Hi Possum.....cool stuff. Yes, that was me using the 20mm Vulkan powder with Unique in 454 Casull and 45 Colt (plus rifles, of course). Cool to see it works in 9mm too. I think compressed loads can be tricky though.....be careful, mate. Oh, and yes, full case of powder can be pretty wasteful, but when you have 36lbs at 8 bucks a pound, i don't worry too much.... ;-)
its not that far of a stretch of thought on using rifle powders for pistol loads. i mean, we use shutgun powder for pistol loads all the time. you can also use pistol powder for rifles, however not recommended, but it can be done if you work a load up correctly. one of the key bennifits of different powders for different types of firearms is GRAIN SIZE. the grain size changes not only the burn rate, but also how much space the powder fills the case. you'll notice is near impossible to double load rifle charges because most fill the case pretty well. some are compressed loads.. ( those always bugged me when i was reloading ) just never felt right doing compressed loads.. you can pretty much use any powder in shotgun, even black powder. just as long as you work up load and your starting point is not so far out there that you have a rapid dissassembly situation. i do have to take my hat off for your use of a lead cast over a jacketed round for this test. not only is it soft lead, easier to push out if you get a squib, but its also under sized compared to jacketed, undersized by .001 of an inch.. which in projectile terms, is pretty big. so the reduced projectile size means less resistance to go down the barrel, and less enguagement of the rifeling. though, the liquid alox was a bit light for test loads.. i would have used a 2nd coat.. just because, its alox. i always preferr to use mold dropout by franford arsenal.. it works great for bullet lube.. alox works, but its such a mess.
