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Posted: 1/10/2012 2:59:54 PM EDT
| Alright guys I need a little help here. What is the absolute cheapest powder to reload .45 ACP with. I do not have a clue as to what to buy. I have never reloaded anything other than rifle and I am just trying to get an idea of which one. I have read Unique is a very dirty powder but I know a lot of people use it. I am going to be loading 230 gr. plated RN bullets. Thanks for the help guys. |
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absolute cheapest will require crunching numbers from a loading manual and powder price list.
You didn't say what kind of performance you were after so I'll share this. My IPSC S/S load is 4.8gr WST and a 230gr Frontier plated RN bullet. I shoot Berry's too, but the Frontiers are about half the price and shoot the same out of my pistols. 760 fps and runs pretty clean, cleaner than Unique IMO. Budget friendly too. |
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Once you get into the faster pistol powders I don't think it makes much difference.
I get 1400+ rnds out of a pound of Titegroup (@aprox 5 grains per rnd). I can buy it locally for $16.50+tax or 14.50+shipping/hazmat online. Once you get to those kind of numbers you are talking barely over 1 cent per rnd. I suppose you could knock that down a couple tenths of a cent by chosing one powder over another, or by buying in bulk, etc., but really you are splitting hairs at that point. |
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Quoted:
Alright guys I need a little help here. What is the absolute cheapest powder to reload .45 ACP with. I do not have a clue as to what to buy. I have never reloaded anything other than rifle and I am just trying to get an idea of which one. I have read Unique is a very dirty powder but I know a lot of people use it. I am going to be loading 230 gr. plated RN bullets. Thanks for the help guys. Check your local source for the best price. Clays, TiteGroup, True Blue, W-231, WST, Universal, Unique, and Bullseye. Listed in my preference. I have tried all of these and they all work fine with lead bullets. |
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Nobody's defended Unique yet so I will. I'm betting more .45's have been reloaded with Unique than any other powder. I recollect reading an article in "Handloader Magazine" maybe 3 years ago, where the author was attempting to answer the question, "If a person wanted a long term supply of powder for pistol and rifle, and the requirement was to have only the two most versatile powders, one for rifle and one for pistol, what would be the wisest picks? I don't recall the rifle powder....perhaps it was IMR4350, but not sure. The pistol powder chosen as most versatile was Unique. Wish I could come up with the issue but I can't. I'm sure others remember the article better than I do. My own experience is simple. I've shot a lot of reloaded 45 acp....over 40 years. In the beginning, I worked up my pet load of 6 grains of Unique, using Winchester primers and brass, and Speer, Hornady, or Sierra, 230 gr. FMJ. It shot more accurate than factory, with very little extra recoil in my two .45's at the time. (Ruger 7 1/2" Blackhawk, and 70 series Colt Gold cup). Today I shoot the same load in a Kimber. (I'm not picky about primers or brass, and I also load and shoot 230 gr. Gold Dots) It wasn't until I discovered this internet forum, and read someone's suggestion that Unique was a dirty powder......that I noticed.  Who the hell cares. I can't say it affects my aim or a gun's performance, and since I clean my guns when I get home from a shoot....again who cares. What do I care about? 1. Accuracy, 2. a full enough case that overflows and makes a dbl. charge unmistakably obvious. 3. smooth (versus sharp) recoil. Unique more than excels there. When I bought my first can of Unique, I bought a can of Bullseye, too. I tried the Unique first.....have still have the original full can of Bullseye. I guess that's proof I'm not an experimenter, huh? If it ain't broke, leave it alone?.........I have no idea how many cans of Unique I've gone through. |
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Quoted:
Nobody's defended Unique yet so I will. I'm betting more .45's have been reloaded with Unique than any other powder. I recollect reading an article in "Handloader Magazine" maybe 3 years ago, where the author was attempting to answer the question, "If a person wanted a long term supply of powder for pistol and rifle, and the requirement was to have only the two most versatile powders, one for rifle and one for pistol, what would be the wisest picks? I don't recall the rifle powder....perhaps it was IMR4350, but not sure. The pistol powder chosen as most versatile was Unique. Wish I could come up with the issue but I can't. I'm sure others remember the article better than I do. My own experience is simple. I've shot a lot of reloaded 45 acp....over 40 years. In the beginning, I worked up my pet load of 6 grains of Unique, using Winchester primers and brass, and Speer, Hornady, or Sierra, 230 gr. FMJ. It shot more accurate than factory, with very little extra recoil in my two .45's at the time. (Ruger 7 1/2" Blackhawk, and 70 series Colt Gold cup). Today I shoot the same load in a Kimber. (I'm not picky about primers or brass, and I also load and shoot 230 gr. Gold Dots) It wasn't until I discovered this internet forum, and read someone's suggestion that Unique was a dirty powder......that I noticed. Who the hell cares. I can't say it affects my aim or a gun's performance, and since I clean my guns when I get home from a shoot....again who cares.
What do I care about? 1. Accuracy, 2. a full enough case that overflows and makes a dbl. charge unmistakably obvious. 3. smooth (versus sharp) recoil. Unique more than excels there. When I bought my first can of Unique, I bought a can of Bullseye, too. I tried the Unique first.....have still have the original full can of Bullseye. I guess that's proof I'm not an experimenter, huh? If it ain't broke, leave it alone?.........I have no idea how many cans of Unique I've gone through. You make a lot of good points in this post. 
I'm still loading on my old formula stock. |
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