I've never reloaded a pistol/straight walled round before, but have been collecting components for my XD45 Compact. I have 500+ rounds once fired brass, 1000+ rounds 200 gr JHP's (got 'em cheap).

I have read that Unique is a pretty universal powder for .45acp (and others), but hear it is pretty dirty.

Any other obvious choices I should try first?

Unique is an excellent powder for not only the .45 ACP but for a wide variety of other handgun (and shotshell) cartridges. It is no "dirtier" than any other powder and will not present a problem for you.

Thanks Stonecreek!! I'll try to pick some up and give 'er a go. After I mock up some dummies first, just to make sure I don't mess anything up

W231 for me.

185s - 6.0 grains
200s - 5.5 grains
230s - 5.0 grains

Simple enough

Unique is a fine powder for all of the shorter pistol rounds but burns cleanest at near max. charges. If you want powder puff loads, then drop to a faster powder like HP38 or my fav. WST.
Try 6.5gr of Unique under your 200grJHP for starters.

quote:

W231 for me.

185s - 6.0 grains
200s - 5.5 grains
230s - 5.0 grains

What he said...

(And I like AA #2 also...)

I like faster powders in my 45acp and use TiteGroup or VV n320 in mine. I don`t load top velocity or +P loads though. W 231 or Bullseye are very popular powders in the same burn range and would be good choices. Unique has been around forever and my wifes B-in-law and his boy burn lots of it in their 45s. I wouldn`t worry about it being dirty, just clean the pistol after use like you should and everything will be fine.

I use Unique in my 45s, auto and revolver.
Im pretty fussy and try to clean my handguns every thousand rounds or so even if they don't need it.
Jim

231 here, but a little bit more than posted above, and it's fed into a Sig 220.

You really owe it to yourself to try Clays. It is by far the cleanest powder I've used for .45 ACP. It is not expensive and measures well. I tried just about everything (but honestly haven't tried Unique) before settling on Clays. Clays is like 231 but cleaner.

Wes

I'm not a big fan of Clays, too little powder in the case for my taste & they sell it in 14oz cans, that's just wrong. I like WST, clean as Clays & only uses a bit more.

CharlieHo, what kind of loads are you trying to achieve, full power or target? For target work, I use a faster burning powder such as bullseye or 231. My standard load is 4 grs. bullseye. This gives me around 850 fps out of a 5" barrel. I think you will find accuracy to be best between 800-900 fps. For full power loads, I like HS-6. It has not been mentioned here, but is well suited to the ACP case. Hope this helps.

bullseye for me

4gr + 230 LRN + cci LP primer = fun,clean,and accurate for me.

Chauncey

Thank you all for your suggestions and comments.

As far as whether my loads are going for full power or target? The answer is, well... both. I don't compete in any shape or form; so, in my opinion, downloading to a target load has little benefit.

Heaven forbid, when the time comes that I NEED to use my handgun, I don't want to be surprised by anything. Not being accustomed to a full power load seems a bit irresponsible in that sense.

That's not to say that I won't/don't have a stash of "blazing ammo", used for the sole purpose of burning ammo I just would like all of my ammo to be (fairly close to) full power and keep accuracy within 1 MOBG

try 5gr of RED DOT!!!!!!!!

Red Dot is my choice too. I always got good results with it, and somewhat lower flash than with solwer-burning propellants.

I'm with fredj338, Winchester Super Target.

Don't get your mind stuck on any one powder. I have a 45 Springfield that I was ready to get rid of until I tried Blue Dot. That is the only powder I've found that will work in that gun.

quote:

Originally posted by Max503:
Don't get your mind stuck on any one powder. I have a 45 Springfield that I was ready to get rid of until I tried Blue Dot. That is the only powder I've found that will work in that gun.

Can you elaborate on that, accuracy, what? I like BD for +p type loads but find it burns incomplete @ std. pressures.

I bought bullseye for my 45 XD and hope it works well!

quote:

Originally posted by RiflemanZ:
I bought bullseye for my 45 XD and hope it works well!

BE is fine in the 45acp, but I have never gotten to like it. I prefer WST for a powder in that range or HP38.