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Powder recommendations for 45acp & 40 S&W in a progressive press

Check the other .45acp post on this page, now anyway for my experience. No experience loading the .40 but I found the 230, 231, 296 and BE to be very dirty and gritty.
Back when I shot pistol in the late 90's Universal Clays was the prefered powder for the 40 and standard Clays for the 45. I probably shot 50,000+ rounds with Universal. Much softer shooting than 231 with the same speed.
 
Back when I shot pistol in the late 90's Universal Clays was the prefered powder for the 40 and standard Clays for the 45. I probably shot 50,000+ rounds with Universal. Much softer shooting than 231 with the same speed.

I totally agree with the recoil impulse being much softer with the std Clays.
Have been curious abt the other flavors
 
I can tell you 231 is really harsh compared to Universal! A friend wanted all my 231 and I was happy to sell it to him after I found Universal. My scores went up too. It was a lot easier to get off multiple shots. Fun times back in the pre wife and kid days when I could shoot a thousand rounds a week. Bullets and powder were plentiful and cheap...
 
Back when I shot pistol in the late 90's Universal Clays was the prefered powder for the 40 and standard Clays for the 45. I probably shot 50,000+ rounds with Universal. Much softer shooting than 231 with the same speed.

After looking at a lot of load books and data, I bought Universal Clays for the .45 Auto with a 230. I am not loading for both as the original poster is. I have not gotten to use the powder yet.

Danny
 
Bullseye, W231, Power Pistol.....all will work for both .45ACP and .40S&W. I also like VV N310 in .45 but never tried it in .40. I usually shoot 200 gr. SWC in .45 and 175/180gr SWC or TC coated lead bullets in .40. On my press, I use an RCBS Uniflow with Micrometer Adjuster and the Case Activated Linkage and all those powders meter well.
N310 is a lil snappy the .40, whereas N320 might be the better choice with the .40 cal.
 
I use Bullseye on both 45 and 40 on a Dillon 550. I highly recommend you use a Lee Pro Autodisk powder measure instead of a Dillon measure. The Lee is actuated by the case being pushed up and having the mouth expanded. It dispenses more accurately, has a shut-off, and is very simple to set the charge. I use Dillon for most rifle caliber, but have added the Lee measure to each of my pistol caliber tool heads.
You will need the Lee Powder through expanding die for each caliber ($14) and the Lee Pro Disk measure ( $54). These are list prices from Lee's website, I am sure they are cheaper from Midway or Graf's.

I've been contemplating trying a Lee powder measure on my Dillon for a while now. Does it work well for you and give consistent charges?

My son has a Square Deal and uses 700X for his 45acp. Works well for him.
 
I use a Square Deal B (the B, I'm sure, stands for "Beloved") for .45 ACP, and it loves Titegroup.

It has the benefits of Bullseye without the position sensitivity or the temperature sensitivity. Not to mention the little black flakes on your arms. The introduction of Titegroup made me a happy man.
 
I've been contemplating trying a Lee powder measure on my Dillon for a while now. Does it work well for you and give consistent charges?

My son has a Square Deal and uses 700X for his 45acp. Works well for him.
I tried 700X and found quite a bit of variation in charge weights.
 
Hodgdon Titegroup is what I personally use. You will be able to use the same powder charge in both of them.
I'm sure there are others, this is what has worked very well for me.

Me too. I use it in 45, 40, 9, 38, and even some plinking loads in 357, 44, and 45 Colt. It's economical - I shoot mostly 45ACP and 9mm and a single keg of it will get me about 12k rounds.
 
I've been contemplating trying a Lee powder measure on my Dillon for a while now. Does it work well for you and give consistent charges?

My son has a Square Deal and uses 700X for his 45acp. Works well for him.

I have not checked the thrown weight with a scale. I do know the Dillons are poor and the cavity is very small and deep, so I switched to the Lee. I am no longer in pistol competition, but the loads are now better than my hold.
 
I will answer for the 40 S&W only. I don't have a 45.

Lots of recommendations by others. For the 40 I tend to favor the mid burn rate powders. I'm not saying that Tite Group isn't a great powder, but the charge leaves a lot of void in the case. A double charge which could happen while you learn on your new press, would be very bad in the 40. Any setback due to you not having your expander set correctly would also be much worse with a fast powder than a mid burn rate.

Some of the other powders listed have a reputation with not metering real well in a progressive press. Unique is one of these. A really great powder that I use a lot of. To get it to run well in my Dillon RL550, I polished the interior of the aluminum cone and use a very consistent press action. Not hard to find on the internet on how to do.

I would just suggest you realize there will be somewhat of a learning curve as you transition to your Dillon. Regarding powders that meter well, I suggest you get your powder measure adjustment set, then run some multiple charges to check the aggregate consistency. I like 10 charges to confirm my powder setting. Then dispense and measure 10 weighing each charge.

I always run 5 charges through after making an adjustment before I start weighing. I also run a few through after I left my press for any time, just to make sure if the powder settled I don't get a "heavy" charge.

Your new press, run it the way you like, but these are practices I have used as my standard after loading on Dillon presses for almost 30 years.
 

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