Pistol powder

Practical pistol asks a powder to make a declared power factor round after round, off a progressive, for a whole match weekend. The load has to chronograph the same at the start of the day and at the end of it, stay off the top of the pressure window so a hot afternoon does not turn a comfortable major load into a hard one, and stay clean enough that the gun runs a full match without a wipe-down. Impulse matters too: at the same power factor, a softer, flatter push gives faster sight recovery and better splits.

What matters here

• repeatable drops from a progressive measure over long sessions
• making the declared power factor without living at the top of the range
• flat, soft impulse for fast splits
• low flash and low fouling across a match weekend
• charge volume you can actually see in a lit case mouth

7 of 7 in stock right now at the retailers we track. These picks are RCM's — no manufacturer endorses them, and they are judgement rather than test data. Disagree with one? Tell us and say why.

1. 1

   Hodgdon Titegroup

   Hodgdon · spherical · burn 19

   $72.43/lblanded · Graf & Sons · 1 lb

   The default high-volume practical powder and genuinely good in 9mm: cheap, findable by the keg, and it ignites consistently enough that a whole season of match ammo comes off the press the same. It is what most club-level USPSA ammo is actually loaded with.

   But: Two real drawbacks for this game. Charge volume is small, so a double in a big case does not announce itself in the case mouth, and nobody serious calls it temperature stable - a minor load worked up in cool weather deserves a chronograph check before a hot match.

2. 2

   N320

   Vihtavuori · extruded · burn 28

   $59.36/lblanded · Graf & Sons · 4 lb

   The quality answer for minor: clean, soft-shooting at competition minor, and bulky enough that a double charge is visible in a 9mm case, which is a genuine safety property on a progressive running fast.

   But: Still the premium option per pound, though the gap has narrowed enough that the price argument no longer settles it.

3. 3

   Silhouette

   Ramshot · spherical · burn 51

   $48.10/lblanded · Lohman Arms · 4 lb

   Built for this discipline by name - USPSA, IDPA, IPSC - with low flash for indoor stages and a working charge that occupies real case volume. It meters superbly, which is why competition shooters buy it by the jug rather than the can.

   But: It does its best work at genuine power-factor loads rather than at the bottom of its range, and it carries no temperature-stability claim.

4. 4

   BE-86

   Alliant · flake · burn 45

   $83.43/lblanded · Graf & Sons · 1 lb

   One powder that covers practice through full-power duty loads in 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP, fills the case better than the target powders, and does not throw the fireball its stablemate is famous for - useful if you shoot low-light stages.

   But: Energetic enough that the top of its range deserves respect, and not the cleanest thing made at very light target charges.

5. 5

   Clean Shot

   Shooters World · spherical · burn 26

   $57.69/lblanded · Graf & Sons · 5 lb

   The budget volume option aimed squarely at IPSC and IDPA shooters, low-density enough that the charge occupies visible case space and clean enough to run a long match on.

   But: Competitors in places with wide temperature swings repeatedly raise the worry that it will not hold power factor on a hot day. That is second-hand within the threads rather than tested, but it is the specific reservation to chronograph before a summer major.

6. 6

   Hodgdon CFE Pistol

   Hodgdon · spherical · burn 49

   $46.68/lblanded · Graf & Sons · 8 lb

   The pick when you are running heavier bullets or working toward major, where its slower burn makes power factor with less snap than the fast target powders, and it meters like water in volume loading.

   But: It fouls visibly, and worse the softer you load it, because it wants to be run in the upper part of its range. Not temperature stable either, so recheck a match load across seasons.

7. 7

   Sport Pistol

   Alliant · flake · burn 17

   $61.93/lblanded · Graf & Sons · 8 lb

   Formulated not to attack polymer coatings at the bullet base, which is exactly the problem the coated-bullet action-pistol crowd has, and it meters and holds velocity across temperature about as well as anything for minor.

   But: Supply is the whole story now - users describe it as indefinitely unavailable and are rationing what they have. Do not build a season around it.