Most versatile powders

[USMC0321]

H110/w296 and h322

[Wes]

RL15 and IMR 4831 for rifles. Unique and H110 for pistols.

[furlong222]

unique and 2400 and 3031 --4350

[msharley]

Hey CG,

For pistol, Clays and Universal Clays (which does well with cast bullets in rifle, as well)

For rifle, BLCII, and H4350.

Later, Mark

[cgcollins]

This is great...keep 'em coming. I'm detecting some recurring picks! I have quite a few powders and play with reloading for some less common rifle calibers, but thought if I was going to try to stock a few less specialized powders for expanded reloading in the future I'd get some advice.

[BubbaJon]

What do y'all think about Li'l Gun? It seems pretty versatile...

[Harry_]

Good question, I reload for 38, 357 mag, 9mm, 45-70 and 30 carbine. For rifles I would pick 2400 since I can use it for 38/357, 45-70 and 30 carbine and Re7 because it's my 45-70 favorite. For handguns I'd pick H110 for 38/357 and 30 carbine and unique for 9mm and just about everything else.

[HILL COUNTRY SHOOTER]

hand gun would be Unique & H-110
rifle would be H-335 & IMR_4350
dog gone it, I hate when I have to limit choices

[HILL COUNTRY SHOOTER]

never used Lil Gun, but has almost same burn rate as H-110 making it a gun choice for magnum revolver cartridges - see below copied from web site review bou Lil Gun, it gets pretty good review sounds worth a try ( this was posted on gunblast.com

Hodgdon Lil' Gun Powder
	by Jeff Quinnphotography by Jeff Quinn
	One of the mixed blessings for shooters who load their own ammo these days is the great selection of components available from which to choose. The reason that I refer to it as a mixed blessing, the choices seem almost infinite. It is sometimes hard to know where to start in choosing components, particularly in the selection of the best powder with which to send the bullet toward it's intended target. Just within the last few years, many new powders have been added to the long list of many more available for years. Several new companies have begun marketing powder for handloaders in recent years, but one company that has been around since 1946 is still one of the most prolific in new powder introductions. That would be the Hodgdon powder company of Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Hodgdon began selling surplus powder to handloaders right after World War Two, and have been keeping shooters supplied with quality products ever since.One of their newest powders is the subject of this article. It is a powder called Lil' Gun. Lil' Gun was developed for use in .410 shotgun loads, hence the name. What interests me, however, is that it is also suitable for handgun loads in the magnum cartridges. For years, the mainstay of my heavy loads in the .44 and .357 magnums has been either Winchester 296 or Hodgdon's own H110. These two powders are pretty much identical in structure and loading density, and for all practical purposes interchangeable. The only thing about 296 and 110 that pains me is that, while being superb for heavy loads, they do tend to bind in many slide-type powder measures, such as the Lee Auto Disk or the Dillon. I like to load all my pistol and revolver rounds on my Dillon 550, so I really needed a powder that would work well through the measure and still give excellent performance. Hodgdon's Lil' Gun is just slightly slower than 110 and 296, but is physically larger in particle size. I found that it meters smoothly through the powder measure, without any tendency to get under the slide and bind the return. In working with Lil Gun in both the .44 and the .32 magnums, I found that with lighter bullet weights in each respective caliber, the older powders gave slightly better velocities. However, when working with the heavier bullets in each cartridge, Lil' Gun either matched or exceeded the velocities of the other two powders, while giving good consistency and deviation. I plan to work more with this new powder in these two cartridges, and others, soon. According to Hodgdon's literature, it should be great in the .22 Hornet. For good velocity, consistency, and clean burn, I have found nothing better in the .32 magnum. For the .32, at least in my Ruger Single Six, it is my powder of choice. In the .44, it seems to equal my older powders while flowing smoothly through the Dillon measure. I think, that with their new Lil' Gun, Hodgdon has filled a niche that needed filling in handgun powders. Disregarding it's usefulness in shotguns, for handgunners they should call it Big Gun. It really does perform in the biggest of revolvers. Jeff Quinn

[35remington]

Unique and 2400 for pistols. 2400 can be loaded down in pistols; W296 and H110 cannot, which makes them less versatile and a poorer choice. 2400 and Unique also make excellent powders for reduced loads in rifles while 2400 can be used in the small rifle cartridges for full power loads and midrange loads in larger rifles. 2400 uses plain old standard pistol primers while the ball powders like W296/H110 need magnum primers and often a heavy crimp. Load sensitivity rules out most of the ball powders for handgun use in terms of wide ranging applicability.

IMR 4064 (or Varget) and H4831 Short Cut for rifle. 4064 is very similar to Varget but bulks more, and since bulk is an advantage to case filling for most rifle cartridges I'll take 4064 first, with Varget having an edge in the small .22 cases like the .223 and .222. 4064 is actually more versatile and produces better velocities in a wide range of cartridges than 4895 does. 4895 is often mentioned as a versatile powder, but 4064 exceeds it in versatility. The downside to 4064 is that it does not meter quite as well as Varget or 4895.