My phone call to Berry's reloading specialist provided me with the following information regarding the use of their plated bullets -
* keep them under 1200 fps - not typically an issue for .45 Auto
* If you can't find any info specifically for Berry's Plated Bullets from a reloading manual, use the info for Speer Gold Dots - they nearly identical.
He recommended that I use either Bullseye or 700X for the powder. I used 700X, because it was what was available to me at the time, and I'm still using it:
My favorite load for all around shooting is 4.3gr. of 700X, and I was using new pre-primed Remington cases. I loaded out 10 of each of 4.0, 4.4, 4.6, & 4.8. The 4.8 seemed a little hotter than I liked - the people at the NRA range packed up their stuff and left, because it was rattling the stall walls, and it was shooting a fairly sizeable fireball from the muzzle.
I felt comfortable with the 4.6 - not as hot, but the accuracy wasn't the greatest in my 1911A1 either.
When I hit 4.4, the group was tight enough for me, and the seat of the pants chrony told me it "felt right". The group size was around 1" for a five shot string, at 10 yards, and I wasn't trying for accuracy, just testing the function and fit of my first .45 Auto rounds.
The 4.2 grains cycled the slide, and I had one FTE, where the case stovepiped in the ejection port.
I then loaded 50 of them out to 4.3-4.4 grains (I was trying hard to get 4.3 consistently, but the Uni Powder Measure just wouldn't do it), and thats what I have been using for the last 3 weeks, loading about 500 rounds.
Hope the info helps.
-tc