Need powder suggestions for 45 Colt

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TBOATS

TBOATS

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Looking to see what is the best powder to use in 45 Colt, need like to keep it under 850 FPS muzzle velocity for cowboy shooting. I figure it’s going to be cheaper to reload than buy nowadays. I thank you all in advance for your expertise and knowledge since I have just started reloading and have only used titegroup . I need more powder suggestions due to the shortage of powders available on the shelves. Again Thanks for everything.
 
I have three .45 Colt's, two Italian replica 1873 revolvers and one Henry rifle. All REALLY like 8.0-8.5gr Unique with a 250gr coated rnfp bullet. Another very good load is 7.2gr Universal with same bullet. It's a pretty easy round to load for. Need more info, ask away. This is a good place for loading help.
 
Trail Boss is exactly what is called for here. For practical purposes, it no longer exists.

Unique is the next best choice, as far as I am concerned. Finding it will be a bit easier than finding Trail Boss, but that's not saying much.

I was able to get myself a jug of 700x recently. It does what I want (and what the OP wants) well enough, though it is fast enough that I can blow myself to hell if I'm not careful with it.

At this difficult moment in time, I suggest the new handloader take a look at the burn rate charts and select a few powders similar to Unique, both faster and slower. I then would make a daily search of the online retailers and immediately jump on those which have any of the selected powders in stock.
 
As you see there are many powders that will do well in the 45 Colt. I used to use nothing but W231/HP-38 and still like it but for the past 2 years I switched over to HS-6 and I really like that powder in the 45 Colt. Accuracy is great but remember to use a magnum primer for the best results. I didn't think a medium slow powder would do well in that cartridge but it really does. If you have some give it a try.

If not try W231. I charge between 7.0 and 7.2gr W231 under a 250/255gr cast bullet. Most times I load a 255gr SWC bullet from Missouri Bullets.
 
Herco is My favorite. Unique too.
Also have used W231, Titegroup, TrueBlue and N340
All were under 250-255 grain cast or Exteme FP

The Herco at 8 gr under a 250 gr projectile is My go to load.
 
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Bullseye would be another fast powder for target loads if you can find it. I like the faster powders as a pound goes a long way.
 
I was about to mention Bullseye and Red Dot. I4227 is on the slow side, but my New Vaquero sure likes it, 15.5 gr, under 250 rnfp.
 
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Lots of different powders. You did not mention what gun you are reloading just the caliber. I reload for a Ruger Blackhawk and use AA 2400 or IMR 4227 with excellent results.
 
DukeConnor said:
Lots of choices. I use red dot.
Click to expand...

Actually, TiteGroup isn't that bad, but I don't like that hot burning powder with plain base cast bullets. Unique would be my first choice... but I have about 10# of it setting on the bench... and Universal, which I have never used, but I understand it's a reasonable equivalent to Unique.

I have used RedDot... it actually works very well in the .45's. I shot some yesterday... in .45ACP... under a 200grn plated bullet, but I have used RedDot in the .45 Colt, too.

For what the OP wants, I wouldn't really go any slower than Unique/Universal. I would not recommend IMR4227/2400/H110/AA5744 for low velocity Cowboy loads; that is not to say they are not useful in .45 Colt... just not at the velocity the OP wants.
 
The old standby is Unique, and you can see from the number of posters recommending it, it is a good choice. The standard load is a 250 to 255 lead with 8.5 to 9.0 grains. That shoots to point of impact in all my fixed sight 45 LC revolvers.

I will give an honorable mention to W231, and I have a keg of AA #5, so I developed loads with that. It is a ball powder, the little powder balls clog up the powder bar on my Dillion 550. Other than that, it shoots well.

While Bullseye will shoot well, I would stay away from it, and Titegroup, as it is real easy to double charge Bullseye/Titegroup in this case. I tried Universal and it did not cluster as well as Unique. I am not impressed with it.

Check the throat diameters of your pistol. If they are larger, say 0.454 and up, your pistol will never shoot well with 0.452 cast lead bullets. It will shoot acceptably well with 0.452 JHP. Since I found commercial cast 0.454 bullets, that is what have been using in all my 45 LC pistols. I have included data which shows you cut Unique down to 8.0 grains, it still shoots well. Something else, this pistol has 0.452 cylinder chambers and yet 0.454 lead bullets make little to no difference in velocity, or in point of impact. Which is good.

Code: 
 M625-9 Mountain Gun 4" Barrel

250 JHP 8.5 grs Unique thrown, W-W cases, WLP primers
18-Mar-07 T = 55 °F V, accurate
Ave Vel = 830
Std Dev = 30
ES= 103.5
High= 893.4
Low= 789.8
Number Shots= 12

255 LSWC (.452") 8.0 grs Unique thrown, lot 6/21/1993Starline cases, WLP primers
25-Mar-07 T = 80 °F accurate
Ave Vel = 800
Std Dev = 30
ES 99.02
High 847.2
Low 748.1
Number Shots 11


250 LRN (.452") Valiant 8.0 grs Unique lot 6/21/1993 thrown, R-P cases, WLP primers
25-Mar 07 T = 80°F accurate
Ave Vel = 814
Std Dev = 24
ES 72.81
High 847
Low 774.2
Number Shots 11


250 LRN (.454") Valiant 8.5 grs Unique thrown lot 5471, 4/3/06, R-P cases, WLP primers


25-Mar-07 T = 80 °F accurate
Ave Vel = 891
Std Dev = 17
ES 61.31
High 921.1
Low 859.8
Number Shots 27

255 LSWC (.452") 8.0 grs Unique lot 6/21/1993 mixed cases WLP (nickel)

23-Sep-07 T = 82 °F

Ave Vel = 802.5
Std Dev = 31.03
ES = 123.5
High = 867.2
Low = 743.6
N = 12

250 LSWC (.452") 10.5 grs AA#5 lot 12599 mixed cases WLP (nickel)

23-Sep-07 T = 82 °F

Ave Vel = 875.1
Std Dev = 19.36
ES = 62.64
High = 905.7
Low = 843
N = 12

250 LSWC (.452") 10.5 grs AA#5 lot 12599 mixed cases Wolf NCLP

23-Sep-07 T = 82 °F

Ave Vel = 826.2
Std Dev = 20.14
ES = 63.38
High = 862.1
Low = 798.7
N = 12



6uETjKS.jpg
 
TBOATS said:
I need more powder suggestions due to the shortage of powders available on the shelves
Click to expand...
I see a few other folks have tagged onto the points I was going to make so let me just re-enforce a few:
A - really, REALLY!! need to know what you are loading for - rifle or handgun, barrel length and action.
B - once the type/action/barrel is known, I'm only going to suggest powders that are actually available at the present time. Yes, Unique and Red Dot are great powders for close-range work with a short-barreled revolver but they're missing in action and unobtainium for now. Trail Boss may be gone for years. True black is sweet and I really like it but it's hit-or-miss finding good black these days.
TBOATS said:
like to keep it under 850 FPS muzzle velocity for cowboy shooting
Click to expand...
C - get what you can and make it work. Anything faster than IMR 4227 and slower than Nitro 100 will work in a .45Colt and deliver CAS velocities. The real question is, will it do what you want the way you want it?
Your best bets that are actually available are Accurate No.5, W231/HP38, or VV N320. Personally, if I didn't already have powder, I'd look hard and long at N320. It's got a pretty good reputation for burning clean and being very easy to work with.
 
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I am using Titegroup for my 45 colt revolver loads with good results. Titegroup has a reputation for not being position sensitive which seems like an important attribute given the size of the 45 colt case.
 
The best you can get is probably more realistic... in cowboy shooting a powder that is position insensitive at low volumes is probably your best bet and reducing your case volume can help. High volume cheap powders like promo and the cbi powder will keep costs down.
 
Clean Shot/AA2, Auto Pistol/AA5, TG, Trail Boss, and you already use TG, Unique. These all work great, with TG and AA2 being the least case position sensitive. If you are using a measure, lean towards the AA powders (they meter like water), if you are manually measuring, they all work equally as well. Also with TG, and AA2, a little goes a long long way. A lb will last you darn near twice as long. Clean Shot is basically AA2 (the old AA2 before Western switched to General Dynamics from Explosia/Lovex). Same with Auto Pistol, the pre AA5 before the switch. Clean Shot and Auto Pistol cost half as much. For my subsonic 45 Colt, I exclusively use Clean Shot now, it's clean and consistent and gives fantastic results.
 
I’ve used AA2, AA5, and AA7 in 45 Colt loads under 200-255 grn cast lead with good results. And they’ve been available in my local shop (either AA5 or AA7 was out last time I went in but they had plenty of AA2). You May have to create a list and see what’s in stock.
 
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