what about bullseye

17 March 2003, 08:13

cmcalpin2002

what about bullseye

I get conflicting opinions. It really doesn't matter but since I am new I want to learn these things. Several people have said bullseye is too fast a powder for pistols except for mild target loads. Others have said they use it full power without a problem. Go to Alliants website and look at the powder description and it says primarily used for a pistol powder and can be used for light trap loads. So really whats the truth. It is listed in several load tables as a good powder for 357 pistol loads. Wouldn't a quick powder be more ideal for short barrels so it doesn't muzzle flash? Cory

17 March 2003, 10:01

Bigdaddytacp

quote:
Originally posted by cmcalpin2002:
I get conflicting opinions. It really doesn't matter but since I am new I want to learn these things. Several people have said bullseye is too fast a powder for pistols except for mild target loads. Others have said they use it full power without a problem. Go to Alliants website and look at the powder description and it says primarily used for a pistol powder and can be used for light trap loads. So really whats the truth. It is listed in several load tables as a good powder for 357 pistol loads. Wouldn't a quick powder be more ideal for short barrels so it doesn't muzzle flash? Cory

I always had good luck with bullseye as target to med type loads..it burns very hot to use with lead bullets at upper load velocity and it seems that only so much bullseye will work in the heavier loads before getting the pressure limit as the burn spikes faster than the real fast loads with the slower powders....it gets very touchy at the upper limits and it seems to be easier and safer to work with a bulkier powder in the heavy loads...my Hodgdon manual shows the bullseye load at the 37000CUp level and only velocity of 1209 for a 110 in 357...the same CUP for Blue Dot gives 1480FPS......big difference...BUT bullseye is great for the mid/low loads due to this fact and uses much less powder to load the same number of shells....there are better powders for heavy bullets and heavier loads in the cartridges that use Bullseye......HTH..good luck and good shooting!!

17 March 2003, 16:29

tasco 74

I USE BULLSEYE EXCLUSIVELY. I LOAD .38 SPL WITH AROUND 3 GRS. AND .357 MAG WITH 6.2 GRS. AND MY S&W MOD. 27 SHOOTS BOTH LOADS GREAT. I WATCH MY CASES FOR PRESSURE STRESS AND SUCH THO.

THE 2ND AMENDMENT PROTECTS US ALL..........

17 March 2003, 18:14

Adam Culpepper

my brother has been loading .45 ACP with bullseye. seems to be ok, but rapid fire has been causing his thompson to jam. gotta look into it. dont think its the powder, but those guns are sensative to bullet speed.

[ 03-17-2003, 09:14: Message edited by: Adam Culpepper ]

17 March 2003, 18:23

papaschmud

the quick skinny on this or any other powder burn rate question is this: you need to match the powder burn rate to the velocity expectations you have. what bullseye does very well is push bullets to rather modest but consistent velocities while consuming very little powder in the process. if you want to make hunting loads for your magnum calibers then it's the wrong choice. if you want to make light to medium target loads you can do much worse. there are other and better choices if you only must have one powder, but going to a slower powder (more versatile) means that you will need to use more of that slower powder in your light loads. that will cost you some degree of economy. what most folks do is keep several powders for the guns they handload for and thereby match the powder to the task at hand.

gabe

17 March 2003, 18:44

<BigBob>

cmcalpin2002,
For many years Bullseye was the standard target pistol powder. It is still an excellent one. The only thing I ever had against it was that it burned dirty. I've been out of both pistol and rifle competition shooting for some time and have lost track of what is going on right now. I used W-231 for cowboy action shooting with reduced loads with good results. Being new too reloading, you may find a book offered by Wolfe publishing titled "Propellant Profiles, 4th Edition". This softbound book is a compilation of articles about powders that appeared in Handloader Magazine between 1966 and 1998. It maynot have some of the newest powders in it, but it does have everything else. Wolfe Publishing is located at 6471 Airpark Drive in Prescott, Az, 86301. Their instate number is 928-445-7810. Their other number is 800-832-9055. These are good people too do business with.. I've been at this a long time, and this is still a good book to have around when researching powders for new rifles. I hope that this is of some help. Good luck. [Smile]