Conqueror Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 I do most of my .45 shooting through a suppressor, so I like to use clean powders for the health of the can. I am fairly new to loading .45acp, and was told that 231 was clean by a local. I am not satisfied with its cleanliness - lots of black soot everywhere, and it gets all over me when I shoot wet. I will use up the pound of 231 I have, but can anyone recommend me a truly spotless .45 powder to replace it with? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big_kahuna Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 I do most of my .45 shooting through a suppressor, so I like to use clean powders for the health of the can. I am fairly new to loading .45acp, and was told that 231 was clean by a local. I am not satisfied with its cleanliness - lots of black soot everywhere, and it gets all over me when I shoot wet. I will use up the pound of 231 I have, but can anyone recommend me a truly spotless .45 powder to replace it with?Thanks! Try Clays, seems clean to me... but I don't know jack about cleanliness in regards to suppressor use.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffwalsh Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 +1 on the clays. I also hear VV is clean but never tried it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Clays and 310 are both super clean, light years cleaner than 231. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allgoodhits Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Clays and WST are both pretty clean burning. I find in mild .38 super loads I do get some annoying build up (jacketed bullets) in the comp, which has to be cleared out periodically. I do not find that to be as bad with WST. Both powders work well in .38 Super and .45 acp loads. I run .38 Super in the 1050 - 1120 fps range and .45 acp in the 730-800 fps range. WST meters better than Clays through my Dillon powder measure. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 I have used N320, 231 and Titegroup and that is the order of clean to filthy. 320 is a whole bunch cleaner that 231 and TG is the worst. I used all these with 200 gr loads. I haven't tried Clays yet. Later, Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kz45 Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 vv 310 super clean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmitchl Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I don't shoot through a supressor but in my unsupressed guns VVN310 or 320 are both clean. I recently discovered Clays and find it to be clean also. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM262 Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 VN320 is very clean in my .45ACP, I just wish it was a little cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek45 Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 CLAYS Vhit or WST. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conqueror Posted March 28, 2008 Author Share Posted March 28, 2008 Clays sounds like a winner as it's cheaper than anything VV. Any thoughts on bluedot or bullseye? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek45 Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I would not try Bluedot or Bullseye again. Too many newer better powders already mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thunderstick Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I have seen Clays pop up a number of time so I gave it a try. I seemed to get wild variations in performance. The comment on it not metering through a dillon seemed to be spot on. Any suggestions on how to fix this? It is definetly soft shooting and clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revchuck Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Clays is a good competition powder for .45 ACP, but if you're trying to hit factory velocities, you're not going to do it with Clays and jacketed bullets within the data Hodgdon puts out. It appears that it takes about 4.2 grains (5% over max) to hit around 750 fps with a five inch barrel, which leaves you about 80-90 fps short of standard factory 230 grain loads. Solo 1000 is another clean burning powder which can give you higher velocities (than Clays) with published data. I haven't tried it with jacketed bullets, so I don't know whether you can reach factory level. Of course, if velocity isn't a factor, Clays is fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek45 Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 3.8 grs. CLAYS always made major in my 5" KART barrels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00bullitt Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 (edited) Plain ol Hodgden Clays is a very clean powder and also great for shooting through a can due to the soft report. I shoot it through my AAC EVO45 dry and its as quiet as alot of other loads wet. As for shooting wet......you're gonna get a bit of black soot from any powder.........just the nature of the beast. So you kind of need to rule out truly spotless if you shoot wet. But it is noticeably less with Clays. All VV powders are extremely clean but you pay way too much for what you get in my opinion. If you are going to load Clays and want tpo make a certain PF or duplicate factory loads.....you are going to have to exceed max charges in the manuals. OAL is your friend with Clays. Some of the load data has max charges at 1.155". I load anywhere from 1.220"-1.250" and go over as much as 5 tenths without any issues. I highly recommend loading the 230 grain over Clays. I tried the 200 and it did not feel like what I wanted but the 230 does. Try 4-4.1 grains of Clays at 1.240". That will yield you a 168 pf and be very quiet and soft shooting. Edited March 28, 2008 by 00bullitt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00bullitt Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I have seen Clays pop up a number of time so I gave it a try. I seemed to get wild variations in performance. The comment on it not metering through a dillon seemed to be spot on. Any suggestions on how to fix this? It is definetly soft shooting and clean. What OAL did you load to and what bullets were you using? Are you getting any bullet setback? Also what cases were you using? Were you chronoing the loads? Clays is sensitive to several factors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce282 Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 3.8 grs. CLAYS always made major in my 5" KART barrels. Was this with Moly coated 230's? I just 1k of the Precisions to try, and out of my G21 it takes 4.1-4.2 of Clays with a Frontier coated 230rn. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allgoodhits Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 (edited) A comment every now and then, leads me to believe that someone "new" to reloading and some forums may not understand that some using "W" are referring to V-V powders. The choir knows this, but some of the new guys may be confused. WST is a Winchester (Winchester Super Target) powder not a V V powder. Likewise of course with W231 which is Winchester 231 not VV 231. I think we owe this clarification to the newer guys from time to time. Edited March 28, 2008 by Allgoodhits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conqueror Posted March 28, 2008 Author Share Posted March 28, 2008 That's why I write "Winchester 231" whenever I post my load data, etc. for others. It is hard to tell the difference between W and VV sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conqueror Posted March 28, 2008 Author Share Posted March 28, 2008 Some of the load data has max charges at 1.155". I load anywhere from 1.220"-1.250" and go over as much as 5 tenths without any issues. 1.155 is pretty short for .45acp. I currently load 230gr Hornadys over 5gr of Win231 at 1.210 and it's a very mild load, the cases don't go far (which suits me just fine for collection purposes). I know I'll always get a bit of blowback when shooting wet, but the less, the better. I'm still finding the "happy medium" as far as how many CCs of water my YHM can likes without much blowback. This isn't for competition so specific PFs don't concern me, but I do want to at least be fairly close to factory loads because this is my HD gun. Don't want to practice with wussy loads and then not shoot well when there's a lot at risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Any mild .45 ACP load should use the fastest burning powder you can get. The Fins - who make V V and who are supressor experts - swear by N310 for supressor use. It is super fast burning. Coincidence? Also, it is clean in part due to it being single base. Expensive though. Solo 1000 is single base. It is clean. It is fast. It is far less costly than N310. Clays also works well though its not single base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Clays meters fine through a Dillon provided the press operation is very consistent and the measure kept at least half full. I have run 40+ pounds of it through Dillon measures and haven't had a bit of problem. My 45 loads have an SD of less than 20, 40 loads are about 25. If you are having problems make sure it isn't static electricity first and then make sure the press operation is as consistent as you can make it. A little one shot lube on the cases will help there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swandme Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 I have found Solo 1000 to be even Cleaner than Clays .... Great Stuff and great Value I also use it for 38 spl Cowboy loads.. I have used V V 320 for 3 years and it works well I was pleased to find out the the Same powder measure adjustment on the Dillon 650 is perfect for the Solo 1000 and produces + or - 10 fps of the V V 320 and just as accurate. Hope this helps Thanks SW and Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kframe_mike Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Is that Solo 1000 a flake or a ball?Big,small,or medium size? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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