Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns What powder for 45 ACP?

Actually 1,750 rounds:)
I also read online that Wilson uses either 3.9 or 4 grains of N310 with a 230 gr FMJ round nose for test loads in their 45's.

I've used a good amount of Power Pistol and Bullseye. They both 'work' and I don't see much difference but then I don't chrono either.

The only thing I notice is that Bullseye is pretty sooty.

I have used a lot of tight group works well for me.

My PPC load forever. Load up a 5 gallon bucket full. Shoot. Repeat as necessary.

Denny.

LongShot under a 230 gr bullet works well for me.

I use Titegroup with a 200 SWC in one 1911, and AA#5 with a 230 TC in another 1911 and an M&P.

Lots of good powders.........

Power Pistol -favorite
SOLO 1000 (very low flash)
Unique
AutoComp
800-X
Bullseye
Longshot
231
Titegroup

MM

"Lots of good powders........."

Basically I am going to copy the above powders, look in my reloading manuals to do the same and make a list for me and my wife to keep an eye out for. Save my favorites as much as I can and shoot the others.

Jerry

Another vote for 231 and unique.
I like 231 for target loads and unique for warm loads.
never felt the need to use anything else.

Still experimenting with Bullseye and TiteGroup with 200 gr. stuff and AA5 and Unique with the 230 gr.

AA #5, Longshot, Power Pistol and 800X are top on my list based on accuracy. I've also used:
#7
Tite Group
Unique
Bluedot (185's)
Bullseye
Universal
Universal Clays

Some I have used:

231/HP38 - Traditional favorite.
WST - Very clean burning in target loads.
TiteGroup - Clean burning. Narrow range of charge weights.
Power Pistol - Clean burning, a little "flashy".
Clays - Clean burning but didn't meter well from my measure.
Unique - It works. Kind of dirty for my taste.

I am sure there are others but these jump out at me.

Given a choice, I shoot 230gr cast bullets over 4.5 or 4.6 gr of Titegroup.

However, these days, like others have mentioned, you may have to shoot what you can find. Fortunately, the .45 ACP shoots a ton of powders well!

Faster powders have less recoil for quicker follow-up, and powder with less nitro burn cleaner and are less temp sensitive...if any of that is important to one's goals.

I like Bullseye because I like the way it smells.

I still use what I started with many years ago competing in bowling pin matches with Aaron Hogue on the Central Coast of California, circa 1983, W231. College was grand. Have not seen a reason to change and it tends to be readily available as folks search for the boutique powder of the 'net.

Add Ramshot ZIP to this list. I've been using that for 200 and 230 grain cast bullets and it works very well. None of the powders listed does anything much better than any of the others but in lean times it's good to have as many choices as possible.

My powder of choice for .45 ACP is Unique. But since I haven't been able to find any Unique for the last six months I've switched to HP-38/W231 with good success.

http://handloads.com/loaddata/defau...type=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source

both HERCO, and blue dot seem to work well for me

Lots of good info guys. Thanks.

Another question, this regarding COAL. Load to magazine length or ??

I start with the coal spec'd by the loading data as that was what was tested for pressure. Of course, it has to fit in the magazine, too, and most specified do.