Hodgon Titegroup or Bullseye

Finally found powder, both Alliant Bullseye and Hodgon Titegroup in 1lb containers.   My understanding is that Bullseye is the benchmark, but dirty, and I've heard, but have no experience with Titegroup, which may be cleaner.  Unfortunately, I've read mixed things about accuracy of Titegroup compared to Bullseye, but there are several recipes under the "Pet Loads of Top Shooters" sticky for Titegroup.  I can get Titegroup for about 10% less than the BE, so if all things are equal, I'd prefer to have the cleaner powder, at less cost, but I don't have any experience with either.

Appreciate any recommendation/advice on one over the other or it doesn't really matter that's good to know too.

Terry Labbe High Master, Sprinfield Pistol Team
4.3 Tightgroup with a Magnus 802 200 gr. LSWC for 50 yards
4.0 Tightgroup with a Magnus 801 185 gr. LSWC for 25 yards


Jack H. Master & Dist.45 Wadgun
Hardball
4.8 Titegroup, WLP, Sierra

My only experience with Tightgroup is some tests I did on a ransom rest. I was trying it because I was running very low on Bullseye. It was acceptable but my loads with Bullseye were better. I had some N310 and it seemed almost as good for me as Bullseye so I shot the next few matches with N310.

For me, Bullseye is the best. There are other acceptable substitutions like Tightgroup, N310, W231, etc. YMMV

If I were you, I'd get a pound of each and do some testing to pick your favorite. The worst that can happen is you have a pound of powder you can use after you've used your favorite. It does seem like things are beginning to loosen up a little with regards to powder but you can go wrong having a little extra.

I use both and and found for me they both work about the same. Perhaps if I were a HM shooter I could tell the difference but I'm not and I can't. TG seems to be somewhat cleaner to me. Some say TG burns hotter than BE but I haven't been able to tell shooting lead. Maybe with top loads this is true but with the light loads us bullseye shooters use I don't thing it matters. I have interchanged BE and TG weights and found that they are about the same. I have used 3.5 grains of both and as high as 4.2 grains in my 45 with a 200 grain SWC. No other changes to the pistol and they both shot to the same POI for me for that charge weight.

Everybody has a favorite powder be it N-310, BE, TG, Clays, etc . Which ever one they shot a clean target with is their favorite.




Virgil

powders give different feels, bullseye has a little softer recoil than tightgroup to me, terry labbe, a HM shoots TG only and has good success, if at this time needing powder of those two I would go with the one I could get the most of.

DavidR wrote:powders give different feels, bullseye has a little softer recoil than tightgroup to me,

David, That is interesting. I find that the TG feels softer to me than BE at the same velocity. I ran TG most of the season and found it to be a little more inconsistent in velocity deviation whereas BE was much more consistent. I will likely switch over the BE for winter and next year.

Cold weather seems to affect TG.  It worked well in the summer, but when shooting in the winter the same loads felt lighter and failed 
to lock back the slide.  I don't shoot 50 yds in the winter so I can not say how accurate it is at the long line.  I was shooting 4.1/200 h&g.
The rounds with BE just plain work.

Gus

Sometimes its the gun that's moving slower, I switch to a light fully synthetic oil when the temps drop below 50

Roger, I'm going to grab some of both and see which works best.  They're 1 lb containers so no major impact.  Seems like Titegroup is popular for 45 hardball and I'll put the BE behind some led.

I know I seem to be in the minority, but I like to TEST loads to see what works best for me in my guns.
Bullseye has been IT for decades. Dirty? Who cares! I've shoot thousands of rounds of Bullseye and Unique in Bullseye and IPSC and PPC without cleaning my gun and had no problems. If you clean your gun, who cares? Do you really place clean over accuracy?
Best powder in my wadgun has been 231/HP38. TG has been only so-so accurate and only over about +/- 0.1gn range.
TG often, maybe due to high NG content and high temperatures, does not do well with lead or coated bullets. I have not found a good use for it, but I test all powders applicable to a given cartridge and individual gun (with my health problems, I find shooting over a rest much easier and testing loads is enjoyable).

In this stage of my reloading career it's good to learn about different powder. I've been using titegroup because it covers almost all of my reloading calibers. Will definately give bullseye a try. Thanks for the original post.

Hiya,

Between the two I would stick with Bullseye over TG based on my experiences. I found that the recoil impulse with TG is abrupt and doesn’t seem to be forgiving for reliability. I did notice a bit of leading right after the throat with TG in a carbon steel barrel with 160’s going about 850fps that I didn’t see with BE going at the same pace so there may be credence to TG being a hotter burn

Not to derail anything here but my preferred powders for 45acp are WST, 231, Unique and if I can find it, 700x