Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading CFE Pistol

Any of you guys using it? I don't see many threads on it, but it looks like good powder. I load for 9mm, 40 S&W, and 45ACP and in my load manuals, it lists this powder for all of them. Seems good at first glance. How many of you use it and what has been your experience? Thanks..

Used it in 9 and 45, wasn’t impressed. Makes a good fill in for #5 but seeings as I shoot 90% cast copper fouling isn’t high on the list.

Dang swifty. Do you prefer Unique over it? I'll be shooting jacketed hollow points, not cast bullets.

I've been using it quite a bit the last year-year and half, but not in those cartridges. It has worked out really well for me in 32 H&R Mag, 327 Fed, and 45 Colt carbines...been pretty clean with both cast and jackets/monos for me. I'm definitely a fan of the stuff.

Accuracy has been pretty good for all the stuff I've shot it through, but it can be a bit touchy to work up loads with. A few tenths of a grain is typically the difference between a fantastic group and crap with it, in my experience.

45 Colt 250 cast RNFP


327 Fed 86gr Shock Hammer


Velocities were very good in the 45C and 32 H&R... good for middling loads in 327.

Works good in 40….

Hmm. Thanks for that info. Looked like good clean burning powder when I did an internet search. I don't shoot a lot of pistols though. Good info. I'll keep an eye on groupings and velocity. That is one place where I check with a chronograph religiously (with pistols). I haven't loaded a lot of pistol cartridges like I have rifle cartridges. I found it locally for $34/pound, so I was planning on buying a couple pounds of it, unless you guys think Unique may be better. The only experience with Unique was about 10 years ago and that powder was very dirty. One of my buddies said that Unique is cleaner burning now. I don't know if what he said is true though??? I have used some of his loads in the 9mm and they were very good. One of the reasons I'm asking here to see what others have found.

Can you compare it to powerpistol, or Longshot? I'm assuming CFE is pretty clean burning. Running a couple different 40 S&W pistols. Thanks.

Hey buddy I know its not what you asked for but give Silhouette a look. It will work fine in all three you listed. I been using Silhouette for awhile now. It's easy to find, I'm paying $40 for it up here So Imagine in your part of the world you can find it for the same price as CFE pistol. Far as unique I haven't messed with unique in along time.

Loading 165 gr Extreme I didn’t notice a big difference in accuracy between PP and Cfe but PP has alot of muzzle flash!
But for my performance load’s I’ve switched to Be86 for its low muzzle flash, and for lighter target loads Sport Pistol works really well but somewhat difficult to obtain!

The new Unique is a fair bit cleaner (and different looking) than the old stuff, but CFE is still a lot cleaner shooting than U, especially in less than full throttle loads.

I don't shoot much handgun, either, mostly lot of handgun cartridge rifles. I loaded some 380 and 38 Special with CFE probably a year ago and still haven't gotten around to trying them.

244 Win is also in that same ballpark for usage, pretty clean shooting too, and generally easy to come by. I picked up a couple pounds of that the same time I started messing with the CFE. It worked ok, but the CFE ended up being a little more accurate in everything I tried it with so far.


BE86 ended up working really well for me in 327 Fed. My groups were just as good as CFE and the velocities were considerably higher. It shot good in my 45 Colt, too, but in that CFE has the velocity advantage by a fair margin.

Bud I gave up popping jhp and fmj long ago. I would rather send a 7 cent bullet down range than a 30 cent bullet for practice, even prefer a hard cast for deer over a jhp in 41 mag.

No I don’t prefer Unique, I do keep a couple of pounds around for nostalgia. My main powder at the moment for 380, 9, 357, 41 and 45acp is old school Red Dot. Bought 16 pounds of it back in 05 at an auction for 2.50 a pound. Mainly bought it for 9 and 45 but discovered at 3-5 grains it was going to take forever to burn it up.

So the powders I keep around in 2-3 pounds are 700X and Titegroup they are real good subs for bullseye and a tad slower than Red Dot so they fill a niche.

800X and CFEpistol work extremely well as a replacement for Accurate #5 which is my favorite for 45acp and 9mm. So again they fill a niche.

Longshot works as a fill in for Accurate 7 and 9. While I don’t shoot a lot of 7, 9 is a favorite in my 41 mag for full house loads. So again just a niche buy.

Accurate 5 and 9 are bought in 8 pounders.

I like variety and options in case 1 favorite powder is unobtainable.

Great info guys. Thanks, I appreciate it!!

I currently use CFE in 32 H&R, some 38s, 41 Mag, 44 Special and Mag and 45 Colt.

It subs fine for Unique and can generally be leaned on a touch more, but subbing charges with HANDGUN loads has worked well.

Plus its consistently available.

It works fine in my 9mm.

BSA, another choice and clean is WSF. I use t in 9, 40 and 45 acp. Works great.

Nothing wrong with CFE
Clean Unique..................precisely the reason they made BE86...Carry on...

I use it for 9 and 38 spl. I like HS-6 better as it produces tighter groups and better velocity. It does meter well unlike Unique.

Good stuff guys. One reason I was thinking I may like it over a flake powder is because sometimes my uniflow is finicky with the flakes. CFE being "spherical", I figured it would meter better and offer somewhat of an edge. Also, since it's clean burning I like that aspect as well. I remember the first time using Unique, I thought I was using black powder. That was the old formula. I later gave that pound to one of my buddies that loves it. Then like I said, about 3 years ago I was shooting some of my buddies 9mm loaded with unique, at a bowling pin match, and it was totally different. To be honest, the only time I pull my pistolas out anymore is for shooting bowling pins.


(13 yard accuracy)^^^

When shooting pins, I have noticed the muzzle blast of some powders like Power Pistol to be too much for my likes. Also, you don't need the ultimate speed. Sometimes less recoil and management is better in shoots like this. I find I'd rather have more control and accuracy vs. extreme power. If I'm shooting a good accurate load that has enough power to take the pins off the table in a certain time frame, I'm all for that. Generally, my goal is to take 5 pins off the table in less than 2 seconds:
[img]https://i.imgur.com/A77wJPJ.mp4[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/QtllA9P.mp4[/img]

Just so you guys know more about where I'm coming from. I appreciate everyone's input on this. It has given me more choices to consider.

9.0 - 9.2 grains AA5, 200 grain cast was my favorite pin load in 45 acp.

Prevailing theory at the time was that fmj and HP lost energy on impact expanding/deforming where as Hard cast being known for penetration expends all its energy on the pin.

Hardcast does work great. However, I tear them up with the 9mm with 147 JHP. The 45's can't keep up. My club may end up changing the rules, but as is my Air borne Ranger buddy and I generally aren't touched in the big bore division when using our 9mm's. Thanks guys, your suggestions gives me something to think about. Here's what my Longshot loads do in one of my bowling pin guns. Shot yesterday, before easter dinner. Offhand like I would when shooting pins:



I still have plenty of that powder, but was thinking about what would be more versatile for the 40 and 45 as well. I know universal has worked very well too. I'm glad I got a pretty good deal on these brass plated hollow points. They seem to shoot just as good as the XTP's. 197 pills for $23.00. Hard to beat that price! Well, unless you cast your own, I guess??

Trust me, those hp's will grab the pins and throw them off the table, just fine..