Pistol Powders

[mmc45414]

Originally I think Longshot was marketed to the Annie Oakley long range shotgun crowd or maybe turkey hunters, not sure. They shoot AO at my local range once a week in the evening for money.

Is this what I might know as Screw Your Neighbor, or something like that? If you can bust a chunk of the shooters target (easy if they whiff) they get eliminated?

Longshot came on the scene 15-20 years ago and the people I used to shoot with discovered it for moving 1 1/4 oz loads at about 1300 fps. That gives one a great advantage at 40-50 yds.

I did a fair amount of trap before I started doing skeet, and went to a Turkey Shoot around the holidays at one club. The event was simply ten targets at the 16yd line, first place got a turkey, second place got a chicken. But tiebreakers were settled by backing up (I heard these shells also referred to as backup shells, and I think they meant back up) all the way back to the clubhouse, probably about what would be the 35yd line. As I am getting ready to shoot I notice a guy offering a shell to the guy I was shooting against, and since I was about to toss 1oz of #8 in a probably futile attempt I said something like "Hey, did you bring enough for everybody?!?!" The guy was a nice guy and gave me a couple of shells, 1/4oz of #5, the lag time was hilarious. Anyway, being dumb and impulsive the way I am I figure nothing like that better happen to me ever again, and in that quest loaded up some 1-1/2oz of #6 @1150 and bought eight pounds of Longshot in the process.

I soon figured out that was about seven and a half pounds more than I needed, so I was glad to see there was a lotta pistol data for it. I ended up using a bunch for 40, and a little for 45, now (IMO) it is working pretty well for 147g 9mm.

But those original 12g shells I loaded never got used for trap, but they have been coming in handy for three gun, the club I shoot at has some of the MGM spinners (jump to 2:55), I like to shoot the third shot on the back of the plate. They also make a double, the guys that are good get them both working at the same time, I screwed the pooch last month trying...

[Borderland]

Is this what I might know as Screw Your Neighbor, or something like that? If you can bust a chunk of the shooters target (easy if they whiff) they get eliminated?

They play that game also standing 10' behind the trap house. Not sure what they call that one but generally I wouldn't shoot it. Normally the AO game starts at the 27 yd line and moves back from there anytime any shooter wants to move back. Almost impossible to hit anything 40 yds from the trap but they try.

Lots of laughs to be had at the expense of novice shooters, but you learn the trickery pretty fast. All good fun for the old timers that have nothing better to do. I learned right away who the best shooters were and moved away from them. I always loaded a bucket of shells to shoot 10 games. It's too expensive for me these days (retired) when powder is $25/lb and shot is $2/lb. I don't know what 209 primers cost these days because I rarely see any for sale on the shelf.

Those games are a good diversion from regular trap which can be pretty boring unless you shoot for money. I've done that also with side bets and a hand shake. If you're a 24-25x shooter you can win some money. Not many 25x shooters locally but a few. Surprisingly, or maybe not these days, was a woman about 20 who lived in the area. I would not shoot for money against her. A buddy and I went to a local turkey shoot and won 5 turkeys and 3 hams between us. When we were done we were wondering what we were going to do with all that meat and poultry. I don't even like turkey.

I miss those days. I sold my 682 and reloading gear awhile back.

[LittleLebowski]

I'm still working through 16# of Titegroup before I break into my reserve of n320

I wish that's all I had left

[JAD]

I really like HS6 under 124 FMJ. Easy to duplicate my +P carry loads, accurate, meters best, burns completely, and is not hot or smoky.

I shot some pretty bouncy Titegroup reloads through my P7 and melted half of Kansas.

[mizer67]

I shot some pretty bouncy Titegroup reloads through my P7 and melted half of Kansas.

If you haven't melted the fiber optic rod in your front sight shooting Titegroup, you're not trying.

[Jim Watson]

Just to throw a wrench into the discussion. I was doing some reading on BEnos forums a few years ago, and read an article linked there that claimed with identical cases, primers, bullets and MUZZLE VELOCITIES, a great deal of difference in felt recoil between pistol powders was attributed to the weight of the powder charge itself. A 3.3gr load of a fast powder driving a 124gr bullet at 1050fps would have slightly less recoil than a 4.5gr load of a slower powder driving the same bullet to 1050fps.

That said, I used to really like Hodgdon Clays for 9mm and 45. More of a “push” than a “snap” felt recoil. Sounded different too. Due to availability 6-9 years ago, I switched to Titegroup and ETR-7. I think I have enough of that for quite some time. I’ll run out of bullets and small pistol primers before I run out of powder.

The jet effect of the mass of powder gas is real, and it is coming out fast around the bullet. Most recoil calculators assign a velocity to the powder gas as a multiple of bullet velocity or a nominal high number.
But in a pistol there isn't much of it. 3.3 gr is 2.6% of the ejecta in your example and moving up to 3.5% is not a large change. Say it is moving at an average of 1.5X bullet velocity, it is a difference of 3.8% vs 5.2% contributing to recoil. I doubt I can feel that.

When the .40 was The Latest and Greatest and USPSA Limited shooters were using it to make Major with lots higher magazine capacity than .45, there was a fad of fast powder and heavy bullets for low FELT recoil, Clays and a 200 gr bullet were a popular combination. But the guns were getting beaten up by the pressure spike; they could feel the high and fast rising pressure even though the shooter couldn't.


I load .45 Minor to spare my joints and nerves. Bullseye works well but my supply is dwindling, I emptied my 8 lb keg and am down to one pound plus only what is in the measure.
I am going to hit all the stores I can on the way home from the next month's matches and see if I can find some or a reasonable substitute. The HP38 I use for 9mm gets erratic in powderpuff loads, so I will consider Clays and Titewad, maybe Titegroup. A friend has some N310 that he is not using, but he won't part with it, either.

[chances R]

I was a big fan of BE86 for 9mm, but couldn't find a resupply....research lead me to True Blue for both 9mm and 45 ACP. Clean and less smokey with my PC bullets. The best metering powder I have used. Same thing happened with my Shotgun powder. Always used Clays but switched to RamShot competition. Same results as with my pistol reloads. Don't see going back to the other brands.

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[358156hp]

I'm pretty antiquated... Still plowing my way through an 8 pounder of Promo. It doesn't really meter all that badly for me, not like 700X.After that, I'll crack open my 8 pounder of Unique.

I should live so long...

[Borderland]

I'm pretty antiquated... Still plowing my way through an 8 pounder of Promo. It doesn't really meter all that badly for me, not like 700X.After that, I'll crack open my 8 pounder of Unique.

I should live so long...

Dying with 8 lbs of powder, or more, would be difficult.

[revchuck38]

Dying with 8 lbs of powder, or more, would be difficult.

It would definitely add to your time in Purgatory.