Powder Recommendation 45 acp

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appaws

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Hello...

I am shooting my first USPSA match this coming saturday after taking a "hands-on" basics class recently. I am just going to use some factory rounds to get my feet wet...of course I am not really concerned about doing that well, as a noob I just want to be safe and meet some people.

But I have been reloading for a while, just for my practice ammo. I am wondering what powder I should use (and how much) for a really light competition load to be shot in my XD-45.

Berry's 230 grain double struck plated bullets
Winchester LP Primers

I have been using Accurate #7 (9.9 grains) for my practice ammo, but what should I use for competition?
 
If you will enter in Production Division, light loads would be ok, everything is scored Minor there anyhow. If you wish to shoot in Limited, near full power is necessary for Major Power Factor.

Either way, I doubt you have time to work up a new load by Saturday, take your regular stuff you are familiar with and can count on.

When you get time to work with it, do you have any other pistol powder on hand? AA #7 is slow burning for midrange loads and something faster will be more consistent.
 
Thanks Jim, I guess I should have mentioned that I will be shooting in production. So, yeah I am looking for a light load.

I will use factory stuff this weekend. I am a beginner anyway, so I am not worried about being really good or anything. I want to be safe and accurate, I am going to go slow, slow.

Down the road though, I am just looking for maybe a powder recommendation to add to my reloading bench. I just bought a big bunch of the Berry's 230gr RN FMJ, so I figure on using those for a while. But powder is pretty inexpensive, so I wouldn't mind picking up a couple pounds.
 
Bullseye is the old standard for 45 loads. I have used 4.3 - 4.8 grains behind a 230 grain Berry's bullet for years.

With an OAL of 1.265, 4.8 grains is getting close to full power, but 4.3 to 4.5 grains gives you a nice shooting load that will still cycle most actions.
 
I have 231 for the last few years. I recently found clays. It burns cleaner, and recoils somewhat less. At this time try any powder you can use safely powder is hard to find here
 
I know i'm old but I use 4.5 gr. Bullseye with 225-230 gr. cast for all my plinkin stuff.
 
I am loading .45 Minor for IDPA ESP which is much the same thing as shooting a .45 in USPSA Production.

Bullseye, Clays, Solo 1000, and 700X shoot well, but the 700X is a large flake and does not meter well in the 3.5 grain range. When the measure is empty, I will go use the others that I have and when they are gone, will buy the one that I liked the best.

I even tried Trail Boss which burns quite well, but I don't know how well it would meter in the long run. It is kind of a specialty item, and expensive with it. I'll shoot what I have but not buy more.

I think N310 would be worth a look, if available to you, although rather expensive. Some of the Cowboy shooters, who tend towards tenderfoot loads, like American Select but I have not shot any.

W231 does not burn well in such light loads, nor do WST or AA #2.
Loading AA #7 to 600 fps would be a bust.


Your best approach would be to get one or another of the fast burning powders and work the load down until you had the lightest one that functioned the gun reliably. I think Clays (Plain Clays, not International Clays or Universal Clays.) would probably be as good as any, and is clean burning which seems important to a lot of shooters now.
 
Clays.

Just plain ol' Clays...

3.9g under a 230gr round always makes PF in my 5" 1911's and it is a very smooth shooting load.

Clays shoots very smoothly, and if making major PF is not needed, you can go lower than 3.9 for some sweet shooting loads. I've shot loads as low as 3.5.
 
Clays is very, very common for .45 shooters in my area. You pretty much have to run a max load of 4.2-4.3 gr. under a 200 gr. LSWC to get to 825 fps (that's the 165,000 power floor required for CDP class in IDPA), but it does work.

A couple of years back I switched to Alliant's "American Select" becasue the published data told me that I could get the velocity I wanted without running a maximum load. It worked very well and was quite accurate in my gun, so I haven't used anything else since then.

-Sam
 
Jim Watson,

Just curious as to your experience with Solo 1000 .45 ACP loads? Will be using this great, clean burning 12 gauge powder in .45 ACP in the future.

Don
 
Wsf , winchester super field is something you need to look at. 6.2 grs has given me outstanding accuracy with a 230 gr fmj bullet. Jp
 
Yup.
.45 ACP 5" Wilson barrel
200 gr SWC #68 style
3.5 gr Solo 1000
675 fps

As I said, I am now loading light so as to shoot a .45 in IDPA ESP, much as the OP.
 
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