Powder for 45 ACP and 44 Mag

[BlackBart]

Unique. Dirty but versatile.

Yup, probably the most versatile pistol, revolver and shotgun powder on the market and it's been around forever.

 

[Mooseman]

I have been looking for Unique but still have not found it.

 

[PMD354]

I would like to thanks all of you for your responses. It looks like I'm going with unique.

 

[stu929]

Buck

I can maybe hook you up with a little unique. I also will be getting some 700-x tomorrow if that fits anything you will be loading.

 

[trickg]

I have been looking for Unique but still have not found it.

The last time I got it, I bought it at Bart's Sports World in Glen Burnie, but that doesn't really help you out there in W-MD.

 

[Mooseman]

Buck

I can maybe hook you up with a little unique. I also will be getting some 700-x tomorrow if that fits anything you will be loading.

That would be great Steve.

The last time I got it, I bought it at Bart's Sports World in Glen Burnie, but that doesn't really help you out there in W-MD.

Trickg, thanks but a little too far. As fast as things are selling, till I would get there it would be gone.

 

[paxfish]

I recently started loading .45ACP with Bullseye and more recently Clays. I concur that Clays is very clean. On well-polished brass, I just throw the fired case into a bucket with dawn and a little orange cleaner, rinse, and they are ready to again. 4.0 gr under a 200 SWC is nice soft accurate load in my pistols.

 

[pcfixer]

I see both Clays & Titegroup listed in 45ACP & 44Mag load datas.

Titegroup is not a position sensitive powder, and is supposed to be very good. I have a can of it, but have not developed loads with it yet.

I did recently use Clays as I have a few cans, and test fired the rounds out of my 1911 & Tommy. It cycled cleanly, and the cases were incredibly clean! No soot what so ever. I loaded 4.0 grains of Clays behind a 230 LRN. I plan on doing some thourough paper testing with a few hundred rounds of it this weekend.

I bought Clays, because my usual Win 231/ HP-38 is getting hard to find at the moment. Win 231/HP-38 is my go to powder for 45ACP.

I use TG in both 45 acp and 45 LC max loads.. clean crisp shots and good groups.
Clays I use at low load for kids in my Uberti 45 LC revolver. good practice for the kids and ladies.

 

[Machodoc]

Unique. Dirty but versatile.

^^ This.

Winchester WST would also probably do a good job. It's a surprisingly versatile handgun cartridge powder, in spite of the fact that most people think of it as just being for shotgun loads. Load data can be a little hard to find for it, though.

 

[Deep Creek Rock]

Just did the test run of 200 rounds of 45ACP - 230grn LRN , loaded with Clays and was very pleased with both accuracy, and cleanliness. I plan on using it alot more!

Also did a cylinder full of 45LC loaded with Clays and was satisfied with it in that caliber too. We compaired the case, to a case of 45LC loaded with Unique. Clays was waaaaay cleaner.

Im sure j8064 will be along to post the pics of the difference. Unique is very dirty indeed!

 

[Mooseman]

Just did the test run of 200 rounds of 45ACP - 230grn LRN , loaded with Clays and was very pleased with both accuracy, and cleanliness. I plan on using it alot more!

Also did a cylinder full of 45LC loaded with Clays and was satisfied with it in that caliber too. We compaired the case, to a case of 45LC loaded with Unique. Clays was waaaaay cleaner.

Im sure j8064 will be along to post the pics of the difference. Unique is very dirty indeed!

Does this mean you are now ready to get your new toy?

 

[Deep Creek Rock]

Does this mean you are now ready to get your new toy?

Im definetly ready to get that thing home where it belongs!

Im sure your getting ansy on yours!

Im hoping it wont be too much longer until I get the call, to pick it up.

 

[j8064]

I hear about unique being dirty all the time. I don't doubt any ones experiences. However, unique has been clean burning in all the applications I have tried it in so far.For me it has been both very accurate and very clean in 45 acp and 44 mag. It is my first choice in 45 acp and second best in 44 of my different loads. In my loads unique has been cleaner than h110 and 2400 in the 44. I have also used unique in 38 special, 357 mag, 38 SW, and 30-30.

Here's an example of "clean" vs. Unique. The .45LC case on the left was loaded with Clays. The one on the right?...You guessed it...Unique.

Don't get me wrong, Unique is one of the most versatile smokeless powders there is. Over the past 25 years I've worked up more loads than I can count in rounds from .380 to .303B and cast boolits using Unique. It always goes bang and performs as expected. But cleanliness is definately NOT Unique's most shining attribute.

 

[Mooseman]

Wow, that is a big difference. Yes Roc, I am beyond antsy to get mine home where it belongs. As you know, I have been looking for that toy for well over a year.

 

[Machodoc]

Here's an example of "clean" vs. Unique. The .45LC case on the left was loaded with Clays. The one on the right?...You guessed it...Unique.

Don't get me wrong, Unique is one of the most versatile smokeless powders there is. Over the past 25 years I've worked up more loads than I can count in rounds from .380 to .303B and cast boolits using Unique. It always goes bang and performs as expected. But cleanliness is definately NOT Unique's most shining attribute.

Yep! ... but it cleans up in the tumbler/vibrator about as fast as anything else, and it's a really dependable powder.

The shortages that we've been seeing lately have made me look at alternatives, and Winchester WST is pretty impressive stuff for handgun rounds. I've been loading it at the minimums for Titegroup, then working it up from there. Because it's generally thought of as a shotgun powder, some places have it in stock, where they are sold out of the more popular stuff.

Give your puppy a little rub on the neck for me!

 

[Uncle Duke]

Good information! Good to have some other options to be looking at with the availability situation right about now!

 

[PMD354]

Well guys I have been doing a little research and have decided to stick with Red Dot for the 45 ACP and lighter loads for the 44 Mag. I found some 2400 that I'm going to use for tha stiffer loads for 44 Mag. And as always thanks for all of the great advice.

 

[flyingblind]

I use 5gr of unique for 45, 7 for 44 mag, of course you can use 5 for both but the max for 45 is 6gr

 

[Magnumite]

I tried Unique for a long time in 45 ACP but it wouldn't do anything Bullseye wouldn't. I didn't find Unique dirty but I found Unique and lead bullets dirty. I get similar smoke shooting a fast string using Bullseye and lead. Shooting jacketed or heavily plated bullets with Bullseye I get clean burn.

Typically a sooty case means the pressures are low or the cases have hardened. Did both of those cases shoot to the same velocities with same weight bullets?

After almost 30 years of reloading, I basically use just 5 different powders for 45 ACP, 357 and 44 Magnum and 38 Special. I may start loading 30 Carbine, so the H110 will have that covered.

 

[photoracer]

I use Unique for shotgun, Rem 41 Mag and downloaded low power loads in 9x23mm.
On an aside I have new unused 4# container of Red Dot I bought from the WM near my job in WV. I was afraid I might run out of Unique but it looks like I won't anytime soon so it is not needed by me. Anybody interested out here let me know. You can have it for what I paid for it which is somewhere around $80.