Winchester 231/Hodgdon HP38. It does anything that needs to be done in that caliber, but Bullseye was the original arsenal load for the military and it still works well to this day. I also use it in .45 acp, and to tell you the truth, sometimes it just depends on my mood, or which powder I have the most of.

I've loaded both Bullseye and Win. 231/HP38 in 9x19, and they've both provided good results. I've also used other powders in this caliber, but those two will suffice for most loads.

As gunlaw says, IMR 800X is a great powder for high end loads in the 10mm. I've used it in that caliber, and I've still got most of a large keg of it, but due to it's terrible metering, I tend to use other calibers in the ten, and it wasn't on your list of calibers, so I don't recommend it for what you have listed.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[hdwhit]

ReloaderFred wrote:
My "go to" powder for .45 acp is Winchester 231/Hodgdon HP38.

Thank you.

This is what I was hoping for. Left to my own devices, I would have it entirely the other way round; using Bullseye with 45 ACP and HP-38 with 9mm.

 

[hdwhit]

ReloaderFred wrote:
Bullseye was the original arsenal load for the military and it still works well to this day....

Psst.

Don't tell the anti-government types about this. They wouldn't believe you and they'd brand you a "liberal".

 

[hdwhit]

Cannibul wrote:
...WST and use a lot of it. It was 25% off. That made it $30 a lb. I passed on the 12 lbs they had.

Strangely enough, the local GM had all of their powder priced at $24.95 or $29.95 a pound BEFORE the discount, so it ended up being either $19.96 or $23.96 at the 20% discount they were offering.

 

[hdwhit]

The last time I was at Cabella's (in Waco, Texas) they were wanting $34.95 per pound for IMR-4227. At that price, I could order from Midsouthshootersupply and save the HazMat fee in as little as four pounds.

 

[Hokie_PhD]

I started loading with Win231 and Accurate 7. I like the Win 231 but can't seem to like the #7. Recently I picked up BE86 as many rave about it. I tested it and really like it. In fact I may like it better than Win 231.

Now seeing this thread I mention that as there's an old post from 2014 from Allianz responding to someone asking about BE86. If I didn't misunderstand it, it's basically the update/successor to Bullseye. So it makes sense that OP would like Bullseye as that powder seems to be very popular with high reviews.

Anyway, I guess If OP wants another option when they use up the Bullseye they should try BE86. IMHO it might be a wise thing to do if the rumors of some older powders being "retired" in the near future is true.

 

[thomas15]

I doubt that BE86 is the successor of BE.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I started loading with Win231 and Accurate 7. I like the Win 231 but can't seem to like the #7. Recently I picked up BE86 as many rave about it. I tested it and really like it. In fact I may like it better than Win 231.

Now seeing this thread I mention that as there's an old post from 2014 from Allianz responding to someone asking about BE86. If I didn't misunderstand it, it's basically the update/successor to Bullseye. So it makes sense that OP would like Bullseye as that powder seems to be very popular with high reviews.

Anyway, I guess If OP wants another option when they use up the Bullseye they should try BE86. IMHO it might be a wise thing to do if the rumors of some older powders being "retired" in the near future is true.

That goes against what I have read. There have been several powders from Alliant that are in the Bullseye family. Previous to BE86 there was BE84 which eventually was released commercially as Power Pistol. From what I have read BE86 is not as fast as Bullseye but faster than Power Pistol but it's not a replacement for Bullseye.