Powder Recomendation

vallopez2000

I am just getting started with my Dillon 550b. I will be loading .45 acp 230gr fmj and .223 Rem. 55gr fmj. I just bought all the equipment and now I am very low on funds. I would like to know which powders are most economical for each. I only use it for plinking so I don't need superior accuracy or super high velocity, I just need it to go bang. I would prefer a ball type or something that would meter well in my 550b. We do alot of shooting so it will be very high volume. Can anyone here help me decide on cheap propellants to start out with?

bpost

For the .45 bullseye gives the most loads per pound and is very accurate, it feeds well in automatic loaders. for the .223 look at some loading data in the manuals. H322 worked well for me. There are also discount surplus powders available online for reasonable prices that will serve your needs.

Welcome to reloading, remember, safety first!

haroldchrismeyer

I like the Winchester 231 for reloading pistol ammo. It is a small ball type, and doesn't require a lot of powder per round. It meters better than most everything else that I have found in a progressive press powder measure. It is cheap per pound too.

I agree that surplus powders may be the way to go on the 223. It gets expensive using H4895, but that is usually what I use. Problem is I can buy ammo for not much more than the brass, primers, powder and bullets cost. I had plans to load a few thousand when I can find the right surplus powder.

dcloco

Try the Accurate 2230C for your 223. Ball powder and very accurate for your 223. Also...reasonably priced.

ern98

For auto pistols I've always used Unique. This powder usually reaches the good velosites and accuracies. It also has a couple of other properties. The first is that it is dirty, it will make a mess of your pistol after the first twenty or so shots. It also, with the fouling, will lubricate the same areas that it fouls up. So this is a yin and yang sort of situation. If you don't mind cleaning up afterwards the gun will often shoot better and longer behind this powder, reguardless of 45acp & 9mm.

Pinhead

I use W231 powder for the .45acp because a little of it goes a long way. A pound of W231 will load something over 1200 rounds of .45. I use the Remington 185 gra. JHP for plinking because I can buy it in bulk form and save big $'s. As for the .223, buy some of the surplus military powder from someone like Jeff Bartlett and save big there also. Although the .223 military ammo was cheap for a while, I've noticed the price is starting to climb except for the foreign ammo, which I don't buy myself.

sandwarrior

Vallopez2000,

Doing a price comparison for what I use when reloading, I use 25.5 gr of 4895 that costs me $14.99@lb. to buy. I also use 24 gr. of XMR2015@ $17.99 for accuracy loads. Both using 55 gr. bullets. It boils down to 5.4 cents for the 4895 and 6.1 cents for the XMR2015.

The best bullet deals I have found are sometimes getting 250 carton Hornady v-max for 23.49 through MidwayUSA. I can buy 60 gr. HP Sierra's for 9.99 locally. I did stock up on 60's when another local store got out of reloading. At $7.99 a box I bought out the inventory left. Thats about the best way to economize I can think of. -Good luck

We have the second amendment so that all the rest are secure....UNK>

Warbirds

I like unique for .45 loads and Reload 15 for .223 I really like reload 15 for .223, unique is just good versatile powder IMO.

R/

Dave

People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.

-- A. J. Liebling

agman1999

I never paid much attention to the price of it relative to anything else, but I use a Berry's 185 gr. RN (same profile as a 230 grain) over 4.6 grains of Universal Clay's. I get less recoil than with a 230 grain bullet, and a similar POI out of a gov't 1911. The Berry's bullets have been the cheapest I've come across, and I'm having good luck with them.