Short Barrel 1911 Powder

[browninghunter86]

What powders should I be looking at for reloading my compact 1911 in 45?

Will be shooting 200gr Lead SWC and 230gr Lead RN and 230gr FMJ bullets

[Adamantium]

Any powder that will work in 45acp will work in a short barrel. There isn't anything special about picking a fast powder for a short barrel, at least as far as 45acp is concerned. Now with that said I prefer fast powders for 45acp anyway. Bullseye, Accurate #2 and HP38/W231 will match factory ammo performance and velocity with all bullet weights in 45acp. They all meter really well too.

If you are struggling to find the more popular pistol powders here are some that will work as well: Winchester WST, Alliant Red Dot, Green Dot and Herco (these don't meter very well in small quantities), Ramshot Competition (I am using this for my 200gr LSWC loads but it is too fast for respectable velocity with 230gr bullets), Hodgdon Clays (same as Competition) IMR 700x (meters awfully) and Accurate Solo 1000.

[2003flht]

I have good luck with AA#5 from my Kimber Ultra Carry... I dont have a chrony, but it shoots very well with 230gr round nose

[schmellba99]

I put many a round using Unique and H. Universal Clays through my Colt Compact before some POS stole it from me.

[oldpapps]

In theory, I would think that the shorter the barrel, the faster the burn rate.

In practice, the barrel length spread compared to the powder's burn rate, doesn't seam to make much if any difference.

If I were to build a load for only a short/er barreled weapon, I would go with fast. I use 231/HP38 for standard/normal 1911 type 5 inch barrels and those same loads do very well out of a Marlin Campgun, 16 1/2 inch barrel, 75 to 100 FPS greater velocity. Sorry, I have not tried other powders.

Be safe,

OSOK

[browninghunter86]

well went to gun show and found Unique and Winchester large primers. have range pickup brass and also picked up a set of Lee carbide pistol dies.
Will be shooting 230 gr FMJ projectiles

[Misssissippi Dave]

4.5 to 4.6 grains of WST works well with a 230 grain FMJ bullet in my Sig P250 SC pistol. WST (Winchester Super Target) is a shotgun powder and is fairly fast burning. It works well in .45 apc pistol loads. Many places may still have some on the shelf since it isn't the most popular pistol powder. Some places that cater to skeet and trap loaders might be good places to look. Besides being accurate it is also a clean burning load.

[browninghunter86]

it appears WST will get me the velocity using less powder than other std pistol powders?

I looked in the manuals and WST is not listed and for Unique it is saying 6.6 grains. That could get me a few more rounds out of the jug of powder by only having to use 4.5-4.6 of WST.

[Unclenick]

The powder that gets the most velocity in a long barrel will also get the most velocity in a short barrel to a point. In typical straight wall pistol cases at normal handgun velocities, three inches seems to be nearing that point. Somewhere between that and 2", two other factors start to affect the matter.

One of these factors is that the bullet position at the pressure peak is a little further forward in the barrel with a slow powder, allowing less post-peak acceleration, and the other is that variations in the exact position of the bullet base in the barrel are greater when a powder is harder to ignite. These can create a situation where the slower powders will present a lot of muzzle velocity variation. I've seen up to 25% reported. A faster powder won't safely produce as high a maximum velocity as you get when perfect ignition occurs with the slow powder, but its minimum velocity is higher than you get when ignition of the slow powder is poor. Just less overall variation.

If you work with slow powders and a chronograph you may discover you can overcome some of the inconsistency in its ignition by working your loads up using a magnum primer. No guarantees, though.

[browninghunter86]

Nick I hoped you would see this post and give some excellent info as always.

what powders would you recommend? I am just wanting enough velocity to get the action to function properly. Not needing a hot super fast load

[57K]

For light cast lead loads, WST is very good. Low smoke and light recoil and it burns very clean. I still have W231 around but the best all around .45 ACP powder I've used for light target loads to full power JHPs is Ramshot ZIP. Better performance than 231 and it burns cleaner.

[browninghunter86]

Ok so I will be loading 185 JHP bullets now. What powders are suitable for this weight

[57K]

Here's Ramshot's data for a 185 gr. XTP loaded with ZIP: ZIP 185 HDY HP XTP 6.6 grs. 946 FPS - 7.3 grs. 1,051 FPS @ 19,590 PSI, 1.230" OACL. That should get you factory level 185 gr. performance even from your compact. If you want higher velocity, I load 185 gr. Remington Golden Sabers with a max. charge of Silhouette. Rated velocity is 1152 FPS from a 5" barrel, but I haven't chronographed yet. Note that this is +P velocity that is achieved at standard pressure, under 21,000 PSI. www.ramshot.com

[QuarterHorse]

So far I keep going back to 5 grains of Bullseye over a 230gr JRN bullets for my 1911 and all my 45ACP.

[Unclenick]

I confess doing the same until I started moving to Universal Clays. It burns cleaner and meters better. Not quite as well as 231 meters, but cleaner. You may end up with more like 5.5 grains, though, same as with 231, so there is a 10% cost penalty there.

[browninghunter86]

so Clays/231 would be a better choice than Unique?

How does WST compare to Clays? I am seeing a lot of people saying WST is good. I am trying to see what the difference in WSF and WST are too

[Adamantium]

so Clays/231 would be a better choice than Unique?

How does WST compare to Clays? I am seeing a lot of people saying WST is good. I am trying to see what the difference in WSF and WST are too

There isn't a clear cut best choice powder for 45acp, otherwise we would all be using it. Unique is on the slow end for reloading 45acp so it will require more powder for equal velocity compared to a faster powder like 231. OTOH you can use powders that are so fast you cannot get factory velocities when shooting 230gr bullets, like Clays. If you bought a pound of Unique then you have at least 1100 rounds of shooting to do until you need to buy more powder. There is zero reason to stop using what you already own to buy something else unless you want to.

WST and WSF are both primarily shotgun powders that carry over to pistol as well. They aren't as popular as other powders mostly because the load data doesn't cover a wider variety of calibers. OTOH if you only buy if for one specific use that doesn't matter. WST is the faster powder and will give the same velocity with a smaller charge than WSF. WSF is less efficient for 45acp but is better with other calibers like 9mm and 40 S&W where WST hits max pressure with below average velocity. In times of shortage a lot of powders people typically ignore get bought up and used because they are available after more popular powders are backordered for months. WST and WSF are perfect examples. Clays is faster than WST and gives lower velocity with a lower charge weight for jacketed bullets of all weights. Clays is a popular choice for those not concerned with replicating the performance of factory/duty ammo.

[Misssissippi Dave]

For 185 grain JHP I use 5.2 to 5.4 grains of WST. I vary the amount depending on the OAL I'm using. Burns clean and is quite accurate.