The Wiry Irishman
Member
I've been trying to find an ideal powder to load for my PPK/s and 1911s. I use cast roundnose bullets, 230gr and 95gr loaded a little hot to replicate the recoil feel and POI of my carry ammo. Also my PPK functions best on very hot ammo.
I started with Bullseye because that's what my friends loaded .45 with. I love it for light target loads, but for hotter loads the recoil feel in .45 was far too snappy and I had to load very close to max to get the velocity I wanted. It was also very dirty. This was just bothersome in the 1911, but I could only shoot 100 or so rounds in one go before the PPK would start to gum up and malfunction.
Next I tried Unique. I still had .380 Bullseye loads left because I don't shoot nearly as much of those as .45, so I never tried it in .380, but in .45 the recoil feel was excellent, I could get the velocity I want well short of max, and it burned clean. The only problem - it meters rather poorly through my progressive.
I want to try W231 for my upcoming large batches of .45 and .380, since its a ball powder it should meter great, I've heard its clean, and my manual says it gets excellent velocity in both calibers. The problem is I can't find it anywhere.
I started paging through my Lymans 49th, and found good velocities listed for two powders I've never heard mentioned before in the context of .45 and .380: Blue Dot and SR-4756, and both are easy to find online.
.45 225gr (before lube) Cast:
Powder | Start | Vel | Max | Vel |
SR-4756 | 5.5 | 662 | 7.5 | 955 |
Blue Dot | 7.5 | 660 | 10.7 | 964 |
.380 90gr (before lube) Cast:
Powder | Start | Vel | Max | Vel |
SR-4756 | 2.8 | 633 | 4.1 | 970 |
Blue Dot | 4.0 | 667 | 5.5 | 961 |
Does anyone have experience using these powders in these calibers? Specifically, cleanliness, accuracy, and metering? Are these ball, flake, or stick powders?
Thanks in advance.
I started with Bullseye because that's what my friends loaded .45 with. I love it for light target loads, but for hotter loads the recoil feel in .45 was far too snappy and I had to load very close to max to get the velocity I wanted. It was also very dirty. This was just bothersome in the 1911, but I could only shoot 100 or so rounds in one go before the PPK would start to gum up and malfunction.
Next I tried Unique. I still had .380 Bullseye loads left because I don't shoot nearly as much of those as .45, so I never tried it in .380, but in .45 the recoil feel was excellent, I could get the velocity I want well short of max, and it burned clean. The only problem - it meters rather poorly through my progressive.
I want to try W231 for my upcoming large batches of .45 and .380, since its a ball powder it should meter great, I've heard its clean, and my manual says it gets excellent velocity in both calibers. The problem is I can't find it anywhere.
I started paging through my Lymans 49th, and found good velocities listed for two powders I've never heard mentioned before in the context of .45 and .380: Blue Dot and SR-4756, and both are easy to find online.
.45 225gr (before lube) Cast:
Powder | Start | Vel | Max | Vel |
SR-4756 | 5.5 | 662 | 7.5 | 955 |
Blue Dot | 7.5 | 660 | 10.7 | 964 |
.380 90gr (before lube) Cast:
Powder | Start | Vel | Max | Vel |
SR-4756 | 2.8 | 633 | 4.1 | 970 |
Blue Dot | 4.0 | 667 | 5.5 | 961 |
Does anyone have experience using these powders in these calibers? Specifically, cleanliness, accuracy, and metering? Are these ball, flake, or stick powders?
Thanks in advance.