Are there powders for both rifle and pistol cartridges? Or is it better or required to use

a specific powder for each? I'd imagine rifle powder would burn slower due to the longer

barrel lengths. Just a guess though.

Don't even think about it. Powders are designed for specific purposes and pressure curves. You are asking for making hand grenades out of your guns. Now, shotguns and pistols share a LOT of powders.

 

That warning aside, some people have loaded ultra light rifle loads with pistol powders, but you better know EXACTLY what you are doing if you go down that path. For example you could buy (maybe still can) .22 bullets in .30cal sabot's and some people where loading them in 30-30's as light varmint loads with pistol powders but at that point you really are talking about some pretty advanced topics in reloading.

 

Edited to add: and yes there a very few powders with data for both but generally only useful in less popular cartridges. I think you might find load data for both Trailboss and Lil'Gun powders for rifle and pistol, but normally for lead bullets in both or for light rifle cartridges.

hodgden has some .223 loads in their data that use pistol powder for very light loads. It's for 55gr loads at about 1000fps. Trailboss, titegroup, and clays. I seriously doubt it will cycle the action either.

Wow .223 at 1000fps? That's slower than some 9mm loads!

 

Yeah I figured this would not be common due to the differences of each type of cartridge.

I tried that subsonic Hodgdon load in .223

Not worth a damn

Don't waste your time, powder or projectiles!

 

On the other hand, I just loaded some .300Whisper rifle rounds for a buddy's new build using Lil'Gun and W296, which are both magnum pistol (and .410 shotty) powders. They did pretty well in his rifle, velocity and group-wise.

Don't even bother. If you don't want to keep a lot of powder around and don't want to pay hazmats drive over to Salomons (sp?) in Farmingdale or bullet hole in belleville. I use a variety of pistol powders but only reload .308 and .223 rifle and use Hodgdons (sp? H335. It's about 22-25 bucks per pound in stores.

I use Unique for light lead bullet rifle loads. I say light but the load I use in 30-30 is comparable to a 357 mag as far as energy goes. The major caution with his is you can easily overcharge a case with 5X or more of a safe load.

 

What is considered a slow pistol powder (W296, 2400, IMR4227, etc) are way too fast for normal rifle loads. Some of them work well in small capacity rifle calibers like 22 Hornet and 30 carbine. You could use some of them for reduced loads in larger calibers bu usually the faster ones like Unique. Reduced loads with ball powders could create too a high pressure (SEE) in a large capacity rifle case.

GRIZ is right on here. There are many powders that serve double-duty and can be used for both pistol, rifle, and shotgun in certain applications. Unique, Blue Dot, IMR4227/H4227 come to mind here. Just looking at this somewhat outdated powder chart based on various burn rates, there are quite a few powders out there than can cover the spectrum, and many powders can serve you in various multi-use roles. This chart won't tell you that, but is merely used as a reference to show how many there are. A reloading manual is what's best to consult to find what powders you can use from the ones available. http://www.reloadbench.com/burn.html

 

For example, I can and do use double-base powders like Blue Dot and Unique for pistol, shotgun, and reduced rifle charges. Another powder like 4227 can be used in the .410, magnum pistol, and rifle (.22 Hornet.) Often, there is a trade-off in accuracy unless a lot of experimentation is conducted, as there are some powders that just seem to work better for their intended application.

 

This is a good read on choosing the right powder using the "DuPont Index" or load density index. Using that burn rate chart, you can also use other powders besides DuPont and apply it.

http://www.chuckhawk...rning_speed.htm

 

Another read on choosing rifle powders based on load index :

http://www.gunnersde...ing-powder.html