Recommendations for 45 caliber pistol powder for 1911?

[ma96782]

Using various powders.....run some tests.

You might just find that.....
Some have a great/greater amount of flash
Some are more dirty (plenty of unburnt flakes every where)
Some are sensitive (cold/hot temps)

Not even talking about the metering issue or velocity issues or costs of a pound vs another brand.
Maybe you'll see it or maybe not. Maybe it matters or maybe not.

I like BE. But that's me.

Yeah..... I didn't even mention availability of that powder.

Back to square one.

Aloha, Mark

 

[edzz]

I never loaded as few as 5 grains. I have heard of many 8.0-8.5 loads. Amazing that Unique debuted in 1912. Back in the 70s, I fired Detonics prototype #4 with 230 hardball over 9.0 Unique. But, the gun was being shot by Sid Woodcock, Detonics president, who was testing a front sight attachment method for durability. He very kindly offered me a few rounds through it and I readily agreed. Very snappy, but not uncontrollable. And the front sight, mounted with a single 4-40 socket head screw, stayed put.

For most all revolver loads, .357 and up, I love H110 and W296.

FWIW that 9.0 / Unique / 230 fmj sounds like a homemade proof load, not something I would suggest in most 45acp brass. Sid knew what he was playing with and the inherent risk, mind you he was also known to enjoy blowing things up.

Saw a few slides kicking around the shop with sheared off front sight screws, part of the reason for going to the integrated front sight.

Sid was one of the best story tellers I've ever known, have always believed most of his tall tails were closer to the truth than most would believe. Very interesting man. RIP Sid, may Valhalla treat you well.

 

[P7M13]

Used to shoot Titegroup, found I liked W231 much more under 200 & 230 gr Jacketed HP.
Tried AA#2, and it was a snappy round (and inaccurate in my hands).

 

[Knebel]

I really like longshot. However, I just loaded 1500rds with 700x..... because thats what I had.

 

[Alexx1401]

First cartridge I ever started to roll .45. Started with W231 back in the 70's. Tried many others as years went on. Just kept going back to W231. Now of course if you do not have powder right now the nice thing is for the round you want to roll a LOT of different ones work fine. Even some shotgun powders work. So work with what you can buy right now. Assuming you want to make some rounds for "fun"? If so there is a hell of a lot of choices that will work great.

 

[oremike]

All the powders mentioned are good, 45 acp is a very forgiving cartridge to load for. One powder I didn't see mentioned before is IMR Target. On the burn rate chart you'll find it right between Bullseye and Titegroup.

 

[aasbra]

I've been using Clays with a 200 gr coated SWC. I mostly use SPP brass for convenience - no need to swap priming system to large on the Dillon 650 that I generally run SPP on. Have also used HP-38. Both for range plinking/steel plates.

 

[red442joe]

Herco is Not a good 45ACP powder.

Joe

 

[po18guy]

FWIW that 9.0 / Unique / 230 fmj sounds like a homemade proof load, not something I would suggest in most 45acp brass. Sid knew what he was playing with and the inherent risk, mind you he was also known to enjoy blowing things up.

Saw a few slides kicking around the shop with sheared off front sight screws, part of the reason for going to the integrated front sight.

Sid was one of the best story tellers I've ever known, have always believed most of his tall tails were closer to the truth than most would believe. Very interesting man. RIP Sid, may Valhalla treat you well.

The shooting realm is chock full of certified characters. Sid certainly stood out among them.

 

[Twodogs]

I have ran many thousands of rounds of w-231 with a 230 gr hardball, just picked up a Glock 21 to shoot suppressed and need to find a better powder for it, have titegroup so that will be my first try.

 

[JuglansRegia]

W231 for target loads and CFE pistol for hotter loads, they both meter real nice too

 

[mr.revolverguy]

 

[orygun]

I've used Bullseye, Unique, WW231 and Bluedot in 45 loads.
Bluedot will get things moving along pretty quickly, but Unique holds it's own, velocity wise. Both are pretty dirty, but I'm a bit lazy and a dirty gun makes me want to clean it more often.
Unique is probably my favorite for the 45ACP.

 

[padraig]

For 230 gr FMJ, try4.6 gr 700x. Chronos at 850 avg. Nice load.

 

[bpyycpyy]

I started with Unique years ago as it's an excellent all around powder for about every pistol caliber (except magnums) but found it to be extremely dirty and doesn't meter very well. I switched to Ramshot True Blue which also works for about every non-magnum pistol caliber and it meters very well. Usually Ramshot powders are among the less expensive options.

My load is 6.6 grains for 230 Grain round nose bullets. Have gone as high as 7.2 but the 6.6 grains is much nicer to shoot.

 

[Dozer99]

I started reloading right around the time that Winchester came out with Winchester Action Pistol powder. That was and has been my go to for .45 acp for years. 6.2 grains is just right behind a 230 grain lead round nose. Nice and snappy. Working on my last 8 lb keg.

Oh and Winchester Action Pistol is the same powder as Ramshot Silhouette.

 

[GWS]

Back in the 80s I only used Unique for .45ACP and 44 Magnum
In the 90s I switched to Clays for 45 and 40S&W

Now I'm back to Unique

 

[DLS]

Many powders work well in short stubby cases like the .45 ACP.

For me I typically go with WW231/HP-38 or Red Dot/Promo for 185 to 200 grain bullets.

For heavier bullets WW296/HP-110, HS-6 and Green Dot have given me good results. Blue Dot works too.

I know an earlier post says Herco is not good but I have had good luck with it too, but it's discontinued so there is no sense in messing with it unless you come across a large batch.

 

[oremike]

Many powders work well in short stubby cases like the .45 ACP.

For me I typically go with WW231/HP-38 or Red Dot/Promo for 185 to 200 grain bullets.

For heavier bullets WW296/HP-110, HS-6 and Green Dot have given me good results. Blue Dot works too.

I know an earlier post says Herco is not good but I have had good luck with it too, but it's discontinued so there is no sense in messing with it unless you come across a large batch.

I don't think 296/H-110 works in 45 acp, it's way to slow and requires much higher pressures than the 45acp generates to work right.

 

[Twodogs]

I just loaded up some 230 gr bullets with 4.5 grs of Titegroup, very happy with how they run through my suppressed Glock 21 cleaner and quieter then W-231.