Cleanest powder for handloading 45acp?

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jeepmor

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All,

I've used Unique and Bullseye. The Unique is quite a bit cleaner than the Bullseye, and builds a residue on the firearm, but does not come off easily when brushed against clothing or what not. Whereas the Bullseye leaves sort of carbon dusting like pencil lead dust behind and comes off on contact. I don't like the Bullseye as as much due to the carbon residue seems to cling to anything it touches. Gun gets as dirty, but compared to Unique, it is not as clean to handle when shot a lot.

Also, using a Taurus PT145 (3" bbl) I found that the target shooting loads for bullseye powder in the Speer manual to be a little weak for my slide spring shooting 200gr RNFP leadcast bullets from Oregon Trail. I loaded them right in the middle of the specs stated for Bullseye. I had one FTE on the last round of a magazine while friend was shooting it, I did not experience this issue, but did have weak ejections from the breech. Watching a friend shoot it, you saw the brass barely made it out of the action, often falling right at your feet, not 4-10 feet to the side as is typical with the non-target loads. The others I loaded at the higher specs worked just fine, 100%. Just sharing this info as a learning tidbit for those with the short barreled pistols.

Also, are any of the clean burning powders and primers available for handloaders? That CCI stuff is ultraclean, what powder is that?

What about Speer? I got a bunch of once fired to reload, and the Speer casings were the cleanest inside with almost no powder residue, anyone know what powder this is? Is it available to the handloader?


Many thanks,
jeepmor
 
CLAYS

Try Hodgdons Clays.
HSMITH recommends it and he is right.
If you do a search you'll find lots of answers.
 
I found Unique doesn't leave much reside , but sure seems to smoke alot. Anyone try Titegroup?
 
Thanks again

yet another post offering me answers and proper direction in less than an hour or so. Thanks again folks, you're all so kind.

jeepmor
 
V310 is probably cleanest, most expensive and occ. hard to find, Clays is next and has a nice recoil feel w target loads, then Titegroup which runs kind of hot but stays pretty clean, also cheap but you need a bit more for equivalent power so the price works out about the same as Clays or BE.
/Bryan
 
Jeep;

You might wish to try 700X. I've found it to be clean & accurate. However, since it's a very fast powder, it doesn't fill the case. In other words a double charge won't overflow, just a note of caution not a hard knock on it.

900F
 
I've only shot AA#5, W231, Bullseye and Titegroup out of my .45. The Titegroup has been the cleanest for me. (FWIW) So far the AA#5 has been the most accurate but I think that's operater error as much as anything. :) The nice thing about the Titegroup is that I use it for my light target loads in the S&W .500 and I like to have a single powder do multiple things.

Regards,
Dave
 
I use Greendot for my 185grs XTP and W 231 for my 230 gr ball and both seen to shoot without to much fouling in my M1911 and my USP Tactical.
 
Shooting lead, the majority of the gunk is from the bullet lube; a change in powder won't make a significant difference.

I use WST and plated bullets for fun loads. Super clean; comparable to VV320, only less expensive and easier to get..
 
I 've used Unique but 231 is the one I always go back to. Heck, if it was good enough for Ross Seyfreid and The Bushmaster uses it too it's got to be good! A couple of older friends use 700X and Green Dot and swear by those too.
 
I've used Unique with my FMJ rounds for about 2 years. Seems VERY clean to me.

Yesterday, I shot my first bunch of LRN handloads. If I hadn't known the mess was from the bullet lube, I would've said Unique was the smokiest, nastiest powder around.
 
Clays is great for slow target loads, universal for hot loads. Both are very clean. JDGray
 
Agree. I used 231 for many years in my 1911; it's a great powder. I now use Clays, due to its somewhat softer recoil. It is also extremely clean. I've been playing around with Titegroup. I like the way it shoots, but it's quite dirty. On the other hand, you DO clean your gun (don't you??!?!) and therefore the cleanliness of the powder is, at best, a secondary consideration.

If you really want CLEAN, buy some of that Winchester WinClean ammo. I don't know what they use in those things, but the fired cases look....unfired! Trade secret, I suppose, since no Winchester canister powder I know will do that.
 
Yes, I clean my pistol

I clean my pistol almost immediately after every shooting session. It's just that I plan to be on vacation soon and will likely not make time to clean it thoroughly for a week or two, but I anticipate shooting over 500 rounds on this trip. Actually, I'm going to make a point to. I just want to look into an overall clean powder that makes cleaning the firearm less of a chore (not that it's much of one mind you) and also make my reloading brass a bit cleaner.

I know the CCI aluminum case stuff burns real clean, the spent cases do look new, but can't reload those. Also, my speer once fired cases look very clean that I got from gunbroker.com. This just turns into less overall labor for me reloading.

I have lots to go on here and it's a great place to start, thanks folks. If anyone knows where to find that winclean, speer, or cci powder, please holler, that stuff burns very clean.

I did not realize how much of my gunk buildup was the bullet lube. I'll have to load some JHPs with my Bullseye powder and give it a whirl to see if it was all lube, or a bit of both. Regardless of it's cleanliness, I have almost a pound of it to go through now and I'm almost out of Unique.

jeepmor
 
My preferred powders for .45 acp.
1. Power pistol (I buy it in the largest quantities, very versatile.)
2. Unique (Most accurate in .45!, very versatile.)
3. Clays (Clean, least recoil, uses very little powder.)
4. WSF (Very versatile, very accurate, use less powder than HS-6, limited load data.)
5. HS-6 (Very versatile, very accurate.)

So my recommendation for you would be clays.
 
Jeepmor...When you go on vacation just take the cleaning rod and the patch jag and some patches with you. At the end of the day and during the day run a patch or two and call it good. I would recommend that you take a lightly oiled cotton ("T" shirt material) rag and wipe the handgun down at the end of every day. You can store the rag in a zip-lok bag. This routine is what I use on those 10 day hunting trips to the mountains and it has served me well...And I hunt in the Northwest where it rains...:)
 
A question for all y'all that love Clays - how does it chrono out against HS6 or AA#5 or PowerPistol? My manuals show Clays as being quite anemic in velocity when compared to other powders....
 
There's no doubt you can eek more velocity out of powders that specialize in that sort of thing.
Clays has some definate downfalls, but in stout guns in the .45 caliber, it burns clean, uses less powder, and recoils less than most.
It's hard on guns, no doubt.
If you want max FPS, I'd recommend stuff in the slower range like power pistol, unique, HS-6, WSF, etc.
Once you get too slow (Like blue dot, etc.) you have other problems, like inconsistant ignition, crappy burn, and you're basically just wasting powder.
 
I use Titegroup for my .45 and am very happy with it. I also like to use as few different powders as possible. I use Titegroup for my 45, 40 and light 500 S&W loads.
 
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