Best powder for .45ACP???

[leadhead]

Hi Guys,
What would be a clean burning powder for the .45 acp?
I'm shooting these in a Marlin camp carbine and have been
using win 231 and it's very very dirty. After shooting 30 or
so rounds the action was so dirty I couldn't believe it.
I've been thinking of using bullseye or reddot in place of the
231. Do you think it might burn cleaner?
Any help would be great.
Thanks,
Denny

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Are these low powered loads ? I have used 231 in 38 Special to 45 acp and I do not remember dirty.. except in low powered loadings. All smokeless powders need certain "Pressures" to get cooking good.
But I do more with ACC #5 when up there... also use Unique a lot. Unique will get real dirty with minimal loads. Acc#5 seems rather clean to me.
Mike God Bless you.

[leadhead]

I'm using 4.5 grs of 231 which isn't a real hot load, but I don;t
want to beat the gun to death either.
Denny

[EDK]

'Way back when 45s were still THE CALIBER for IPSC/USPSA, IIRC, most people used somewhere around 5.8 of 231 with the H&G #68 200 grain boolit. They sure worked good in a pair of custom Government models, assorted 625 S&W revolvers, and a pair of S&W 645s that I was shooting from 1979 through 2000, when I got interested in Cowboy Action Shooting.

Follow accepted loading practices and data...and bump your loads up a little bit. Another option might be TITEGROUP...I use it by the 8 pound keg in 44 Special equivalent loads. It has worked well for me and it is inexpensive to boot!

:cbpour::redneck::Fire:

[35remington]

The lighter the load, the dirtier it burns.

Run the powder in its intended range and things clean up nicely. If this load is with a 200 grain or lighter bullet it's rather light. Heck, it's light for a 230 grain bullet.

Red Dot is somewhat cleaner burning than Bullseye, but none of the three mentioned here when run in their range will cause problems with dirty burning.

[billyb]

I use a lot of 2311 in 45acp with cast, some bullseye. With Cast in the 45 or any handgun, the cast boolit lube when the gun is fired,some of the lube melts and is blown into the works of the gun. This softened lube is a magnet for the unburnt powder and carbon,creating quite a mess. You dont get this effect with jacketed bullits. Bill

[Snapping Twig]

Sounds like a light load, those burn dirty with most powders.

I like 5.3g behind a cast 230g TC and it burns clean.

Try upping the horsepower a mite and see what that does for you.

Recently I switched to White Label BAC from Javalina and that helped with lighter loads.

[HeavyMetal]

When I was shooting IPSC lots of guys hated Bullseye because it was so dirty. Many changed to either Green dot or 231 and seemed to be pretty happy.

Me I got a "hot tip" out of Handloader Mag in those days and loaded up 4.3 grains WW452-AA. This has been my "money" powder since the first round was fired! nor only was it easy to meter and extremely clean burning it was by and large the most accurate powder I have ever seen in the 45 auto!

This load, with my cast Lee H&G copy or the RCBS SWC, will consistantly put 5 rounds in a group I can cover with a quarter at 20 yards!

On the day I heard they were discontinueing it I went down and bought.....a lot.

It has been replaced with Winchesters Super Target and so far I have not been able to tell the difference between the two powders.

Buy yourself a pound and see what I mean!

[WildmanJack]

Don't want toget into a disussion with guys that know a he.. of a lot more than me but i use Clays, NOT Universal Clays just plain Hodgdon Clays. 3.8 gr. under 185 gr. pbswc. will punch the x ring out of the target at 15 yds and pretty much do the same at 25. It's the cleanest burning powder I've ever used. I shooting a KimberUS shooting team 5" model. in Stainless. Very nice gun and minimal recoil with the clays..Just my dos centavos...
Jack
:drinks:

[leadhead]

OK Guys,
Thanks for the info. I'll try kick'in the load up and see what happens.
Thanks,
Denny

[JohnH]

It is not just simply a need for full pressure loads. The Marlin Camp Carbine is a blow back action, it does not have a locked breach. it will be dirty as the block tends to begin opening while there is still higher pressure in the barrel than one would encounter in a short recoil/locked breech system. This lets more combustion trash in the chamber/breech area. A clean system will depend on max pressures and quick powders. (231 is a good choice for that) One way of insuring a good burn is with maximum bullet weight. Sticking with 230 grainers will be helpful. You may need to experiment some to find the cleanest powder. Regardless, the nature of the operating system is dirty and will need cleaning more often than a locked breech system, especially if you are using cast.

[Triggerhappy]

I'll go dittos on the 231. Been using it for major power factor in .45 for 20 years. Works great and I use it because it burns clean for me. I also use Clays for .45 since I also load shotguns with the stuff and keep it around. Hate keeping powders for a single purpose.

If you're getting dirty actions after using 231 I would try different loads. Bet you can make it burn clean if you bump it up a little. I know my load is more significant than some mentioned here but I use ramped barrels which handle the pressure better than standard .45 barrels. Always check the published reloading manuals for load data and start low and work your way up until you get what you need, if you can. Do not exceed the max loads.

Good luck.

TH

[mike in co]

yep too lite.......try 4.9/5.0. with a 225/230 lead boolit.



i shoot aa2 in my 45, around 4.6 gives me 800 fps


mike in co

[DanM]

Titegroup is a bit more accurate than 231 in my Colt with ball equivlant loads. Regular Clays is great with 185s.....

[Crash_Corrigan]

I shoot a Taurus 1911 in .45 ACP. 3.7 to 4.0 grof CLAYS under a 200 GR SWC boolit and lubed with Lars Carnuba Red makes for a very accurate and clean burning load.

I also can bring it down to 3.3 GR or powder for really light recoiling amd reduced report. Accuracy goes down a little but when instructing a new shooter or a slightly smaller person the recoil is more important to prevent flinching and keep the fun level up.

At 65 I no longer enjoy a heavy recoil on any handgun and my recent loads will reflect that.

When shooting at a large steel target at 20 yds this load is deadly and fun to boot. Makes a really satisfying CLANG and reinforces good sight picture and trigger control.

Lots better than just punching a hole in paper.

Sometimes I put a paper target on a stand about 18" in front of the steel gong. Now we see where the round goes for accuracy and get the satisfaction of the loud CLANG when everything goes right. There is some damage to the paper target from the rear when a round goes splat against the steel but I can live with that. As a bonus I do not get any splatter back at the firing line when using both targets at once.

When shooting steel with cast there is a danger of rounds and pieces coming back to the shooter. I used to shoot from less then 20 yds but one day a chunk came back and dug out a nice piece of plastic from my new $400 eyeglasses.

I was annoyed but grateful that the glasses took the hit, NOT MY NAKED EYE. I have had pieces come back and hit my legs when wearing shorts and it has drawn blood on more than on occasion even at 20 yds. Eye and ear protection is very important on the line.

I need to figure out a way to incline the top of the gong towards me to deflect the rounds into the ground instead of bouncing them back towards me. The 45's are not too bad but the 9's and .38's are more of a problem probably due to the speed of the rounds

[pdawg_shooter]

AA #5 works best for me.

[bobthenailer]

ive used alot of BE over the years and some clays & univ clays , and tight group is a real winner, but win super light is the real sleeper in the 45 acp!

[Elk Country]

Currently I'm using 5.2gr. W231 with a 200gr RNFP bullet in my XD Tactical. It burns clean enough for me. I have used some Unique but that's a little dirtier and requires a bit more scrubbing. When my current supply of W231 is gone I'm going to switch over and use my skeet powder, 700X. I have about 20lbs of the stuff and if I can eliminate another powder off of my bench I'll have room for more cast boolits! I have tried the 700X and 4.5-4.8gr. seems the be the load I'll use for plinking.

Good shooting,

Elk Country

[EMC45]

I use 4.5gr. Bullseye in my Camp Carbine, but I have also used 800X. With 800X I can run 'em out to 100 yds. They are low, but they hold pretty tight.

[Ricochet]

I love the .45 ACP! Just about any fast to medium pistol or shotgun powder will work well in it. Not fussy at all.

[FieldShunt]

The .45ACP cartridge was designed around a military powder than came later to be known as Bullseye.
The fastest powders work the best in this old warhorse, and of course, nothing beats Bullseye for accuracy.
Winchester's replacement for Bullseye is WST, Winchester Super Target. It flows well and burns much cleaner than Bullseye. Another benefit is that it is advertised as "low report"- it's quieter. And it is; I get calls for the chrono when I shoot WST in IDPA and USPSA, and I know I'm making the floor.
Yet another plus for using WST or its other equivalents like Bullseye and Vihta Vuori 310 is that in self-loaders like the 1911, the felt recoil will be less, especially if you use heavier bullets.
A couple of years ago I set up a blind test at the club with a group of different loads all using 230gr Rainier plated round-noses. They were loaded into magazines in alternating pairs by the guy who wasn't shooting.
All of them chronoed within a 30fps range excepting the last, VV340.
I had a non-1911 guy, a Glocker, run my Government Model with these mixed magazines, going through an easy hundred-plus rounds.
The order of felt recoil from least to most, according to Bob and, not coincidentally, me, too:
WST, Bullseye, VV310, tie
VV320
Unique
231
VV340, slower and particularly bad.
Try it yourself and see.
WST is the quietest, too, a winner for me. I don't need the distraction.
It's cheap, available, and pretty clean. It's only downside is a certain amount of temperature variation.
The last 20,000+ rounds of .45ACP I've loaded have been with WST.