Well... I did some experiments. Here are the results..
1) The fun one - I loaded some .45acp with black powder and shot them from my full-size 45 (G21) and my subcompact 45 (G36). They worked and seemed to have decent kick, but they didn't cycle the slide. I loaded some aluminum casings (if they didn't work, I was just going to get rid of them instead of pulling bullets) with the same charge I used for 38sp and topped it with a 230gn soft cast, pc bullet. The chrono said they were in the 1180fps range, but I'm not convinced. Like I said, they didn't cycle the slide (except for one stovepipe), but I did get the glock "bulge" on every case and I've never had that before. Who knows? But it would definitely put holes in stuff in a SHTF situation.
2) I put one drop of water in some fines I was going to press and let it sit overnight to evenly distribute in the bottle. Then I did the press-release-press method. The original press was over an hour. Then I let the pressure off for several minutes, then pressed it again for more than an hour. I changed two variables at the same time - because... science - so I'm not sure which made the difference. When I did the second pressing, I felt the normal "give" as the pressure came up. That could have been the powder or the press. Then there was only one slight let-off several minutes in. The powder that came out was crunchier and shinier than the other powders so far. I tested it for density - Goex will give me 25 grains in a .45 case, my original powder gave me 22 grains, and this double-pressed gave me 24 grains. Something definitely made it denser.
3) I made a 100 grahm batch and added 1 grahm of red gum. I put it in a bottle, added 2cc of denatured alcohol, and let it sit overnight. I put it in my die and pressed like normal. I didn't check for density, but it did seem crunchier than the normal stuff. But when I ground it, I got about the same ammount of fines, so no improvement there.
Well, that's about all I have to add right now. I might start with a few drops of water and double-pressing to get my density up.