How to develop a pistol load?

I've recently started loading pistol cartridges and I'm curious to know how do y'all work up loads. I have lots of experience loading for rifles, just starting out with pistols.
Looking to develop an accurate target/plinking load for 45acp. Right now what I have on hand are bayou bullets 200 swc, bullseye and tite group powders, cci 300 lpp, winchester brass, and yes plenty of manuals.
I guess more specifically, how many grains of powder do you increase per loading, seating depth, chronograph use, etc. I'm hoping to develop a load that shoots well out of 3 different 45s. I'm not looking for pet loads, just your process to reach a pet load.
So, what are your steps in the process?

I start 10% below max and work up in 0.2 grain increments and just above recommended COAL until I get a load that does 2 things; burns clean enough and has the same recoil, POA and POI as my hollow point defensive loads. That is the main reason I handload my pistol ammo since it is so expensive to buy factory ammo made for the same purpose. Cost is probably less than half and I can go from fun to fighter loads with a mag change and no adjustment in technique or anything.


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>I guess more specifically, how many grains of powder do you increase per loading,

From stat to max, I break it down to have about 5 increment. That prevents any sudden pressure problems. If I see there is less the 0.5gn from start to max, I tend not to use that powder.
>seating depth,

I have never ever considered seating depth. I work out the COL before I start to load.
Your COL (Cartridge Overall Length) is determined by;
your barrel (chamber and throat dimensions)
and
your gun (feed ramp)
and
your magazine (COL that fits magazine and when the magazine lips release the round for feeding)
and
the PARTICULAR bullet you are using.
What worked in a pressure barrel or the lab's gun or in my gun has very little to do with what will work best in your gun.
Take the barrel out of the gun. Create two inert dummy rounds (no powder or primer) at max COL and remove enough case mouth flare for rounds to chamber (you can achieve this by using a sized case—expand-and-flare it, and remove the flare just until the case "plunks" in the barrel and lock the die body down temporarily).
Drop the inert rounds in and decrease the COL until they chamber completely. This will be your "max" effective COL. I prefer to have the case head flush with the barrel hood (or a few mils higher than where the head of an empty case aligns with the barrel, as all cases are too short and I prefer to minimize head space). After this, place the inert rounds in the magazine and be sure they fit the magazine and feed and chamber.
You can also do this for any chambering problems you have. Remove the barrel and drop rounds in until you find one that won't chamber. Take that round and "paint" the bullet and case black with Magic Marker or other marker. Drop this round in the barrel and rotate it back-and-forth.
Remove and inspect the round:
1) Scratches on bullet--COL is too long
2) Scratches on edge of the case mouth--insufficient crimp
3) Scratches just below the case mouth--too much crimp, you're crushing the case
4) Scratches on case at base of bullet--bullet seated crooked due to insufficient case expansion (not case mouth flare) or improper seating stem fit
5) Scratches on case just above extractor groove--case bulge not removed during sizing. May need a bulge buster.

chronograph use, etc.

>All a chrono really tells you is velocity. Unless you need to know the velocity (action pistol or for exterior ballistics for long range rifle use), it is more a toy then anything else.

I'm hoping to develop a load that shoots well out of 3 different 45s. I'm not looking for pet loads, just your process to reach a pet load.

>I look to Bullseye competition and use their pet loads for direction. Powders that work great in all my .45s are: 231/HP38, Bullseye, Red Dot, and AA2. My most accurate load right now is a Zero 200gn swaged L-SWC and 4.8gn of 231/HP38. Alternatively, a Precision Bullets swaged and coated 200gn L-SWC with 4.9gn of 231/HP38, followed by a Precision Delta swaged 200gn L-SWC and 5.0gn of 231/HP38.

So, what are your steps in the process?

Unless you want to test everything, I look for bullets and powders with known accuracy potential (meaning, if someone just says XYZ is accurate, I pay little attention unless they can say XYZ gives my less than 2" groups at 50 yards or something similar. The word "accuracy" means very different things to different people) and try them.
Bullets for handguns:
In almost all cases, I find JHPs and L-SWCs to be the most accurate and plated bullets to be the least accurate.
Choice of powders I base on what others have found to work well and operating pressure. For pressure under 22ksi, I find that very fast powders almost always work best. For pressure under 35 ksi, I find powders from Unique to Herco almost always work best. For pressures above 40ksi, I find powders from AA9 up to 296/H110 work best.
For fast powder, Bullseye is the powder to beat.
For medium powders, Silhouette seems to be the powder to beat (except in all my 9x19s, Power Pistol is the powder to beat)
For slow powders, 2400 has given me the best accuracy in .357 Mag, .44 Rem Mag, and .45 Win Mag.

First off, I haven't loaded for titegroup in 45ACP.
I would think titegroup would be a little fast for 45, I only say that because it such a small charge between min and max load weight. I have multiable load books but my go to books are the Lymann edition 49 & 50.
In the Lymann book has the 200g SWC using titegroup 4.8g to 5.4g with an OAL of 1.235

If I were to use titegroup for 45, I would play it safe and start off with 4.5 and work up in .1 increments. (10 to 20 of each weight, I like 20) the first 10 to run through a chronograph make note of the FPS and inspect the brass after each firing and the other 10 for accuracy testing. What ever works best for you, stick with that.

OAL, Most books are going to put you in the range of 1.175 to 2.275. Most reloaders I know and trust will put you in the 2.250 range for just about most bullet profiles.

I personaly like Winnchester Super Target and Hodgdon Clays behind a 230g round nose Bayou Bullet with OAL 1.250
My 45 really like 690 to 710 FPS, even though it is still very accurate in the 800+ FPS range.

230g RN
Powder - Winnchester Super Target (WST) - 4.3g
Brass - mixed head stamp
Primer - Winnchester LP
FPS- 715 to 730

230g RN
Powder - Hodgdon Clays - 3.8g
Brass- mixed head stamp
Primer - Winnchester LP
FPS - 695 to 710

Clays to me, at least has a smoother recoil allowing me to get back on target quicker than the WST and I find it a little more accurate in my Springer TRP than the WST.



Now this is just me and my findings, Work your load to what works for you.

Thanks! Very insightful info! I didn't want to have to reinvent the wheel, saving me lots of time... and money.

The Bayou 200 SWC should be loaded to 1.250" OAL. My normal load is 4.2gr of WST, I've loaded 4.1 and 4.7 of tightgroup, 4.0 of Clays, 4.2 of N310, 5.6 of 231, 5 gr of Bullseye.