wally
Member
Since Unique which I've used 30+ years has been very hard to find, I decided I'd save what I have left for 9mm & .40S&W loads and switch to AA No. 5 for my .45ACP loads.
I've loaded 6.0gr Unique, any case, any primer, any bullet 185gr to 230gr (although the 185 gr were on the light side). I choose AA No.5 because it was available at good prices and the starting loads for 200gr & 230gr cast and jacketed bullets were all the same at 7.8gr.
So I loaded up some 200gr hard cast SWC, 230gr hard cast 230gr RN, 230gr Berry's plated, and Zero 230gr FMJ at OAL 1.230"
Tested them in four pistols, the OAL is as long as will fit in my shortest mag (either Glock 21 or Para P14, I forget which caused me to reduce it from 1.250" years ago). When making component changes like this, what I generally do is mix a mag or two alternating old and new loads. If function is fine, and recoil is not noticeably different, I'll call it good.
Well these AA No.5 "minimum" loads were all clearly hotter with all four bullet types in all four pistols than the Unique loads I've been shooting for years! Last time I chrono'd the Unique loads the 200gr were running about 925fps and the 230gr about 850fps.
I dropped down from 7.8gr to 7.3grs with the AA No.5 for the next batch and these felt indistinguishable from my old Unique loads with all for bullet types, qualitatively there was less smoke and perhaps a bit more flash with the AA powder.
I've since shot several hundred of these with great success, so now I'm standardizing on a "below minimum" load of 7.3gr of AA No. 5 as I can't argue with the results.
I've loaded 6.0gr Unique, any case, any primer, any bullet 185gr to 230gr (although the 185 gr were on the light side). I choose AA No.5 because it was available at good prices and the starting loads for 200gr & 230gr cast and jacketed bullets were all the same at 7.8gr.
So I loaded up some 200gr hard cast SWC, 230gr hard cast 230gr RN, 230gr Berry's plated, and Zero 230gr FMJ at OAL 1.230"
Tested them in four pistols, the OAL is as long as will fit in my shortest mag (either Glock 21 or Para P14, I forget which caused me to reduce it from 1.250" years ago). When making component changes like this, what I generally do is mix a mag or two alternating old and new loads. If function is fine, and recoil is not noticeably different, I'll call it good.
Well these AA No.5 "minimum" loads were all clearly hotter with all four bullet types in all four pistols than the Unique loads I've been shooting for years! Last time I chrono'd the Unique loads the 200gr were running about 925fps and the 230gr about 850fps.
I dropped down from 7.8gr to 7.3grs with the AA No.5 for the next batch and these felt indistinguishable from my old Unique loads with all for bullet types, qualitatively there was less smoke and perhaps a bit more flash with the AA powder.
I've since shot several hundred of these with great success, so now I'm standardizing on a "below minimum" load of 7.3gr of AA No. 5 as I can't argue with the results.