I go through a lot of RL-15 for the 7mm -08s in the gang.  (I'm reloading for 6 of them now.)  Have a friend that swears by it for .308 Win. 

It's also good in .30-06, with 150-165 gr. bullets.

One comment:  H335 has been marketed in two versions.  The older version was from military surplus powder lots and has a significantly slower burn rate than the newer commercial production version. 

The H335 label will note if it contains surplus powder.

So, nobody's using Titegroup or W231 for .45 ACP?  Or we just don't have that many reloaders here?

Probably both.

With the price and supply of ammo being currently stabilized, you couldn't pay me the cost per round, to reload my own.  As in, I value my time at higher than the cost of whatever I could churn out.

Like Kaso said...

At present I am well stocked on powder, primers, bullets, brass.  But I am still buying what I shoot for the most part, especially in common pistol and rifle cartridges.  10mm, 6.5 Grendel Match ammo, 260 Remington, 300 Win Mag and 458 SOCOM are really all I load for lately.

As far as the cost goes, A) I enjoy the process, and the time spent doing it, so reloading is recreational, so I don't factor in the cost of my time; and B) I cast my own bullets, so can make more ammo, tailored to shoot best in my guns, for way cheaper than I can buy the equivalent quantity of factory ammo.  Even for hunting ammo, where I buy jacketed bullets, I made 50 .30-06 rounds for the same cost as 20 factory rounds.

I only have .45 ACP, .30 Carbine and .223 shellplates for my 550B.  It came with the .45 ACP stuff, and I bought the others later.  I haven't actually used it for .45s yet.  When last used it was for .223, and while a double charge wasn't possible, a "no charge" was.  So, after loading up a bunch, I weighed the loaded rounds, two at a time.  A loaded round was over 170gr.  So, two at a time, if the scale didn't go over 340 every time, I'd know one was missing its powder.  24.8gr is way more than can be accounted for with case variations.  Unfortunately, I don't think I can use that method when I set up to do .45 ACP.

I only have .45 ACP, .30 Carbine and .223 shellplates for my 550B.  It came with the .45 ACP stuff, and I bought the others later.  I haven't actually used it for .45s yet.  When last used it was for .223, and while a double charge wasn't possible, a "no charge" was.  So, after loading up a bunch, I weighed the loaded rounds, two at a time.  A loaded round was over 170gr.  So, two at a time, if the scale didn't go over 340 every time, I'd know one was missing its powder.  24.8gr is way more than can be accounted for with case variations.  Unfortunately, I don't think I can use that method when I set up to do .45 ACP.

Just remember, if you've got the .45 ACP shellplate, it will work on anything with the same size case head, i.e., any .308, .30-06, or 7X57-based case.  Which is most of the popular sporting cartridges.  All you need are the dies!

I've got three one pound bottles of Titegroup, brand new.  Also one pound of Reloader 15.  All unopened. 

I have an opportunity to swap some or all into varying quantities of W231 (2#), H335 (16#), IMR 4064 (25#), W748 (8#).  I already snagged all of the H110 (1.25#), IMR 2495 (1#) and Bullseye (1#).  All of this is older powder, stored properly, and I'm not worried about it going bad.

I don't think I really need any more rifle powder.  At least not right now.  I've got Bullseye for the 9mm, and Unique for the 173gr .38 Special bullets.  I'm mostly interested in powders that work well with .45 ACP.  I'm thinking of getting the W231, as it's supposed to be identical to HP38. 

What's the RL15 best for?  Should I keep it?  Or some or all of the Titegroup?

Opinions?

RL 15 is one of the "go to" powders for heavy bullets (77 grain SMK and up) match bullets for precision loads in .223/5.56.  Lot of guys shooting sub MOA use it.  I have all I need, though.  Has to be individually weighed in that role as it is an extruded powder and match ammo needs high consistency charge to charge.  It is shorter than my favorite light bullet match powder, long grain extruded H-4895, so meters a little better.  Not good for lighter than 69 grain bullets, though.

I could be wrong, but I think that powder volume is more important than precise powder weight.  I get excellent accuracy from handgun and rifle rounds loaded on the RL-550-B press, without going through all that hassle.  I weigh about every 10th charge, and as long as it weighs +/- 0.10 grains, I'm okay with it. 

Of course, I'm not fine-tuning a load to a particular rifle.  My .30-06 loads have to work in three different rifles, my 7mm-08 loads have to work in 6 different rifles, etc.  But I've never had an issue with accuracy, out to 300 yards.

Yes, you are right, generally speaking.  But, those loads are pricey 52 grain Berger match bullets in Lapua match cases, benchrest prepped and shoot under 1/2 MOA in that match barrel.  That combo is more accurate than I can shoot.  I'm the limiting factor.  I've shot groups down in the .3s, but .4s are more typical.  You do have to weight those charges.

My RCBS Uniflo powder charger cannot get the .10 grain consistency with these extruded powder, so I have to throw short and trickle.  Time consuming, but with match ammo I have to do it that way.

My main hunting rifle(s), three of them, are chambered in .280 Rem.  Like you, I have a load with RL-19 that shoots well in all of them and is not finicky to load.  Don't have to be benchrest precise with the powder charge.  One MOA is good enough and two of the three are capable of that.  The third is 2 MOA on a good day, but that is plenty good enough for the distances we shoot whitetails around here (inside 250 yards, invariably).