I just noticed yesterday, that my mild .45acp load was leaving unburnt powder. The only reason I noticed, was it was somewhat breezy and left some on my forearms.

I'm using mixed cases, CCI #300, 200 gr Rainiers hex HP, over 6.0 gr Unique.

I do not have, nor use, a chronograph, but there is a small difference in felt recoil and accuracy between my loads and factory BALL, et al ammo. My loads being weaker and slightly less accurate.

Do you think I should bump up the charge a bit to get a more thorough ignition?

I could foreseeably go to a quicker powder, but am reluctant to switch bullets right now as I have gads of them And I don't think the primer is the issue

IMHO Unique offers one of the best pressure curves for semi autos -especially the .45ACP. You could bump the charge a tad if you want, but I'm inclined to look at the seater/crimp die first. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Rainier bullets electroplated? If true, they are softer and may not crimp as well as their jacketed counterparts.

Yes, Rainier bullets are plated.

What would you look for on the seater/crimp die?

Do you mean to say I may not have the crimped enough? Do you think a heavier crimp would raise the pressure enough for complete combustion?

Feel free to slam me if necessary. I'm still kinda new to pistol reloads and crimping stuff


ETA: I use RCBS carbide dies. I have heard good things about Lee's Factory Crimp Die. Worth a shot here?

if you're going to crimp 45's use a seperate taper crimp die. the case headspaces on the mouth and if you use the roll crip built into the seating die it can foul up the headspace. I've been using plated bullets for quite some time now with really excellent success. i think you could bump to 6.5 gr of unique easily enough, but i notice that most of the flake powders give a bit of unburned residue. unique's a great powder in lots of things. if the unburned residue bugs you try something like ww 231 or AA7 or 5. i find the taper crimp die is very worthwhile, it really minimizes the stovepipe jams caused by having the case mouth drag on the feed ramp

Ive use the same load for practice. You should be getting about 850fps from a 5"1911. I would bump it a bit to 6.3-6.5grgr, 900fps+ w/ a 200gr bullet seems to give better ignition. Unique works best near full power loads, for slower target stuff, go to a faster powder like HP38 or WST. You really can't crimp hard enough to make a diff. in the 45acp. I agree w/ butch, the taper crimp is a must.

CharlieHo
With the .45ACP, I use as much crimp (taper crimp) as possible without causing damage to the bullet or brass. Why? It prevents bullet set-back as the bullet slides over the feed ramp; it helps maintain uniform ignition; it gives me peace of mind and security with my reloads. The last thing one wants to do is touch off a round in which the bullet has been pushed back into the case.

Having said that, remember that the .45ACP headspaces on the case mouth, and that case length will adversely effect your crimp. Those Rainier bullets should accept a moderate crimp without deforming if all else is adjusted correctly. In the FWIW department, I can't remember the last time I trimmed, if ever, a .45ACP case, but a mixed bag of cases can and will cause differences in the crimp. Don't think that you have to scrap some brass either when a simple die adjustment could be the proper fix.

I see nothing wrong with your 6.0gr charge of Unique, but I'd be inclined to bump it to 6.3 grains as fredj338 said it best, "Unique works best near full power loads." Remember too that the Unique of today is vastly superior to the Unique of 25 years ago, so I understand your concern over "dirty" powders.

I have burned many pounds of Unique and Blue Dot in the .45ACP and they remain perennial favorites, but I have found other powders I like even better, and they are V-V's N320, N340, and 3N37 powders.

Thank you all for your replies!!

I'll try to make a Cliff's Notes edition out of this response...

I am 99% sure my RCBS seater die is taper crimp. One down

I am shooting a Springfield XD45c Service (4 inch barrel). I could imagine a bit more unburnt powder here than a 5" 1911 due to the shorter barrel. I'm not really concerned, per se, with the unburnt powder; I just wish to get the most out of my rounds.
I will try increasing my charge just a bit. I'm not worried about soft target loads, I figure if I didn't want the full power of the .45 ever time I pulled the trigger, I'd have bought a .40 Two down.

I have not trimmed any of my brass. I haven't even bought a Lee trimmer tool for .45. I have measured dozens of random cases for OAL, and they are all pretty close. Close enough to be negligiable for everything but precision target work. But then you wouldn't use mixed multishot cases for that anyway.... so
The only cases I have scrapped have been from damage or ones that had small primers

Next loads I mix up, I will increase the crimp until I get some deformation somewhere; for no other reason than to see how far I can go There's the third!

Again, thank you all for your thoughts!!

Keep

quote:

Next loads I mix up, I will increase the crimp until I get some deformation somewhere; for no other reason than to see how far I can go There's the third!

The 1st thing you`ll find is as a taper crimp gets too tight the case bulges behind the crimp and acually loosens the amount of grip the case has on the bullet. It won`t take much to do this. The case body of a 45 acp does more to hold the bullet in place then the crimp.

The case headspaces on the mouth and there should be only enough crimp on the mouth to iron out the belling. I`ve seen mention of crimping with a taper crimp to a point the very edge of the case mouth runs 0.468"-0.471" when neasured with a caliper. I crimp mine to ~0.470"-0.472", depending on brand of brass, and have never had a bullet move that I`m aware of. Feeding is the point that really stress`s the cases ability to hold the bullet in place. If you can cycle a round a time or two and not have the bullet move you have plenty of crimp.

I haven`t worked with Unique in some time. The last I used it regularly was in the 45LC 25-30 yr ago and found some unburnt powder then. The acp runs at low pressure, around 21K I believe, and I doubt you will get pressures up enough to clean it up any measurable amount. As long as the powder doesn`t interfer with the pistols reliability and you are happy with the performance of the load I wouldn`t change it too much.

If the dirt bothers you or hinders the pistol try another powder. There are some very clean burning ones today that should give similar preformance to Unique. VV-n340 is one that comes to mind and TiteGroup burns very clean for target loads at normal pressures in my experiance, and is fairly inexpensive. It does seem sooty at reduced psi though. I use VV-n320 for most of my 45 acp loads now and readily recommend it if you can find it. Cases almost sparkle after firing plus accuracy and velocities are quite good.

Thank you, Ole' Joe, for your thoughts.

Now that I think more on the subject, I have chambered the same round numerous times and checked for setback, and found none. So maybe my little "crimp till she croaks" experiment will be nothing more than just a small piece of FYI.

VV-N340 has been recommended to me more than once, so I may try it out for no other reason than to try it out Everyone knows that you have to have at least 3 powders for every cartridge you load, right??

I may pick up a pound just to see for myself the difference in a functional staple (Unique) and a more modern clean powder (VV)

For lighter loads, Red Dot is great in the .45 ACP. I'd try 5.0 - 5.5 grains with the 200 grain bullets, 4.5 - 5.0 with 230s.

It burns pretty cleanly.