not to sound like I am on the lunatic fringe but
what if there is ever a shortage of gunpowder like a real shortage it is completely unavailable. Can the gunpowder from the commercial shotgun ammo that is so prevelant today at Walmart be used in centerfire pistol or rifle? Obviously one would need to verify the technical info on the shotgun shell gunpowder. I was thinking it might be a good idea to buy a supply of that cheap shotgun ammo just to have the powder available if usable for pistol or rifle.

The answer is yes, it could be used in an emergency.

But it would be a helluva lot cheaper and more convenient to just go out and buy 5 or 10 pounds of whatever your favorite powder(s) is for whatever weapon(s) you might plan on using in an emergency. I'd buy one or two that had the broadest applications after consulting some reloading manuals. Unique, just for an example, can be used in both shotgun and pistol rounds.

You can pick up a few different surplus powders right now for far less and they'll keep for decades if you store them right. Some are shotgun powders which would work in almost any auto pistol application and one is a bulk powder for magnum pistol rounds. Google-up Pat's Reloading on the net.

Though shotshell powders do have cross over application in pistol loads the big problem you will have is loading data. Commercial rounds use non-canister powders; knowing how much and what application to use it in would be a WAG. Not some thing I would recomend trying! Laying in a supply of some thing you know would be preferable.

quote:

Originally posted by Scout Master 54:
Though shotshell powders do have cross over application in pistol loads the big problem you will have is loading data. Commercial rounds use non-canister powders; knowing how much and what application to use it in would be a WAG. Not some thing I would recomend trying! Laying in a supply of some thing you know would be preferable.

Yes and no. Most of the surplus powder vendors will give you data for the shotgun powders for pistol use. You are right in that developing shotgun loads with them is for the very very advanced reloader or not at all.

Shotgun powders are the most used powders for non - magnum pistol & revolver cartridge reloading here in Italy since they are cheaper than specialized pistol powders .They are a must for cartridges like 9 x21 and 45 ACP , and a huge quantity of loading data is available for these powders if used in pistol/revolver cartridges