Winchester Super Field Powder

[Sieger]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

Exactly why I do not shoot Bullseye in anything.

Sheepherder,

Bullseye burns very cleanly in a 9mm.

Are you just joking me?


Sieger

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Sieger

Sheepherder,
Bullseye burns very cleanly in a 9mm.
Are you just joking me?
Sieger

Not at all. After 48 years of shooting/reloading, Bullseye is the dirtiest burning powder I've encountered. Two weeks ago, I shot 150 rds of .45 ACP w/200 grs LWC and 4.2/4.5 grs Bullseye. My fingers looked like I had been handling charcoal.

These were reloads I had made up before I could get Red Dot and the Bullseye was all I had. It was that or nothing.

I've grown to like Red Dot. Unlike Bullseye, it only requires a superficial cleaning to remove burnt powder from the chamber/bore and feed ramp/breechface. And the amount required is almost exactly the same as Bullseye.

Of course, your experiences may differ.

[Sieger]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

Not at all. After 48 years of shooting/reloading, Bullseye is the dirtiest burning powder I've encountered. Two weeks ago, I shot 150 rds of .45 ACP w/200 grs LWC and 4.2/4.5 grs Bullseye. My fingers looked like I had been handling charcoal.

These were reloads I had made up before I could get Red Dot and the Bullseye was all I had. It was that or nothing.

I've grown to like Red Dot. Unlike Bullseye, it only requires a superficial cleaning to remove burnt powder from the chamber/bore and feed ramp/breechface. And the amount required is almost exactly the same as Bullseye.

Of course, your experiences may differ.

Sheepherder,

That's very interesting. Powders often burn very differently in different caliber pistols and shotguns.

The very cleanest burning I've found, in the 9mm Luger, has been HS-6, also used as a shotgun powder. Though not as accurate as Power Pistol, this powder burns so cleanly, in my 9mm Luger, that you can barely tell the cartridge was fired at all!

My brother warned me, before I bought my first pound, that HS-6, in his 12 gage trap shotgun, was a filthy burner and that he thought that I would be very disappointed with it.

Well, it is what it is, I guess.

Filthy powders for me, in the 9mm, have been Unique and 800X, both yielding only so, so accuracy at best, by the way.

Red Dot has proven to be a very accurate powder in the 9mm, though somewhat lacking in higher velocity accuracy.

Can you identify any other "coal soot burners" in the 9mm?


Sieger

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Sieger

Can you identify any other "coal soot burners" in the 9mm?

My favorite powder from the 1970's/1980's came in a square (or rectangular?) can painted black with a metal press-in stopper on top. I forget the name, because just when I had my various handguns dialed in with it, the company disappeared. Bought out, no longer imported, or bankrupt. I never saw it again and it's no longer stocked anywhere I can find.

Edit: I found a reference to my mysterious powder in my wildcatting notes; it was Alcan AL-5 (later called AA No 5).

Pic below. Various sources say that S&W bought them out, produced for a year or so, and then discontinued them.

I used 5.0grs AL-5 with a 95gr FMJ/RN in my 30 Mauser for target/plinking, and 5.5grs for 'hunting'. Good velocity, that.