45 acp & 44 mag

[Chris iliff]

I was asked by a friend what one powder would work best in both of these calibers. I thought that I'd run it by the best, so I'm asking here. My friend is not a big competition guy, just a guy that has the two calibers and would like to make his choice based on ecomomics. Thanks for the help.

[Caspian_45]

Invest is a reloading manual. There is lotsa great info found in them. Including burn rate charts and articles that cover many different parts of reloading.

To the question......I doubt you will find one powder that will load both calibers to a satifactory level. The 45 works very well with the faster burn rate powders. The 44 works better with slower burn rate powders. I would recommend picking a powder for each caliber. For 45 Clays, 231, WST, 700X are all great. For 44 try something in the burn rate of H110.

[LPatterson]

If he just wanted to shoot practice loads in the 44 Mag with 44 Special brass my choice would be Unique. For full bore loads anything usable in a 45 ACP is too fast a powder for a 44 Magnum load. YMMV

[Joe4d]

Best for what purpose ?

[Chris iliff]

Seems I used "best" twice, My first "best" would be for powder. I explained that he is not a competitive shooter, he is concerned with just fun shooting/plinking, and not spending money on two powders (economics). My second "best", of course, refers to the people on this forum. I guess I'm not sure about your "best" Joe4d,....powder or people?

[Caspian_45]

Ok. Lyman 47th edition shows Unique, Blue Dot, SR4756, HS-6 and 231 as acceptible powders for 225 gr LEAD 45's and 215gr LEAD 44's. If he wants to load the 44's to 44 Special velocities Unique and Blue Dot would be the way to go.

He can load 1270 rounds per pound of Unique using the base load for a 45 @ 5.5 with 225 lead. He can load about HALF that many using the Unique in the 44 with 10 grs as the base load for 215 gr LEAD. The Special base load is 6 grs of Unique with 215 gr LEAD.

We could use a lot more info as too how much he's gonna shoot and of what caliber and what kinda bullet and what velocity. I still recommend a loading manual and READ the thing. They do give the small manuals away at matches in the shooter packets (trust me I've seen'm) and most gunshops that sell powder if you ask. Trying to use the wrong powder to make ammo is BAD idea. Spend the extra $25 and get a pound of the right powder. Give your friend safe advise.

[ebg3]

Longshot would be a good choice for top velocities in the .45 acp. It is still a little too fast burning for magnum .44 mag. loads but it should provide good upper medium rate velocities. I got this from my Hodgdon manual.

[Joe4d]

Well you cant really have a "best" powder in two different types of rounds. One is a short auto loader the other a large revolver round. one works best with fast powders the other with slow. The "best" people here are trying to help but you havent given us any details.

I am gonna go out on a limb and guess the 45 acp is being used in an autoloader and the 44 mag is being used in a revolver, and the intended targets are paper and cardboard.

I would load for function in the 45 and go with Unique, it isnt too slow for the 45 and would be pretty good for reduced cast bullet loads in the 44.

[parisite]

Powder is the cheapest component in reloading....buy two kinds.

For those two calibers just choosing one powder you will sacrifice performance of them both.

Get Clays, Bullseye, ect..., for 45 and 2400 for 44 Mag. That's what I use.

[Chris iliff]

Thanks for all the replies.

Thanks Joe4d, that's exactly what he's doing and a good place to start. I'll point him to Unique as a recommended possible starting point. I will also get him to read this entire thread.