List of suitable powders

[ssgross]

Powder is hard to find. I have a rationing plan in place on my shooting that should keep me at the range weekly for a few years.
I popped in to Cabela's the other day - first smokeless powder I have seen in 6+ months, but slim pickings. Just off the truck were 4 lbs of 700x. Knowing I could use it for pistol, I split it with another guy standing next to me.

There were also a few lbs of Clays which I passed on. I've seen loads with Clays and other shotgun powders in my cast bullets manual, but I don't shoot any cast bullets and I'm not planning to start casting (yet). When I got home and started thinking about my rationing plan again, I wondered if anyone else was starting to think about load data for "safe" alternatives to the usual staples. I did some searching and, for example, Hodgdon has a sheet with subsonic loads for 223 using TiteGroup, TrailBoss, and Clays. Although it won't cycle in an AR - I typically only shoot slow fire practice anyway (my eye just started twitching at the guys who insist on standing in the stall next to me and practicing 30 round mag-dumps). Now I curse myself for not buying up the Clays.

The event taught me a lesson to be more prepared from now on to take whatever comes out.
So I manually made a list of all the powders on Hodgon's site for which there is jacketed load data for my calibers (30-06,30-40,303 Brit, 7.62x54R, 7.5 MAS, and 5.56), in the standard bullet weight ranges that I keep on hand (150,155,165,168,175,180,200 or 220 for the Krag, 55,62,69,75 for AR).

I now have this list printed off and folded in both my wallet and tucked into my wife's purse (she goes out shopping more than I, and knows nothing about powders). I will next go through all my loading books, and other manufacturers data to add to the list. If I can find time, I may tackle doing a database of everything published that would work. I may solicit some help for this in the tedious data collection data entry tasks. There was a sourceforge project for this, but all their stuff is broken.

Certainly many of the choices aren't ideal, but in this time, as they say, beggars can't be choosers.

Suitable Powders for rifle caliber's and bullet weights above, from Hodgon's load data.
Benchmark
BL-C(2)
CFE 223
CFE223
Clays
H322
H335
H380
H414
H4198
H4350
H4831
H4895
Hybrid 100V
IMR4955
IMR3031
IMR4064
IMR4166
IMR4198
IMR4320
IMR4350
IMR4451
IMR4831
IMR4895
IMR7977
IMR8208 XBR
SR4759
StaBALL 6.5
Superform
TiteGroup
TrailBoss
Varget
WIN748
WIN760

Information

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