I’m scratching my head again; I spoke with the tech guy at Alliant Powder a couple of weeks ago asking his opinion/advice on .45 ACP and almost before I finished my question he said “Bullseyeâ€, so I bought Bullseye.

I can’t find a load with Bullseye that shoots as well as I can with Unique and thought I would run it past you guys since you guys are obviously the pros.

Here is my history:

Back when I first asked about these loads https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2511043/m/711105487 I loaded 6.9gr Unique with a CCI 300 primer, 200gr lswc bullet seating to an overall length of 1.214"; these shot well. I lightened that load up just a bit to 6.5gr Unique and could almost count on a bulls eye.

Bullseye Powder: 5.2gr Bullseye with a CCI 300 primer, 200gr lswc bullet seating to an overall length of 1.214" got decent results but not like the Unique; 4.6gr Bullseye didn’t cut a clean hole and gave a fair group; 4.2gr Bullseye shot a little low and keyholed the target.

Do you guys see a pattern here that I’m missing and why does Unique seem to perform better? Do you see an answer to that in my results?

I’m thinking I should just stay with the Unique but I want to be sure since the Bullseye is so adamantly recommended for .45 ACP.

I also had good luck with Unique in 45acp and when I started loading my mentor got me to use that rather than Bullseye due to greater bulk and less chance of double charging...later I tried bullseye due to more loads per pound savings and with a heavy taper crimp and standard primers I got equal accuracy with the bullseye at 5.0 grains and 200 lead swc dry lubed bullets....but that was in a duty gun not a tuned bullseye type match gun and similar load was used with 230ball .....you just get a few more loads per lb with bullseye over Unique and old Unique burned dirty...the new stuff is cleaner and isn't sensitive to powder position in case with larger charge over bullseye charge.....when you load/shoot tens of thousands of rounds a season it can add up but try a little heavier load of bullseye and see what it does.......again good luck and good shooting-loading!!

Big Daddy thanks for both your replies. I do find that hotter loads shoot very well in fact my last thread questioning loads for 45 I loaded some with 6.9gr Unique which did very well but were a little hard on the shooter. I dropped it down to just the 6.5 with equal results and less abuse on me and the gun. I tend to try and load as light as possible without sacrificing results unlike many who get into reloading to see how much powder they can get in and how big a bang they can make and still have a hand.

Every gun has likes & dislikes. Unique seems to be very user friendly from one gun to the next. I have never had a 45acp NOT shoot 200-230gr lead bullets well on top of Unique powder. I use 6gr under 200gr for "soft" loads & the same charge for std. vel. 230gr loads. I don;t recommend loading much lower than 6gr w/ 200gr, it tends to burn less efficiently & accuracy does not improve.
If you want to try a powder for "light" loads, I recommend WST. Very clean & extremely accurate.

Fred thanks for both of your posts. I guess I'll just give up on the Bullseye then (at least for now) and get it sighted in again.

(Hopefully this works) This is my 50 shot group today. (A little play after checking loads out)

I use Bullseye with the Barnes 45 ACP bullets. I started out with 4.9 and stopped at 5.3 My Kimber likes them.

the old time loads were 5 gr with a 230 RN for field use and 3.5 gr and a 230 RN for target use. bullseye was the standard pistol powder 40-50 years ago. now i have better luck with WW 231 or AA5 and AA7

I wouldn't give up on Bullseye just yet. Depends on how fast and how far you want to shoot. For 25 yd or less and very accurate (1 ragged hole at 10 yds and 1 1/2-2" at 25) and mild shooting, try 3.8 - 4.0 gr (that gives you a whole lot of shooting from a pound of powder) I use WSP, 3.8 Bullseye, H&G 200 SWC. Functions very well in standard length 1911s with soft springs (but won't shoot in my 3 1/2 inch gun worth a hoot).
The thing about Bullseye is making sure you don't double charge. Be sure to eyeball each case in a loading block for proper level of powder.

Mike

I didn’t give up yet; I just loaded 8 different loads between Bullseye and Unique. Hopefully this is the last experimental trip to the range.

Also, I have a lock out die so double charges will be caught. Those work nice, a bit expensive but 45.00 is worth not blowing up a gun or your hand.