My wife and I have recently got into shooting handguns. She has a Beretta 9mm and I have a ruger 1911-45acp as well as a ruger gp100- .357 mag. I am thinking about getting into reloading for these as I already load for my riffles. I am thinking about a Dillon 550. Also wondering if there is a powder that will be adequate for these 3 calibers. Thanks in advance
Reloading for my handguns
- Thread starter evmachinist
- Start date
- Location
- West Quebec
I use Bullseye for all three of my calibres 9MM 45ACP and 38 SPL & Titegroup as my alternate
For 9mm/45ACP/38spcl you could use any number of pistol powders. Off the top of my head and what I've tried, I can think of Titegroup, 700x, 800X, CFE Pistol, Unique and HP-38/W231. HS-6 and Longshot could also work but may be a tad slow for 9mm.
For .357 mag you need a different powder all together. Magnum pistol powders I've used include H110/W296, Alliant 2400, IMR4227, and light magnums could be made with Blue Dot, HS-6, or Longshot.
The ones with a / in the name are two different names (and brands) for the same powder.
One thing to note about .38spcl/.357mag loads is I load all of them in .357mag brass. I don't bother adjusting my dies for the shorter .38spcl cases so just load the .38spcl data in .357mag brass. It prevents the dirt-rings in the chamber from the shorter cases as well. If you loaded hot .38spcl, you could run into problems if you had a revolver in .38spcl specifically but if it's all in .357mag brass, an accidental chambering is just a surprise and not a blown up gun. I load cast for .38spcl and jacketed for .357mag so I can tell them apart easily at a glance even in the same brass.
For .357 mag you need a different powder all together. Magnum pistol powders I've used include H110/W296, Alliant 2400, IMR4227, and light magnums could be made with Blue Dot, HS-6, or Longshot.
The ones with a / in the name are two different names (and brands) for the same powder.
One thing to note about .38spcl/.357mag loads is I load all of them in .357mag brass. I don't bother adjusting my dies for the shorter .38spcl cases so just load the .38spcl data in .357mag brass. It prevents the dirt-rings in the chamber from the shorter cases as well. If you loaded hot .38spcl, you could run into problems if you had a revolver in .38spcl specifically but if it's all in .357mag brass, an accidental chambering is just a surprise and not a blown up gun. I load cast for .38spcl and jacketed for .357mag so I can tell them apart easily at a glance even in the same brass.
PitBull1973
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A 550 is fine. Actually I use my 550 only for 357 , 44 & 454 Casull because I don't shoot as much with these calibers. But I've got 2 650s for 40 & 45 anyways yes you should use mag powders but if you prefer a lighter recoil there are a bunch to choose from . I use Titegroup for light loads. Check this site out
http://www.hodgdon.com
http://www.hodgdon.com
I use a 550 for pistol ammo.
You can use one powder for all three calibers. The 9mm and 357 run at 35,000psi. The 45 runs around 21,000. A powder that gets near max velocity in those two would not be so good at the moderate pressures/velocity we tend to use for 90% of our shooting.
If you want to load most of your ammo near max, the do-all powder is Power Pistol.
If most of your ammo will be plinker power, a faster powder like Win 231 would work well.
You can use one powder for all three calibers. The 9mm and 357 run at 35,000psi. The 45 runs around 21,000. A powder that gets near max velocity in those two would not be so good at the moderate pressures/velocity we tend to use for 90% of our shooting.
If you want to load most of your ammo near max, the do-all powder is Power Pistol.
If most of your ammo will be plinker power, a faster powder like Win 231 would work well.
If memory serves me correctly, unique---bullseye---2400, was the be-all for powders. You could load anything with these! (including shotgun). I believe more modern (read better metering) powders have replaced this line of thinking.
With a 550b where both the bullets and cases are hand placed I can still turn out 350 to 400 rounds per hour. That includes the time needed to pick up the primers for each batch of 100.
For myself I don't need more than that so I can't justify the added cost of a fully dressed out 650. But if time for reloading is in short supply due to other family duties so there is a need to maximize the loading rate per hour that's where the higher end machine can justify itself.
For myself I don't need more than that so I can't justify the added cost of a fully dressed out 650. But if time for reloading is in short supply due to other family duties so there is a need to maximize the loading rate per hour that's where the higher end machine can justify itself.
On the powder side, I use H110 and Win 296 for .357's but Titegroup works fine as well if you want a bit of a softer load, I have had no trouble with it and quite like the feel of it. Just be careful of double charges as it doesn't use much powder (titegroup). My buddy uses titegroup for 9mm as well with good success.
Double Ditto for using care with Titegroup, Bullseye and other powders that produce very small fills. Never mind a double charge, with the low fill ratio in a .38Spl case when using these you could triple or even quadruple fill and still seat the bullet just fine. And even a small 9mm case could easily accept a double charge and still look like there's lots of room for a bullet.
You really want to pay particular attention if loading on a progressive press. If something goes screwy you need to be double and triple certain that you're not starting back up after clearing the issue in a way that will produce a squib or double charge.
The other place where double checking is super important is when loading in batches of 50 on a single stage press. If dipping and funneling the powder it's easy to dip and pour without moving the funnel. Or missing the last casing when placing the funnel. So a super important step when loading on a single stage is peering into the cases with a flashlight and checking for the proper level of powder. And in the case of a low fill ratio powder such as Titegroup, Bullseye and others of that sort a keen eye for comparing the levels of adjacent cases is needed to be sure that there isn't a double charge. After all a correct measure of powder is only about 2.5 to 3 mm deep. And a double at 5 to 6mm would still not look like a big amount sitting down deeply in a .38Spl case.
You really want to pay particular attention if loading on a progressive press. If something goes screwy you need to be double and triple certain that you're not starting back up after clearing the issue in a way that will produce a squib or double charge.
The other place where double checking is super important is when loading in batches of 50 on a single stage press. If dipping and funneling the powder it's easy to dip and pour without moving the funnel. Or missing the last casing when placing the funnel. So a super important step when loading on a single stage is peering into the cases with a flashlight and checking for the proper level of powder. And in the case of a low fill ratio powder such as Titegroup, Bullseye and others of that sort a keen eye for comparing the levels of adjacent cases is needed to be sure that there isn't a double charge. After all a correct measure of powder is only about 2.5 to 3 mm deep. And a double at 5 to 6mm would still not look like a big amount sitting down deeply in a .38Spl case.
2400 and 4227 are pretty good powders for full house magnum loads as well.
I found that max and near max loads of 2400 actually produce a slightly brighter fireball than H110. And for shooting Magnums at the range isn't the big boom and fire show what it's all about?
4227 works well too. But the flame show isn't as good as any of the others.
I found that max and near max loads of 2400 actually produce a slightly brighter fireball than H110. And for shooting Magnums at the range isn't the big boom and fire show what it's all about?
4227 works well too. But the flame show isn't as good as any of the others.
- Location
- West Quebec
Agreed I use the powder checker alarm and make sure to test and calibrate it everytime I set up on the Dillon, I also added a small inspection mirror tittled so I can see the case contents plus additional led lighting.
