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Old January 11, 2013, 04:39 PM   #1
triker
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45 colt powder?

I have a Ruger Lipseys 45/acp and looking for a good medium load. I have Unique on hand, and plan to shoot 255 gr SWC. I know some loads with Unique. What are some good loads with another powder. I guess I should ask what is another standby powder besides Unique? thanks triker
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Old January 11, 2013, 04:43 PM   #2
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Unique is probably the best, especially for "medium" loads. Red Dot and Universal Clays are also good.

Herco and Blue Dot are pretty sweet *if* you are shooting a large frame Ruger or equivalent. (it's the only good use I ever found for Blue Dot, but I don't reload shotgun shells)

Then there's black powder...
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Old January 11, 2013, 04:55 PM   #3
Mike Irwin
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I've been using Universal Clays in mine and am VERY happy with the results that I have been getting so far.
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Old January 11, 2013, 06:32 PM   #4
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For cowboy shooting I also like Herco made by Alliant. It’s accurate and does a good job of filling the case with medium loads.
Granted it’s normally known for being a shotgun powder but there are a lot of loads for 44 special and 45 Colt using Herco. It’s dirty when using it on 45ACP. But everything else big bore it works for me.
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Old January 11, 2013, 06:49 PM   #5
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I've made good shooting .45 Colt ammo with Red Dot, Green Dot, Trail Boss, Titegroup, Bullseye, Universal Clays and probably a few others - mostly on the lighter side I use Unique the most though, I think it's very well suited to regular power loads. (excluding large frame "ruger only" power)
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Old January 11, 2013, 06:54 PM   #6
BigJimP
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Another vote for Hodgdon Universal....I've switched all of my handgun loads from 9mm...to .45 acp ....to .44 mag to Universal...with good results.
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Old January 11, 2013, 06:55 PM   #7
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Trail Boss is probably the best power powder out there for medium loads. It meters well through all measures, has a unique look to it, burns realatively clean, and is bulky to more completely fill the case. Great stuff for the voluminous 45 Colt case. It's bulk makes it physically impossible to double charge a case. It's expecially good with Cowboy loads. I love the stuff and have fired thousands of rounds with it.
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Old January 11, 2013, 07:04 PM   #8
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Another vote for Trailboss although Unique is very good also.
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Old January 11, 2013, 07:05 PM   #9
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Another vote for Titegroup. I use it for 9mm and .40 s/w and have had great results.
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Old January 11, 2013, 08:24 PM   #10
chiefr
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< 900 fps, Unique is my powder of choice for the 45 Colt.
> 900 fps, 2400 " " " Ditto " "
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Old January 11, 2013, 10:04 PM   #11
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Power Pistol runs a little cleaner than Unique and it is excellent in mid level loads. Excellent powder for my Lipseys Bisley 44 and Standard Bisley 45 in 950-1050fps loads.
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Old January 11, 2013, 10:09 PM   #12
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Trailboss is number 1 for me too. Unique is the other powder I use. For bullets it is either 250 grain round nose flat point hard lead or 250 grain Gold Dot Deep Curl hollow points.
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Old January 12, 2013, 01:10 AM   #13
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I use HP-38 for light to mid-range loads in both 44 mag and 45 Colt.
It's economical, accurate (both shooting and metering) and clean burning.
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Old January 12, 2013, 01:18 AM   #14
jmortimer
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Nothing beats 9 to 10 grains of Unique with a 255 swc in .45 Colt (9.5 max standard pressure for 255 grain SWC) - it will do just about anything a handgun can do.
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Old January 12, 2013, 01:48 PM   #15
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best powder

For medium loads in 45 Colt, Unique is one of the best; and still one of my favorites. From fastest burning for target loads to slowest burning for semi-magnum loads, my favorites are: Tite-group; Unique; HS-7; AA-9. If I could only have one powder for all .45 loads I would choose HS-7. But if got stuck with only Unique, I would be just as satisfied. I use a lot of other powders that were given to me or I got ultra cheap in a lucky find at some event or whatever. But those listed above are likely the only ones I would pay full price for. I have also had very good results with W-231/HP-38; Red Dot; Green Dot; AA-5 and some others. I found, for me, that Blue Dot left too much unburned residues; and 2400 gave terrific muzzle flash in my 4-5/8' barreled Vaquero. Good luck finding your favorite powder. Unique is a, "10", in my book; a standard to evaluate others by.
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Old January 12, 2013, 04:04 PM   #16
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I too have had good results with a 'bunch' of different powders. Unique/Universal is 'THE' standard powder for the .45 Colt. For 1000fps+ I like 4227 and 2400. My current general load is 7.0g of Green Dot under 250g RNFP. Forget to mention that 13g of HS-6 under 255g SWC is a good Tier 2 load for pack'n around in the hills.

Just find what works good in your guns . Half the fun of shooting is looking for that 'perfect' load!
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Old January 12, 2013, 05:42 PM   #17
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As you can gather from the posts, the .45 Colt is an easy round to load. I use Red Dot because I want more muzzle velocity than Trail Boss and something cleaner than Unique. My hunting, Cowboy Shooting carry load is a 200 gr RNFP lead bullet at 940 fps.
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Old January 12, 2013, 09:14 PM   #18
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I didn't read all the other answers, but I will say if you have unique on hand use it. Thats what most people use in 45 lc. It works just fine. I have 4 lbs of it and i'll use it over time. I think unique meters like crap. If it didn't i'd use it alot more. Try trail boss when you buy your next powder. It meters like crap too, but its a great powder for the 45 colt.
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Old January 12, 2013, 09:27 PM   #19
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Quote:
Try trail boss when you buy your next powder. It meters like crap too, but its a great powder for the 45 colt.
I don't have a problem with metering either Unique or Trail Boss... That said, I do like TB ... but not for general purpose loads. It's fine for punching paper, and knocking on steel targets... But not a powder to use when looking for a general purpose carry load for knocking around in the hills. Unique/Universal/Green Dot/2400/4227/HS-6/Power Pistol and others are much more suitable.
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Old January 12, 2013, 09:29 PM   #20
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I use dippers so metering is not an issue.
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Old January 13, 2013, 12:48 AM   #21
Mike Irwin
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I've found that Trail Boss meters INCREDIBLY well out of both my Lee Auto Disk Pro and my Uniflow.
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Old January 13, 2013, 10:58 AM   #22
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Winchester 231 or its equivalent, HP38 work well in my guns. They meter well in any powder dispenser, and accuracy is all that you can expect from a quality handgun. Rod
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