Ok guys, after not doing any reloading for about 12 years or so, I'm digging out my presses and getting ready to load .45s and 9s again. Powder selection has changed a bit, and I'm wondering what would be good choice for clean burning target rounds.
In general, I have found the Accurate Powder line to be fairly clean, especially AA7 and AA(. If you have the cartridge/bullet combo that fits the envelope, Longshot works very well and is clean too. Longshot is THE powder for heavy bullets @ high velocity in the S&W 40, 10 mm, and 45 ACP. Power Pistol burns fairly clean too. I have heard that ball powders like Wnchester 231 are clean burning but have not used myself.
I like winchester 231 for my 1911 it seems to burns very clean i like to judge how clean my powder burns by the face of my barrel bushing 231 seems to leave it the cleanest.
Winchester 231, burns clean, I've not tried a lot but this works well for my .40 and .45 . Don't hesitate to go with what Indy suggested, he's kinda the "gun guru" around here.
I like Winchester powders, 231 for light & medium loads, 296 for full power magnum rounds. THese burn as cleanly as anything that I have used. AA powders also are clean burning in my experience.
As stated above, unique is not a clean burning powder, even though I do use it once in a while.
parson
Win 231, Hodgdon TiteGroup, and Hodgdon Universal Clays are all good clean pistol powders. I've settled on TiteGroup for the time being, but I'm liking the Universal Clays, too.
Since HP38 and WW231 are of the same lineage as far as burn rates, pressures and performance go, any argument of one over the other is a moot point. Of the two 231 has always been easier to acquire in large quantities so that is what I use.
I've been using American Select in .45 ACP and 9mm target loads. It is clean burning and close Bullseye in burn rate. It is primarily a shotgun powder and therefore is relatively cheap and easy to find.
+1 against W231. I actually like unique better than w231. 231 seems to leave a residue on the outside of my gun which also clouds my fiber front sight. Working with Titegroup now. So far so good.