You made me pull out my load data.
Unless stated otherwise, all the numbers below were with Xtreme 200gn RN bullets.
Power Pistol was the first powder I tried in 45acp, since it was the powder that I had already been using in 9 and 40 with much success. I was disappointed with it in 45. I started with Xtreme 200 RN, seated to 1.260, and worked from 6.3 to 7.0gn of powder. I will add that I was using small primers for this test, and that may have had some affect on the results. It was not burning well at all, lots of unburned powder in the barrel, and just over 700fps at 7.0gn. Alliant's data shows a max charge of 8.3, for a Gold Dot 200gn seated to 1.200", but I never tried going any higher in charge. I had many people tell me that PP likes to be at the upper end of the charge range in 45acp.
I think 4.6gn is a good starting point for Bullseye, I had the best results at 5.0gn. I went as high as 5.4gn and got very consistent velocity, averaging 840fps.
HP38 - 5.2gn was my starting point, but it would not cycle my gun, and my gun (Witness steel frame 45, 4.5" barrel) likes soft loads. I seemed to get better results if I seated the bullets shorter, or worked up higher in charge, to about 5.8gn.
700x is a powder that worked very well for me, I just wish it would meter a little better. My favorite load with it was 5.0gn, which gave about 770fps.
I only did one load workup with Unique. I think your starting load of 5.8gn is a good point to start. My starting point was 6.4gn, where I got 852fps, so I think starting lower is a good idea.
BE86 is one of my favorite powders overall, and works well enough in 45acp. I got good standard deviations with it even at the lower charges, but it is dirty at the lower charges. My tests were with RMR plated 200s, that look and act just like Xtreme 200 RN for me. I went from 6.1 to 6.7gn, with a variety of primers (small pistol, small pistol magnum, small rifle, and large pistol) and 6.5 was my favorite number. FWIW, I did a comparison of primers at a charge of 6.3gn. I got the following:
Winchester large = 732fps, 13.3sd
Winchester small = 691fps, 12.5sd
Rem 6.5 = 712fps, 9.8sd.
CFE pistol I did not do a normal range of testing, but I found a good load at 7.2gn that gave 746fps. I had the bullets seated at 1.225" for this test.
I never tried Longshot.
A lot of the loads that I worked up in 45 were in my early days of reloading, and my methods have improved some since then. I did not do accuracy testing early on, and had just started using a chrono, so some of my workups were somewhat abbreviated and less thorough than what I like to do now. As standard procedure now, I do all my 45acp load workups with large primers (I don't care what anyone says, I have seen cases where it makes a huge difference). If I find a load I like, I then try it with small magnum primers, as I have found those to be closer to large primers in performance as compared to regular small primers.
I thought I would share this info with you for whatever it is worth. Your results are likely to vary from mine, and I am much interested to see your results.
