favorite 45 acp powder

so I had to pull 50 or so 45 bullets the other day because of a boneheaded move I made loading later in the evening than i should have been, and ended up with a couple double charges and no way to definitively tell exactly how many or which ones they were. Thank heavens I caught my mistake but not before a few rounds ended up in the acro bin with a couple hundred others. I narrowed it down quite a bit by weight, and had a couple that were obviously double charged, but there was enough of a weight variation that i had to cull a lot more of them.
Anyway, a wise man once told me to use powders and charge weights that would fill at least half the case of what ever i was loading. That way it would over flow the top of the case and make a double charge obvious, to avoid this scenario. In almost all my cartridges I do just that. It has saved my back side before. But with 45 acp, (and 45 colt) the powders I like don't take up enough space.
Is there a magic powder that burns fast enough for the 45 ACP, and is fluffy enough to take up that much space in the case, and still cycle a 1911 with a heavy recoil spring, and meters accurately on a progressive? I like trailboss a lot, but havent seen any in my local stores since before the last panic, and have never tried it in 45 ACP.
so whats your favorite powder for 45 ACP that meets these criteria?

Walkalong said:

A double charge of Unique won't fit. Probably others, and some that will fit will be so full it is obvious. You do look at each charge you seat a bullet over, correct?

Click to expand...

yeah, but it was late, I was tired, and i should never have been loading in that state. this particular charge is really hard to see, as its so far down in, and it was not obvious enough for me that they were double charged.

Ole Joe Clark said:

You just stated the reason you double charged cases. "It was late, I was tired, etc." Doesn't matter which powder you use, (I use Unique for 45's), you MUST look at the powder charge before you seat the bullet. Since I am just getting started with 45's, I load using my Lee Classic Turret as a single stage. I charge powder away from the press, and look in each hull after dropping powder and before seating a bullet. I also weigh random samples after charging. It only takes one double charge........

I've been reloading other pistol and rifle cartridges since the mid 1970's, but I am still cautious.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

Click to expand...

well you see, it does matter which powder. I WAS looking. If the cases had over flowed, I would have caught it sooner. It would have Been OBVIOUS. With this powder, it was not obvious. It was easy to miss, because even with the double charges, it didnt even come close to the top of the case, and truthfully i am not good at judging the levels when the difference isnt profound. I fully recognise the importance of looking. I am not making excuses, but mistakes can happen, sometimes people miss things, I am not perfect, but congratuate you on achieving a level of attention and focus beyond my apparent abilities. I load on a progressive and taking each case off the press to drop a powder charge isnt practical for me and defeats the purpose of using a progressive press. What I am looking for is a way to add an extra level of safety to my reloading practice, and that is not a bad thing.

I appreciate the responses, I will check out bullseye and 231. I havent ever used them before.

MDof2 said:

I'd recommend you'd change your workflow as no powder change will resolve any of the above issues.

Click to expand...

pretty sure i have adressed that....