I need something clean burning for .45 ACP

[Kilroy08]

I went over to my buddy's shop for a little range session over the weekend. We had a ball with a bunch of old milsurp stuff we had collected along with some of my toys.

Being low on components at the moment, I bought the dreaded Winchester white box bulk pack of .45 ACP. Thrown in for good measure was a box or two of M1911 ball ammo from back when Nixon was in office. My poor 1911 is all sooted up at the moment. The entire muzzle area is grey and it needs a slap on the back end of the slide to go the last little bit into battery. My AR suffered a similar fate due to a moderate pile of Vietnam era through Desert Storm surplus. Scrub, scrub, scrub is the order of the day when I have another spare moment.

What's a good, clean burning powder for .45 ACP? I've got a 200 grain SWC mold and a pile of bullets waiting to be lubed and sized.
In my current stash of pistol powders appropriate for the task ahead are Unique, Red Dot, Tite Group, Autocomp, and Power Pistol.

I really like Power Pistol, but it's hard to find in my area at the moment. My can of that is almost empty as well.

[Baja_Traveler]

I've always liked Bullseye in my .45 - never had an issue with dirtyness like Unique will provide...

There is an article in the latest Handloader magazine discussing this - Tite Group and CFE Pistol were both mentioned as being cleaner burning than Bullseye, but not as accurate, with CFE also being a much hotter load.

[jakharath]

Vihtavuori N310 is very clean. Titegroup is nice also.

[sundog]

From the powders you mentioned, Red Dot.

[C. Latch]

700-x and red dot sure do seem to work well for me in .45ACP.

[Preacher Jim]

Not in your list but experimenting with cfe.pistol great results so far. I have always stayed with bullseye but this seems to be as accurate.

[nagantguy]

My #1 choose has always been bullseye, red dot does well and is probably a little cleaner burning. So if you have that on hand sounds like a winner.

[nicholst55]

Power Pistol burns pretty clean for me in .45 ACP.

[jcren]

I use red dot for 200 grain target loads and hs-6 for full power 230's and rarely clean. Lube can be a major part of fouling though, and I powder coat everything now.

[Ed_Shot]

I find Red Dot/Promo 4.5 gr under a Lyman 452630 (200 gr SWC) @ 825 fps is a winner in CZ97B and 1911. I use White Label 2500+ for everything. I'm going to clean the weapon after every range trip no matter what powder I use.

[u_235]

The cleanest load I run is 4.8 GR of WST behind a 200 LSWC. Much cleaner than any factory load I have used. Out of your list I would think Red dot would be the cleanest.

[jhaston]

I use 4.3 gr of Hodgdon Clays with a 200 gr LSWC, it's fairly clean, a lot cleaner than white box Winchester.

[therealhitman]

700X and WST.

[GhostHawk]

Agree with Red Dot, but you do sometimes have to balance the load a bit.

Have been lucky with .45 acp and 9mm. First batch of brass through my .40sw Carbine the cases were sooty almost to the bases. Kicked the charge up a little and brass is now nice and clean when I pick it up.

Overall it seems an easy powder to work with. With a little research and some caution you can shoot it in a wide variety of calibers. It is also very economical to load.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I have always had good results using Red Dot and Green Dot for target shooting. Moderate loadings, mild recoil, no leading and clean burning.Both work well in semi autos and revolvers. LLS

[Jack Stanley]

Bullseye , 700X , Red Dot , Clays I'm pretty happy with all of them .

Jack

[Outpost75]

The cleanest load I run is 4.8 GR of WST behind a 200 LSWC. Much cleaner than any factory load I have used. Out of your list I would think Red dot would be the cleanest.

+1 on WST, powder of choice for target loads in the .45 ACP, 4.8 grains with H&G #68 200-grain SWC is well established load which has wide popularity among users.

[mr surveyor]

I'm glad that no one mentioned AA#5 ... leaves more for me



jd

[pretzelxx]

I packed up some warm loads for 45.and soft to see I don't get a full burn. Still pretty darn clean! Titegroup is my go to. (then again it's the only powder I have!)

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

Red Dot.