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Didn't mean to turn this into a 1 man thread, but in my last post I should have also mentioned that Universal being ranked behind Unique is very suspect, IMO, and today I noticed that they have the new W244 ranked slower than W231. Since W244 is really an updated version of W231 with some chemicals added for very low flash and copper fouling eraser, it's not what I've seen in the data so far, so I suspect that W244 is actually a tad faster burning than W231. W244 is also one of the newer powders that I look forward to trying. I've made some great target loads with W231 in 9mm, but I have other powders that work better for .45 ACP, and for lighter loads I use WST among others. I'm kinda hoping that W244 will replace both powders.

I do not use W231 in .45 ACP for factory level defense loads. I use True Blue for that, or something a tad slower to equal +P type defense loads like Silhouette.

Still looking at handgun powders, N330 should be ahead of Unique while Western shows V-V 3N38 to be slower than AA #7. And, of course, AA #7 is a Western powder.

First, let me thank you for the question, and let me apologize for the slow response. My wife's younger brother is in dire straits and in hospice in Abilene. If you can find Hodgdon's previous burn-rate chart to the one we're discussing, IMO, it's the better of the 2. The problems I've observed with the placement are most often associated with powders that are imported.

The one I mentioned about being an immediate example involves handgun powders that most of us would consider for magnum handgun loads. AA #9 is an excellent powder, but when looking at the newer chart they show Ramshot Enforcer just ahead of AA #9, and 4100 just after #9. I can't tell you exactly how that occurred, except to say that somehow 4100 and Enforcer were sold by two different brands. They are, in fact, identical and made in Belgium.

After Accurate introduced 4100, they were bought out by Western Powder Co. No real news there except that if you have Accurate annual load guides from early on from the first decade of the new millenium/century, AA#4100 is shown to be a good bit slower burning than AA #9. Not a fault for either powder, and I have them both, but Enforcer/4100 are definitely slower burning than AA #9. I believe that there are other examples concerning Ramshot Powders because it is the newer brand name. What I will do, as soon as I can, is point out other discrepencies.

Hodgdon does a pretty good job with their burn rate charts; while they update them more than most. No burn rate chart is perfect and there some clear examples of that with this latest one. Refardless of that, Hodgdon does about as good as anyone else, and probably better than most!