Stick, Ball, Flake - which?

[CIG]

I'm new to reloading. Just bought the equipment and now need powder. I'm going to be loading 38's for some target shooting from a Ruger Security Six with 6 inch bull barrel. So my question is what powder type to get and why? Does stick, ball, flake have any characteric differences other than shape? Would a certain shape make a better target load? I await your wisdom. Thanks.

[Questor]

In a word, yes. All of the above.

The trick, however, is to find out what powders work well for the particular caliber you are reloading. This is an important task because, over time, shooters have discovered the best powders.  You can save a lot of aggravation by learning from other people's mistakes. Try www.reloadbench.com as a place to get started.  


For 38 special, I recommend Winchester 231, which is a ball powder in flake form. Bullseye powder is OK too.

[bigdaddytacp]

I'm new to reloading. Just bought the equipment and now need powder. I'm going to be loading 38's for some target shooting from a Ruger Security Six with 6 inch bull barrel. So my question is what powder type to get and why? Does stick, ball, flake have any characteric differences other than shape? Would a certain shape make a better target load? I await your wisdom. Thanks.

...............The load of 2.7/2.8 grains of bullseye with a 148 grain wadcutter has been a standard for many years and millions of them have been shot in competition and at cans........very accurate and easy on the gun/hands and budget...........good luck and good shooting!!!!

[357mag]

I had been loading Hodgon Titegroup behind lead wadcutters with disapointing results. Titegroup was designed to shoot with almost the same properties as unique but to ignite better when laying lengthwise in a case with small charges. It meters very poorly, a 3.0 gr load would throw anywhere from 2.9 to 3.2 and I don't feel like trickle charging 500 rounds. Very hard to practice when you don't know where a round is going to hit. Plus I found it to be very dirty, and have recently heard of guys having it lead the barrel more, even at slow speeds. After reading this I did notice that it seemed to be true that I was getting an unusual amount of leading for a hard cast bullet going 800fps or less. This is a flake powder that seems to stick to everything and I am fed up with it so I am going to be doing some testing with Accurate Arms No. 5 which is a ball powder. Once I see how it shoots I will post results.

For easy metering go with a ball powder. Checkout handloads.com, there is a section on there with user submited loads, some good advice on there.

[New Hampshire]

Ive worked with Ball, flake and stick powders.  Im lucky in that the stick powder I use is Varget (A rifle powder,) and find it meters like a dream.  In pistol powders I like ball powders.  They meter consistantly which makes my life easier.  I HATE flake powders, like Green blue and Red Dot.  The only way to get consistant charges, especially with the low charge weights you find in pistol loads, is by tapping the measure a couple of times, dumping the charge, followed by more tapping.  WW231 has preformed amazingly for me and I find no reason to look elswhere.
Brian M.