Best powder for my S&W .45 Colt Mountain Gun?

J

jski

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What would be the best powder for my .45 Colt Mountain Gun?

I) Unique?
II) Titegroup?
III) Clays?

Something else? Primarily, I'll use the rounds as range ammo. Punching holes in paper. Been using Titegroup for awhile. Haven't really branched out from that though.
 
If I'm not loading nukes in my Blackhawk, I go with Unique. Missouri Bullet 255s just under 1,100 and a pleasure to shoot. I like the big boomers, too, but this is plenty potent.
 
A 255 grain bullet traveling 1100 FPS is about 200 FPS faster than Alliant's Max load for Unique in 45 Colt.
 
See "Blackhawk, Ruger". Yep, I'm 0.1 gr over Alliant's max. Of course, they tested in a 5 1/2" bbl. An extra 2" helps mine. For the OP, AA#5 is another good one.
 
Last edited:
ligonierbill said:
See "Blackhawk, Ruger". Yep, I'm 0.1 gr over Alliant's max. Of course, they tested in a 5 1/2" bbl. An extra 2" helps mine. For the OP, AA#5 is another good one.
Click to expand...

Your post implies you are recommending 255 at 1,100 FPS and that you use heavier stuff in the Ruger Blackhawk.
 
The "best" powder depends on whether you shoot lead cast or jacketed bullets and the bullet weight. Since you are shooting at paper I assume accuracy is important to you.
For heavy jacketed bullets CFE Pistol gives some versatility and is also good with light cast bullets. HP-38 and TiteGroup are good powders for midrange loads on both types and the full weight range. If you are shooting at ranges out to 100 yards you will want a bit of velocity in with your accuracy and CFE Pisto or Blue Dot will provide higher velocities. BlueDot has never given me the small groups that I wanted but each gun is an individual, so your mileage may vary.
 
Herco has been the best choice for me with the 250-255 gr bullets. It's about 10% slower than Unique, so you can load a little faster with the same pressure, or the same speed with a little less pressure. Very accurate and clean burning in my 5" barrel.
 
TiteGroup is considered to be "position insensitive" making it a good choice for small charges in big cases.
Downside is, it's very easy to get a double charge if you're not careful(of course that can happen with many other powders, also).
 
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