Most versatile powders

[Charlie98]

Unique and W296. For the cartridges that use it (nowadays, only the .41MAG) where Unique lets off, W296 picks up. I could actually get by with only Unique, but what a sad world that would be.

IMR4895 for 7.62mm, .30-30 and .348WCF, H335 for 5.56mm, although I can load them all with just IMR4895.

We forgot the lowly shotgun, however. If I had to include that as well, I would drop W296 and add on WST... I use that for my 12GA AA-duplicate loads and to load .380 and .45ACP.

[Doc Holliday]

I would take IMR 3031 and IMR 4350 for rifle and 2400 for the pistol I am reloading for so that leaves me with 1 more powder and I choose H322 I dont care if i can use it for pistol or not it gives me another rifle powder.


Doc

[snglstack]

Red Dot and H110 for sidearms; BLC-2 and IMR 4350 for shoulder arms.

[LtFrankDrebbin]

How can I respond to this cause it looks like I got it all wrong...
I got a wide range of powders but only load for two calibers....
DOH!

[Halwg]

I do that now. 2400 and Unique for pistols, H4350 and AA2520 (just about any of the medium burning rifle powders will work here, such as IMR-4064, H-4895, Varget, etc) for rifles.

Now they may not be the most efficient powders for ever situation, but you can probably get a useable load with those 4.

[DrMike]

As originally asked....
Handguns - Bullseye and Unique
Rifles - 2400 and 3031

But if I can add shotguns to the mix I'll shuffle things around...
Shotguns - Red Dot and Unique
Handguns - Bullseye and 2400
Rifles - 3031 and 4064

[twodot]

ya know, ffg and fffg works well in long guns, short guns and smooth bores ;-)
..

[papajohn]

I load for a lot of calibers, so this isn't really a fair question!

It depends on which rounds I'm loading for, but one "general use" handgun powder would be Unique, Power Pistol or WST. I've used a ton of all three in recent years, WST in the 38 and 45, Power Pistol in the 40S&W and 45ACP, and Unique in just about everything I've ever loaded in handgun ammo. So one of those three would get me by. If I'm shooting a 10mm pistol I'll need Longshot, because nothing else is better suited to The Ten. The Accurate Arms powders (#2, 5, 7 and 9) are also extremely useful, and meter like cold water. I could use nothing else and be pretty darn happy.

My choice for the slower handgun powder won't surprise anyone - Lil Gun has proven to be scary-accurate in 357 rifles, and I burn a lot of ammo in mine. It also serves well in my 44 Mag Marlin, especially with the heavier bullets. It can also work well in my .218 Bee.

When it comes to rifle powders, I could be happy with any of several.........IMR-4895, 4064, 4350, not to mention Varget and MR-2000, a new ball powder from Alliant. H322 and H-380 are also useful, as is RE-7.

I have favorites for each caliber, and there are some powders I only use in one gun........My 218 sees nothing but AA2460, because I found a sub-MOA load using it, and nothing else came close. But if I had to use something like Lil Gun I'd get by.

So much of this depends on what you use your guns for, and how big the calibers are. I don't need Retumbo or H8700 because I don't shoot the monster mashers. My favorite "big" gun is the 45-70, and I have found good loads using Varget, Trail Boss, Unique and 2400, not to mention 4895 and 3031. It's a fun caliber to load!

Four powders for everything? Phooey........I celebrate diversity!