2400 is a great powder for rifle and larger capacity pistol cartridges. But 2400 is much too slow for smaller cartridges like 455 webley, etc. 2400 is popular because it approximates ffg burning rates. The smaller handgun cartridges used fffg black powder, not ffg.
I have4 been repeating the following for going on 10 years now....
Several years ago an excellent article was published concerning the use of 2400 as a BP replacement. The article was well researched, accurate and correct. It specifically concerned rifle cartridges only and specifically compared the burn speed of 2400 to FFG powder. The problem arose when people of lesser understanding interpreted the article as saying that 2400 was a good replacement for all black powder. Hundreds of reports on dozens of forums had the local keyboard experts espousing the use of 2400 in everything - pistols, rifles, cannons.
The problem is that many of the smaller old pistol cartridges did not use FFG black powder, they were originally loaded with FFFG black powder which is not even close to 2400 burn speed. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing in the hands of an internet expert. Using 2400 in a 455 webley cartridge would be the equivalent of using Varget powder in a 45acp, if you can picture that.
2400 works very well in cartridges of about 45LC and larger. It can be made to work in 44Russian sized cartridges but it will not burn really well or produce uniform velocities, just like ffg powder in smaller pistol cartridges - 2400 is a bit too slow to work well. In cartridges smaller than 44 Russian, 2400 is actually a poor choice for use in vintage or antique firearms.
2400 is a great replacement for FFG. 2400 is not good replacement for FFFG.
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