[Mac1911]

Casted up a few 185gm wad cutters. While taking a brake from everything going on

I wonder what your process is.
Do you find powders that fill the case? Are you looking for certain velocity.
I know there are many bullet/powder combo .

for many years I only reload for target. Been using Clays I sometimes feel like there is nothing else.
My go to loads are 185 grain lyman 452488 I cast myself along with a lee 230 RN
I have a good amount of Hornady 185gn HP-XTP I would like to load up.

 

[john_anch_ak]

Nice!

 

[mikegalway]

How many answers do you want ? I use Tite Group . It's a good bang for the buck and meters well . I also used Unique for many years , same reason . I have a hunch we may all be using what we can get for a while . 4.5 grns. Tite Group with 200 grn. SWC is my go to load .

 

[switchback]

Seems you've found a good recipe , the clays is extremely popular. I mostly use Bullseye as I've got ah a couple pounds on hand. But also have used and still would Unique, Titegroup, Power Pistol. They all work well, maybe I'm not as particular as some folks. I dunno. I was just re-reading an article by Layne Simpson where he says its hard to find a bad powder for 45auto

 

[Greg Derr]

When it comes to anything I think about the ease of supply. Some powders are great like VVN310 or 320 but can get scarce at times. I like Bullseye powder myself for .45 and .38. It drops well in larger volumes burns well and is easy to get.

 

[Apollo99]

I usually go with what meters the best through my XL650 powder measure, Bullseye seems to be very consistent, 231 is pretty good also. I get too much variation with Unique so I stay away from that.

 

[Flat6]

I’ve used all the variants listed above with success but excited to pick up some Clays , my standby, in advance of panic buying. Hopefully you have some on hand too.

 

[Steve B]

For accuracy-purpose target loads I lean to N310 or Clays. If I'm making defensive loads and will run them hot then it's Power Pistol, good velocities and still accurate.

 

[Jrock9]

W231
W231
W231
W231
Hp38 same as w231
Tight group
Bullseye
Top four i use !!!

 

[Jrock9]

P.s nice casting. Straight ww or tin added?

 

[zipper046]

I have a ton of UNIQUE and TITEGROUP.....well maybe about 40lbs....of each....and about 16lbs of BULLSEYE....

I use BULLSEYE for .45acp (4.8gr's - 5.0gr's under a 230gr head) because that is what I was always told works well...and it does! LOL

I use UNIQUE for .40s&w (5.5gr's - 5.6gr's under a 180gr head) and this is one heck of an accurate load out of both my STI Eagle and Glock 35.

my TITEGROUP i bought as a backup powder....once my BULLSEYE is used up, i may use some TITEGROUP or UNIQUE...

 

[Spokes]

Nice looking bullets Mac....

 

[DSTallguy]

45ACP: For 230 GR I like Titegroup. (4.65-4.70gr).
230gr HP @ 1.225” and 230gr RN @ 1.25”.
For 185gr I prefer Bullseye.

To answer the OP question “How to you decide....”it’s just a matter of taking out 2-3 guns with 2-3 different loads of bullet weight “A” and see what works best. There’s no single recipe that is magical in a 5” 1911 and a Sig P220-45. I’ve found loads that are acceptable in both but not ideal in both.

 

[july19]

When I started I bought a reloading manual and checked out the loads and powder options, then I made a choice based upon velocities and availability of powder.

 

[retrieverman]

I’m using titegroup, because that’s what the guy that got me started used. It’s worked, so I haven’t felt the need to change yet.

 

[studenygreg]

I use titegroup. It's the 1st powder I tried. Its always on the shelf at stores. It works. That's all I need .

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Mac1911]

P.s nice casting. Straight ww or tin added?

I made up 20lbs of FAUX Lyman #2 per Lymans Cast Handbook

9lbs Wheel Weights , 1/2lb lead , 1/2lb Tin X 2 . I have been using straight Clip on Wheel Weights for so long I thought I would give it a try.

 

[jfrey]

Unique runs in everything. I normally use WSF in .45 and 38 Super

 

[Mac1911]

W231
W231
W231
W231
Hp38 same as w231
Tight group
Bullseye
Top four i use !!!

I think between Win 231 and Clays will be my choices. I have a few other pistol powders to try but I like the low flash of Clays and it really seems to burn clean or at least there is not much unburnt powder anywhere.

Looks like Clays and 231 should have burnt up all the powder quickly vs some others?

 

[Heavyopp]

Looks like I'm the oddball — I use promo in .45, 9mm, 38 special, 38 super, and both 12 and 20 guage shotshell

Back about a decade ago, during the 1st ammo “shortage” my son, who was 11 or 12, and I where shooting a lot of skeet — he was little, shooting a 20 guage — I decided to reload shotshell so I could make a lighter round for him — 9/16 ounce of shot over promo was the recipie — he’d shoot 300 shells a week

Powder was scarce for most everything but I had found a source for promo — bought 6 jugs — 48 pounds

Needless to say, I found other uses for the promo — it loads as Red dot — plenty of load data for red dot in the older books, before the lawyers and insurance companies dictated everything

Been using it ever since — 4.2 grns of promo pushing a 200 grn semi wadcutter by Ibeji is my go to load for .45 — makes major power factor and is very soft shooting

Looks like those scarce times are coming back...