Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a clean burning powder for mid-range .45 Colt loads. A powder suitable for 900-1000 fps velocity with 250-260 gr bullets would be ideal. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Try Winchester 231

Solo 1000 is the cleanest burning powder I have found for 45 caliber, however I do not know if you can get the velocity you're looking for so you might want to look up some loads first.

Clean burning. Seems that clean burining has turned into a more important criteria than accurate, predictable, no leading, etc. And I have very little idea of what is a clean burning powder. Seems they all are dirty, some just more dirty than others.

I know folks who love Titegroup, Clays, but I have not used these. My old standby is Unique. Works great, accurate, predicable, no leading, shoots to point of aim, etc. However I did use up about 2 pounds of Accurate Arms #5 in a 45 Colt. I developed some loads, of which I did note that there was very little powder residue after firing. So maybe that meets your clean burning critieria.

If I recreate the load, I will be using 10.5 grains of AA#5 with a 250 or 255 Lead bullet. Shot great. AA#5 is a ball powder, meters well.


5 1/2" USFA Rodeo

250 LRN (.452") 8.5 grs Unique thrown, R-P cases, CCI300 primers
12-May-02 T = 80°F
Ave Vel = 855
Std Dev = 16
ES 59.91
High 885.4
Low 825.5
Number Shots 12

250 LRN (.452") 9.5 grains AA#5 thrown, R-P cases, CCI300 primers
12-May-02 T = 80°F
Ave Vel = 721 728.4
Std Dev = 30 26.66
ES 115.5 118.7
High 762.6 786.6
Low 647 667.8
Number Shots 18 32

250 LRN (.452") 10.5 grains AA#5 thrown, R-P cases, CCI300 primers
12-May-02 T = 80°F Excellent Accuracy
Ave Vel = 792 804.4
Std Dev = 29 30.54
ES 97.52 98.15
High 843.4 862.6
Low 745.8 764.4
Number Shots 30 14

250 LRN (.452") 11.0 grains AA#5 thrown, various cases, CCI300 primers
18-May-02 T = 60°F Excellent Accuracy little powder residue
Ave Vel = 853
Std Dev = 20
ES 87.85
High 890.9
Low 803
Number Shots 24

240 JHP Sierra (.4515") 11.0 grs AA#5 R-P cases, CCI300 primers
11-Sep-05 T = 88 °F
Ave Vel = 736
Std Dev = 36
ES 145.1
High 791.4
Low 646.3
N = 14

The last time out, I tried Accurate #9, and it certainly shot well enough. Given a choice between two powders that perform equally well, I do prefer using the one that's easier to clean up. I haven't seen loads published with Accurate #5 or WW 231 that would touch 1000 fps, but the published loading data seems to be severely split between .44 Mag level loads for Ruger Blackhawks and cowboy action loads for older pistols that poke along at about 750 fps. I'm looking to split the difference, and there seem to be very few loads that focus on the 950-1000 fps range.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I'll try the powders that you suggested.

I've got some SR4756, HS6, HS7 and some Blue Dot, so I guess that I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

Since you have it, I would try the Blue Dot. It is a very clean powder, and becomes very clean around 25,000 PSI and beyond (modern revolvers/rifles only). I don't have experience with HS6/HS7. I would disagree with sierra2 regarding 231. It is a fine powder, but have found it far from clean. This holds double for .45 Colt loads. The cleanest powder I've used is Clays, but I've heard the VV line is very clean as well.

There are many powders that will get you 950fps w/ a 250gr bullet. I like Unique, some say it's dirty, but at that vel. it's fine. BlueDot may work, but needs higher pressure to burn completely (that's my view on "dirty", when it leaves unburned powder). HS7 is a fine powder for med.-max. loads in the big Colt.

So you are still not happy? I copied some Elmer Keith loads and shot them in my M25-7 N frame Smith. The data is below. Somewhere between 17 and 18 grains of 2400 you are going to have a 1000 fps load. You have never mentioned what type of pistol you are using. These hotter loads were accurate, powerful, and uncomfortable to shoot. I only loaded about 200 of them and thought they banged me and my N frame too much. These are 40 ounce handguns, the recoil is objectionable for me. I don’t recommend them in an N frame, and I have no doubt that they would upset the base pin in my USFA Rodeo. If you have a Redhawk, well, you won’t have a problem at all.

These 1000 fps loads are too powerful for self defense loads, and I have no idea if they are adequate on deer, bear, or Big Foot.

As for clean burning at 1000 fps, I don’t remember. And I don’t care.

M625-9 Mountain Gun 4" Barrel

255 LSWC (.454") 8.5 grs Unique thrown, R-P cases, WLP primers
18-Mar-07 T = 55 °F Extremely accurate empties dropped out of cylinder

Ave Vel = 813
Std Dev = 34
ES 145.4
High 878.1
Low 732.6
Number Shots 26





250 Nosler JHP 17.5 grs 2400 thrown, Master cases, Fed150 primers
18-Mar-07 T = 55 °F V, accurate uncomfortable recoil

Ave Vel = 971
Std Dev = 25
ES 69.47
High 1003
Low 933.5
Number Shots 11

5" M25-7

R21 stands for little dandy rotor #21

255 LSWC 17.0 grs 2400 R21 Fed 150 primers
1-Feb-90 T ≈ 55 ° F
Ave Vel = 959
Std Dev = 55
ES 175
Low 864
High 1039
N = 6

255 LSWC 17.9 grs 2400 R22 Fed 150 primers
1-Feb-90 T ≈ 55 ° F

Ave Vel = 1083
Std Dev = 61
ES 156
Low 999
High 1155
N = 7

250 Hornaday JHP 17.0 grs 2400 R21 Fed 150 primers
1-Feb-90 T ≈ 55 ° F
Ave Vel = 845
Std Dev = 42
ES 119
Low 788
High 907
N = 4

Win 231

Trail Boss is the cleanest powder I have used in .45 Colt. I am not sure if it would meet your velocity requirement though. I have tried Blue Dot in my Ruger and it was fairly clean. I had a little bit of unburned powder. Maybe I needed more crimp?

AA#5 at the max published charge burns pretty clean with minimal sooting under a 250gr LRNFP. Accurate too. Velocity in my 4.6" Ruger BH averages 830 fps and 823 in my 3-3/4" Vaquero.

SR4756 at the Speer #13 (Colt) max of 10 gr for 255gr SWC gets me 842. Slightly more sooting than the AA#5. At 11.5gr (RUGER/Contender ONLY LEVELS) gets me 1021 fps avg. Virtually no sooting at pressures above the Colt levels.

231 is sooty well into the ruger levels. Good accuracy.

Red Dot is pretty clean at the Ruger Level too. and 0.3gr below the Lyman Cast Bullet Manual Ruger Max my Ruger BH got 975 with very good accuracy.

2400 speckles the bore but I've gotten the best velocity without going too far off the reservation. Excellent accuracy too.