Alliant 20/28

[mr surveyor]

anyone here tried loading Alliant 20/28 in .38/.357, .45 acp or .44spl/mag?

I've seen several mentions of it around the gun forums lately, some back to late 2010. It seems that 20/28 (released as a shotgun powder with no data for metallic loads) has a burn rate just a tiny bit faster than Unique and those that have tried it in pistol/revolver loads seem to say it's almost equal (if not a tiny bit more velocity) to Unique ... and a bit cleaner. So far I don't know of anyone actually pressure testing 20/28 for the applications I would use. Some "professional" type testing would certainly be welcome information.

It would be nice to add another versatile powder to the "o.k." list considering the limited supplies of the old stand-by powders currently available. Never know what you may find on the shelf in some shops these days.

surv

[44-40 Willy]

Have you tried asking Alliant?

I haven't been keeping up with the newer powders and haven't heard of 20/28 before.

Edit: I just looked at the Alliant site and they're only listing shotgun loads for it. The one I've been wanting to try 300MP. It looks like it would be good for full power 357 loads. Alliant is showing over 1600fps with a 158gr Gold Dot out of a 10" barrel. For 2400, they're only showing over 1200 with the same barrel and bullet.

[mr surveyor]

For the .44 mag, I'm still tinkering with the AA#9. I've been well pleased with 2400 in the 7-1/2" SRH, but really haven't had enough range time in the last couple of months to work on specifics for the M92, although the AA#9 loads are promising.

With the hit or miss powder shelf shortages, I've just been trying to keep a running list of "alternatives". I have never seen a can of 20/28 but figgered it might be a good idea to grab it, IF it was a decent trade off with Unique as has been posted on quite a few gun forums. I mostly use the Unique now for light to medium cast loads for .38 spl and medium cast loads for .45acp. Fortunately, I had to make a short trip to the neighboring town to get some prints run this morning and decided to stop into one of the better local pawn/gun/reloading shops ...lo and behold there were two cans of Unique on the shelf (first they've had an months). I bought my one pound limit, and even though it cost a 50% price increase, came home happy.

I'd still like to see Alliant do some pressure testing of the 20/28 for metallic cartridges though.

[donhuff]

mr surveyor

I'm with you on this one. I can not find unique locally, but can get 20/28 as it is billed as a shotgun powder and pistol shooters are not familer with it, so it sits on the shelf for a while. Just like me (I assume) everyone looks at it but sez "I don't know about it and I'm skerred to try it, where's the Unique". It LOOKS to be an almost direct replacement for Unique, and I am almost to the point to where I gotts to try it, damit! WHERE IS THE UNIQUE?????

donhuff