CLAYS charge questions. 45ACP

bryanbag · Mar 22, 2017

I was given 4lb of Hodgdon Clays about 6 months or so ago. Lucky me.
First off I'm a little confused on what this powder is called. While look for load info, it seams that his powder had/has two name.
Hodgdon Clays and Universal Clays, are these 2 different powder or are they the same?

While looking through my load manuals I noticed that this powder is/may be called different names.

Modern Reloading (2nd Edition) - 230g bullet - has Universal and Clays listed. I'm going to guess this is 2 different powders

Sierra (Edition5) - 230g bullet - Has it listed as Universal Clays

Hornady (9th Edition) - 230g bullet - Has it listed a Universal

Lyman (49th Edition) - 230g bullet - Has it listed as Clays

I usually use Winchester Super Target but I'm out and funds are a little short right now, So I started looking at load for Hodgdon Clays in 45ACP to get me by for now. Just trying to get right load data.

Vigilante Sniper · Mar 22, 2017

Two different powders, straight Clays is faster burning than universal. I use straight Clays in .45. I use 3.8 grains with a 230 gr bullet, and 4.2 grains with a 200 SWC

There is also a third, International Clays

Universal works great in 9mm and .40, straight Clays best for .45.

bryanbag · Mar 23, 2017

Thanks for the info.
I kinda figured that would be the case by looking at the powder charges for what I want to load. But had to make sure before making up test loads.

Let post up some favorite loads
As of right now I'm running - 230g Rn Bayou Bullet with 4.2g of WST don't recall OAL at 730fps to 745 fps.

RG43 · Mar 23, 2017

It's rather confusing because there is "Clays" and then there seems to be "Clays Technology" which is a couple of other powders apparently, including "Universal" and maybe the "International"? I've got a lb of Universal and on the bottle it doesn't say "Clays Technology" but seems to be the same as the powder in this photo which does say "Universal, Clays Technology":

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/1009110922/hodgdon-universal-clays-smokeless-powder

The data chart on the bottle looks the same, it's just my bottle doesn't say "Clays Technology" below "Universal", so I'm thinking they dropped the reference to Clays on their Universal powder? Considering how important it is to know what powder you are using information for, this seems rather nuts to me!

RG43 · Mar 23, 2017

Vigilante Sniper said:
Two different powders, straight Clays is faster burning than universal. I use straight Clays in .45. I use 3.8 grains with a 230 gr bullet, and 4.2 grains with a 200 SWC

There is also a third, International Clays

Universal works great in 9mm and .40, straight Clays best for .45.

Vigilante Sniper

I haven't started loading yet, waiting for some time to set everything up. I have some Universal, Bullseye, Titegroup and HSG powders. Which would you recommend as the best to use with 45acp? Are you familiar with any of these for that caliber?

noylj · Mar 26, 2017

Since 1911, Bullseye has been the first choice of powder for .45 Auto.
Clays (be sure it is NOT International or Universal, but just Clays) is OK, but the accurate load range is about 0.05gn, while Bullseye is accurate over the whole safe charge range.
For my .45s, the most accurate powder was 452AA and is 231/HP38 now, followed by AA2, Red Dot, and Bullseye.
By HSG, I'm guessing you mean HS-6, a good powder for .45 Auto, but not for light target loads and not as accurate as the powders above.
If you want accurate loads, see Bullseye-L forum.

RG43 · Mar 26, 2017

noylj said:
Since 1911, Bullseye has been the first choice of powder for .45 Auto.
Clays (be sure it is NOT International or Universal, but just Clays) is OK, but the accurate load range is about 0.05gn, while Bullseye is accurate over the whole safe charge range.
For my .45s, the most accurate powder was 452AA and is 231/HP38 now, followed by AA2, Red Dot, and Bullseye.
By HSG, I'm guessing you mean HS-6, a good powder for .45 Auto, but not for light target loads and not as accurate as the powders above.
If you want accurate loads, see Bullseye-L forum.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I meant HS-6, I was looking at a list I'd written in chicken scratch and the 6 looked like a G.

Vigilante Sniper · Apr 2, 2017

RG43 said:
Vigilante Sniper

I haven't started loading yet, waiting for some time to set everything up. I have some Universal, Bullseye, Titegroup and HSG powders. Which would you recommend as the best to use with 45acp? Are you familiar with any of these for that caliber?

Of the powder you have Bullseye is probably the best of what you have but tightgroup will get you great accuracy too but is a lot dirtier than Bullseye. 452AA was my favorite powder back in the day, that has been replaced with WST. Most of my 200 gr SWC loads are with 4.2 grs of WST, clean burning and very accurate. Lots of Bullseye competition shoots have switched WST also. Clays is my second got powder for .45. Send me your email by pm and I can send you my massive reloading data spreadsheet. You can also find some of my load test data at brianenos.com forum. Just do a search for Darrell.

RG43 · Apr 8, 2017

Vigilante Sniper said:
Of the powder you have Bullseye is probably the best of what you have but tightgroup will get you great accuracy too but is a lot dirtier than Bullseye. 452AA was my favorite powder back in the day, that has been replaced with WST. Most of my 200 gr SWC loads are with 4.2 grs of WST, clean burning and very accurate. Lots of Bullseye competition shoots have switched WST also. Clays is my second got powder for .45. Send me your email by pm and I can send you my massive reloading data spreadsheet. You can also find some of my load test data at brianenos.com forum. Just do a search for Darrell.

Hey VS, thanks for the info. I PM'd you my email, would appreciate seeing your reload data spreadsheet when you get a chance. I also plan to get over to brianenos when I have some time to explore over there, I've heard it's a pretty good site.

CLAYS charge questions. 45ACP

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