favorite 45 acp powder

[DLrocket89]

Another vote for 231 here.

Edit - but the root cause was found/admitted. Being tired and not on your game. I'd not just focus on the powder, but improving your decision making on when to load and when not to. Powder type will affect what your doing for 45, but thinking on how to do it safer will affect ALL of your reloading. Just my $.02

 

[captain awesome]

thanks to many of you for the helpful responses. and @ above I agree. i will reiterate to a couple of you if you care, the point of this is specifically finding a powder i can use to add another layer of safety. and yeah, lesson was learned, and driven home many times over after wacking my bullet puller about the fiftieth time. no more loading if i would rather be sleeping.

on a side note, I dont know if this is documented here yet, but after getting tired of the stupid O ring and collet in my bullet puller, i thought, "what if i used the case holder for my lee auto prime?" turns out they fit perfectly in the RCBS kenetic puller, and they are way easier to use.
going to put that in the tips and tricks thread.

 

[rkammer]

Lots of good powders for the old 45 ACP....My last big batch was loaded with Red Dot....Why? Because it's what I had sitting around and my Kimber Eclipse shoots 230 grain loads using Red Dot very well. But Unique is usually the powder I use.....pretty much impossible to not notice a double charge of that........Many powders work great.......just gotta look at every powder charge along the way.....that's the second best way to avoid a double charge besides having the case overflow.

Heard many years ago that Red Dot is a shot gun powder but, it's been my favorite all these years. Meters well and shoots my 230gr FMJ very consistently.

 

[Walkalong]

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.

Both of you make good points, maybe a different powder would have caught your attention, maybe not. To look for one that fills better isn't a bad idea. AA #2 is lightly colored, W-231 is lightly colored, Competition is lightly colored, WST is lightly colored. IIRC, all should be bulky enough at the charge weights that will be used to see a double charge easily. I can do some checking when I am back in town.

I have been there done that when I felt I had gotten distracted for a second and wondered if I really looked into that last case or two. Not a good feeling. Lessons learned and all that.

All the helpful hints here are good advise, although when we make a mistake and share it the answers can seem unpleasant at times.

It's a good reminder for all of us.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

What bullet type and weight are you using for that?

230 gr FMJ with an OAL of 1.26

 

[Mr.Revolverguy]

For me and what I shoot W231 is the perfect powder.

 

[hdwhit]

Captain awesome asked:
...whats your favorite powder for 45 ACP...

For 45 ACP out of a 5 inch barrel, I've had very good luck with Blue Dot. A double charge won't overflow the case, but it will get close enough to be immediately noticeable.

 

[PO2Hammer]

Slower powders require heavier charges, heavier charges will be easier to inspect and will provide plenty of recoil. So maybe Universal might be worth looking into. It's got good bulk and is light in color. Meters great.

 

[1-12 INF (M)]

I have a shelf full of powders and have made up hundreds batches of test cartridges in several pistol calibers and find myself reaching for the Bullseye and WW231 (HP-38) most often.

 

[cfullgraf]

My main power for 45 ACP is 700-X. I have been using it since 1980. The key to good metering with flake powders like 700-X or Unique is to operate the powder measure the same way every charge.

My back up powder is AA#5. It meters better than 700-X, but the "poor" metering of 700-x does not seem to matter.

But, lots of other powders work well as well. I've also used Bullseye, W231 and Unique on occasions.

But, reloading when tired is not a good thing to do.

 

[Shimitup]

I don't know if anyone else does this but every once in a while I will purposely double charge the last case when I'm doing light target loads with fast powders just to remind me what it looks like and reassure me that I can indeed without a doubt spot a double charge. I then proceed to dump that last one, recharge and seat bullets as usual. My method for scanning is to pick up my loading block under a good light and tilt it away until I can just see the charge over the case rim scanning left to right row by row. Haven't blown a gun up yet, 40 years and counting.

 

[Doublehelix]

On my Dillon XL650 I use one of the RCBS lock-out dies to prevent overloading the cases. I know you can't use that in your LCT since you only have 4 holes, that is unless you seat and crimp in one station rather than two. I am not saying I recommend it (I don't do it), but I love having the 5th position on my XL650 so I have a way to check the powder level on each round. I also have great lights that shine down in the case, and check every round visually.

 

[1-12 INF (M)]

I forgot about AA #2 and AA #5 - that stuff measures like sugar.

 

[NWPilgrim]

According to the Nosler #7 manual which gives Volume% for each load, the following powders and their max charge volume for 230 gr bullet:
* Titegroup = 38%
* Bullseye = 46%
* HP38/W231 = 45%-48% [noted as their most accurate powder tested]
* Longshot = 50%
* AA5 = 51%
* HS-6 = 51%
* WST = 52%
* 700-X = 56%
* Unique = 60%

 

[bbqreloader]

BE-86