It is a sad sad day when a favorite powder is pushed into extinction. Months of experimentation are flushed down the drain by corporate managers who never reloaded a round in their life. There may be a replacement, always touted as better (they never mention cheaper to make). Then there is the change of manufacturer, it is hard to hide the money aspect on this one. The powder is in the same can, same name, but you may find it is not the same on the target. So here is the Wailing Wall. DuPont 5066 Pistol Powder Burned very clean, much cleaner than Bullseye and was perfect for low velocity target loads. Small grains, easy to measure. Some current fast pistol powders are as good, but none are better. Alcan cut flake powders: Cut flake powders are the ONLY powders for small arms where it is possible to achieve progressive burning by structure rather than treatment with inhibitors. Lacking the enormous grain size in large cannon, which makes multi-perforated grains possible, it is not possible to get progressive burning in small arms powders by configuration. Extruded powders and ball powders all rely on inhibitor coatings to slow initial burning. Cut flake powders are made by rolling out a brick of propellant. If the brick has different layers, those layers are in the same proportion in the sheet which is then cut up. The result can be a progressive powder without dirty burning, hard to ignite inhibitors. For pistol and light rifle use, the Alcan cut flake powders were superior. Unfortunately the manufacturing process is expensive. Only a few cut flake powders survive today, all are European. Alcan AL-7 For years AL-7 was my go-to powder for 357 magnum. It did not need magnum primers and burned clean in all loads from 80% up to maximum. Maximum velocity with AL-7 was only 50 fps below what took a much larger charge of 2400. Alcan Al-8 Beat all other powders, H110, 2400, 4227 for accuracy in the 44 Magnum. With both jacketed and cast bullets it was a winner. It did not require magnum primers and provided top velocities. In the 30.06, 15 to 20 grains gave good accuracy with most cast bullets. The big flakes of AL-8 were hard to measure, but it was so forgiving I could use a dipper and still get top accuracy.
Hodgdon's surplus 4831 Surplus 4831 was the powder which made it possible for me to shoot centerfire rifle. Several of us in the gun club split up a keg, it came to 25 cents a pound. A 30.06 case full of 4831 under a gas checked cast bullet was accurate and affordable. Some of the 4831 replacements are not as good with cast bullets and all of them are more expensive. What were your favorite powders of the past?
