Looking for a cleaner powder for 45 auto

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I use W231 with lead, plated and unique with JHP. The Unique burns very clean, but the load is at the upper end of the load data so pressure is on the upper end of the spectrum. My 231 with lead is a bit smokey (probably the lube) but I have not found it to be all that dirty.
 
I never found W231 to be dirty so I'm not sure what is going with that. It is possible some are mistaking the soot that comes from the lube with a dirty powder.

If you really think it's the powder that's dirty shoot the same powder with a jacketed bullet and see if the "dirt" goes away. You will find most times it;s the lube on the lead bullets that's the problem, not the powder at all.
I'm using rainier plated bullets, .451 diameter. I don't believe they have any sort of lube on them.
 
bds said:
If your load is sooty, you may consider bumping up the powder charge for cleaner burn. While plated bullet manufacturers suggest we use lead load data, they come in different sizing.

HSM, Rainier and PowerBond plated bullets are sized at .451", same as jacketed bullet diameter and Berry's plated bullets are advertised larger at .452". X-Treme plated bullets come sized in .451" and .452". IME, depending on the bullet and pistol/barrel used, I needed to use higher powder charges to produce more accurate and cleaner burning loads. YMMV
this charge ... results in the occasional FTE.
As I posted already, if you can't get reliable slide cycling/extraction with your load, you need to increase the powder charge. You may be getting too much high pressure gas leakage around the .451" sized bullet and decreasing the chamber pressure and getting less clean powder burn. What is the groove diameter of your barrel?

If you want to stay with W231, then you may want to try Berry's/X-Treme plated bullets sized at .452". IME, I have had good experience with these two bullets and they seem to have thicker plating than Rainier and can be driven faster without deterioration of accuracy. YMMV

If you want to stay with the Rainier plated bullets sized at .451", try increasing the powder charge or try faster burning Bullseye/Promo/Red Dot/Clays/WST.
 
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I've used a few pounds of N320 over the years loading 45 ACP and others. It is very clean, as are the other VV powders I've tried. I'm about out of a 4lb jug I bought years ago and started looking for a less expensive, easier to find on the shelf powder. I tried Universal and am not looking back. I not only worked up some good, accurate loads with 200gn plated bullets but Universal is actually cleaner than N320. I would never have believed in a cleaner powder than N320 until I saw it for myself. I have some really accurate, clean burning loads for it in 45 Colt and mid-range 357 Magnum too.
 
I use AA#2 for .45ACP blasting ammo with lead bullets and and AA#5 for plated or jacketed bullets.Both burn very clean with a fairly stiff load and a firm taper crimp. AA#2 is ,by far, the most economical powder you can use.
 
Most powders appear to be "dirtier" in lower pressure loads. Are you getting "soot" on the cases themselves? I had trouble with the dirty thing with Bullseye til I bumped up the load a little. It got considerably "cleaner" then, because it was burning more completely.
 
As I posted already, if you can't get reliable slide cycling/extraction with your load, you need to increase the powder charge. You may be getting too much high pressure gas leakage around the .451" sized bullet and decreasing the chamber pressure and getting less clean powder burn. What is the groove diameter of your barrel?
I increased the charge to 5.6 gn and it has cleaned up quite a bit. The brass is coming out much cleaner. There is still soot build on the end of the gun but it is minimal compared to before and more typical of what I'm used to seeing out of factory loads. The color of the soot is a little different, almost brownish, but I believe that observation is due to paying attention to things I never did before reloading.
As far as groove diameter it measures in just between .4505 and .451.
Most of my readings show .4505 and I have to hold my head just right to see .451. using a set of digital calipers.
 
JRWhit said:
45 acp with win 231. I like the reliability and accuracy but it is very sooty. Mostly on the end of the slide. I'm loading 200 gn copper plated bullets with 5.2 gn 231.

increased the charge to 5.6 gn and it has cleaned up quite a bit. The brass is coming out much cleaner. There is still soot build on the end of the gun but it is minimal compared to before and more typical of what I'm used to seeing out of factory loads.
What a difference .4 gr of powder makes! I love happy endings :D

And 5.6 gr of W231/HP-38 is lead load data max as expressed by Rainier Ballistics for us to use - http://www.rainierballistics.com/faq.php
200 gr LSWC W231/HP-38 Diameter .451" OAL 1.225" Start 4.4 gr (771 fps) 11,000 CUP - Max 5.6 gr (914 fps) 16,900 CUP
200 gr Speer JHP W231/HP-38 Diameter .451" OAL 1.155" Start 5.2 gr (794 fps) 12,700 CUP - Max 5.9 gr (906 fps) 16,700 CUP
Q. What if I can't find load data for your bullets?

A. If you have a load for a cast lead bullet, that will transfer across the board as far as our bullets go. We recommend a starting powder charge directly between the listed minimum and maximum load.
 
I was the first guy I know of to use VV powders.. back when you had to order them through Vince at Kalton Pettibone to even get them...
Another vote for the VihtaVuori powders. Been using the stuff over 15 years. I became familiar with it when I was shooting at Kelbly's Range and the powders were the powder at the time for the benchrest shooters. George Kelbly was getting the stuff from Kalton Pettibone and selling large lots to me at a great price and I was stocking the stuff in my shop.

For my .45 ACP and 44 Magnum loads I used the N320 and N340. Really clean burning stuff.

Ron
 
kinda funny the first two replies are a from a couple of board n00bs saying the same powder (well, more or less)

So? I first discovered internet forums in the late '90s. Had well over two decades of handloading under my belt by then.
 
I used Vihta Vouri powders since they first became available in the US. They just got too expensive for me. About 10 or 12 years ago I made the switch to Ramshot powders for all of my handgun loads. ZIP for .45 ACP and .38 Special Target loads, True Blue in anything, Silhouette (treated for flash) for high pressure auto cartridges as well as +P performance without +P pressure in .45 ACP and .38 Special and Enforcer for magnum handgun. These are all spherical powders with True Blue being a true ball powder. They all meter exceptionally well and about the most competitively priced powders available. ;)
 
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