45 Colt powder suggestions

[pinne65]

I've always used Unique. But it's pretty dirty and doesn't fill well, just usually a quarter of a case. Guess the latter makes it cheaper. But I've had a couple of duds and maybe a couple of doubles. Hard to tell with the SRH.
Something that measures well, burns clean and fills 55% of the case would be nice.

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[edslhead]

Ive used HS 6 and Titegroup with no problems.

 

[deadeye]

Blue Dot

 

[wcdubois]

I prefer Blue Dot but it has been hard to find lately. Try Titegroup.

 

[thorborg]

I used a lot of Red Dot (and liked it) but mainly because I had a lot of it. Major beef is it processed messy because of its construction.
Since using it up, the last 5 or 6 hundred loads now use IMR 4198 which I am thoroughly pleased albeit you may not like the fill ratio.

 

[Lilhigbee]

I find 8.0 grs. Accurate #5 works very well with 230 gr. bullets.

Never mind. I was thinking ACP, not LC. Duh!!

 

[Crohnos01]

I haven't loaded for 45 lc, but I have a friend who does.... he says he uses Trailboss but that's another hard to find powder it seems.

 

[oremike]

I like 296 for full house loads (Ruger Only) and AA #7 for a little less than full tilt boggie.

 

[pinne65]

Thanks for the input!

Looks like most lighter loads will put very little powder in the case, 5-8grs typically. Guess I'll use up the Unique and then try the Blue dot.

 

[oremike]

Trail Boss is very fluffy so fills the case mostly full with light loadings.

 

[pinne65]

Cool - I'll give that a try next time. Does it meter ok?

 

[oremike]

I've only used one lb of trailboss and was hand weighing the charges for some cast bullet loads in rifle cases so it metered just fine for me.
From the Hodgdon site:
Trail Boss was designed specifically for low velocity lead bullets suitable for Cowboy Action shooting. It is primarily a pistol powder but has some application in rifles. It is based on a whole new technology that allows very high loading density, good flow through powder measures, stability in severe temperature variation, and, most importantly, additional safety to the handloader.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Thanks for the input!

Looks like most lighter loads will put very little powder in the case, 5-8grs typically. Guess I'll use up the Unique and then try the Blue dot.

Don't forget Green Dot.. it's right between Red and Blue Dot.. all of which are right in there.

 

[Crohnos01]

I personally like chartreuse dot

 

[jrd541280]

Isn't the chartreuse dot only for the lever action, snub-nose, pocket pistol autos?

 

[Mikej]

I haven't loaded for 45 lc, but I have a friend who does.... he says he uses Trailboss but that's another hard to find powder it seems.

Trail Boss is currently available at Powder Valley. All sizes. But then you have the haz-mat fee, but you could always buy a case of 1#ers and sell some off to make it worth your while?

IMR Trail Boss

 

[jrd541280]

As oremike refered to, the 45 colt comes in many platforms. What are you shooting? Would love to help you out with some loads but hesitant to due to the fact that some loads that are acceptible in some 45's, could possibly destroy others, causing serious injury.
I like this thread though, keep it going. Maybe we can share some loads , and at the same time educate others about reloading safety.

 

[Bon Sauvage]

Take the plunge someday friend, and give FFFg a try.

 

[pinne65]

Trail Boss is currently available at Powder Valley. All sizes. But then you have the haz-mat fee, but you could always buy a case of 1#ers and sell some off to make it worth your while?

IMR Trail Boss

I'll keep trail boss in mind for when I run out of Unique. Or I might just take a peek at Bimart / Sportsmans tmorrow.

As oremike refered to, the 45 colt comes in many platforms. What are you shooting? Would love to help you out with some loads but hesitant to due to the fact that some loads that are acceptible in some 45's, could possibly destroy others, causing serious injury.
I like this thread though, keep it going. Maybe we can share some loads , and at the same time educate others about reloading safety.

No worries i shoot my 45s through a Ruger Super Redhawk. It's built like a tank. I'm thinking that I might have overfilled 45 plinking loads a couple of times. But besides unexpected way heavy recoil there has never been any problems.

This is the other extreme for your amusement:

 

[AMProducts]

Looks like you're using a 200 or 250RNFP.

Titegroup, Clays, W231/HP-38 in that order. Skip trailboss, it's a waste of time and money, it's expensive and you only get 14oz per jar (that's all that fits). I really have yet to see any circumstances where trailboss does anything better than any of the other powders out there, dealing with cowboy ammo for so many years, I've seen and been asked to use tons of the stuff and I've come away with a pretty sincere distaste for it. For a 200gr, RNFP, go with about 5-5.5gr of Titegroup, it's a pretty mild load and has always performed well, Clays is about the same, but with the higher case volume it doesn't always burn as clean as TG does, again, you're in the 5-5.5 grs range. W231 is a bit hotter, but you're going to need to be in the 6-6.5gr range to get decent performance.

It's worth noting, none of these are going to fill the case to your 55% mark, but they are all safe ranges and have a long history in the production of factory ammo in this caliber.

As usual, these are all mousefart rounds the SASS shooters like. if you want something with a bit more punch you should be looking to HS-6 or Bluedot. Unique is going to really be too slow to work well unless you're shooting it in a rifle. Oddly, I use Unique to load 45-70 on occasion. Works quite well actually, probably better than it would in .45 Colt.