I am looking to buy some AA #5. Can anyone who uses or has used it answer these questions:

1. How is felt recoil? 2, How is muzzle blast? 3. Will it work for short barrel 45 acp's? Has anyone used it in 45 Colt or 45 Schofield? Any opinions on use of AA#5 with lead?

I have and use AA #7. Really like the way it meters in my Hornady LNL and Redding powder measures. I have used this powder for 9mm and 357 Sig. (The 357 Sig because I have too much time on my hands. ) Use it for 9mm and 147 g molly bullets. The AA #7 is a little blasty. Not bad though.

The recipes for 45 Colt show 10 or so grains. This is good in these large capacity cases. Same is true for 38 spec and 357 mag. Mostly I load these with Trail Boss. Any info on using AA #5 in 45 Schofield would be appreciated.

Here's the deal, I want AA #5 to replace Win231. Is it up to the task? Win 231 is great for 45 acp, 40 S&W, 38 spec and 357 mag. Not so much for 45 Colt and 45 Schofield. Big case, small amount of powder. Not getting consistency with Win231 and these big cases.

__________________
old not on active duty Marine

Actually, AA#5 was developed for the .45 Auto so as you might guess it does work well. AA#5 is a ball powder so it meters very well. I have used AA#5 for .38 Special +P, .45 Auto and .45 Colt ammo using lead bullets and it's a good powder. I have to disagree W231 isn't a good fit with the .45 Colt, I use it all the time. I don't use Accurate powders much because they are not readily available near me.

IMO AA#5 will work well with all the calibers you listed...

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Archangel is right in that AA#5 was developed for the .45ACP. I use it a lot in my .40 S&W and think very highly of it. Will be loading it soon for my .45ACP.
I also agree with him that it will work well in the calibers you mentioned.

Randy

AA#5 is a very low flash powder in 45acp - excellent for low-light conditions. It is probably the #1 powder for 45acp non-mousefart applications. Having burned a lot of W231/HP38 and AA#5 in the 45acp, AA#5 is by far my favorite. I can't comment on it's application in the other cartridges you mention except to say that with the plethora of advanced powders available today there is no good reason to not use the "best" powder for each.

8.0 grains of AA#5 and a 230 grain H&G #34 is my practice load for service pistol. Meters great through my Dillon SBD.

Gosh, I had never thought to use Accurate#5 in 45 or anything else, I've just had such terrific results
with it in 9mm. I use a 115 gr FMJ RN from Precision Delta over 6.7 grains of #5 and average @ 1140fps for one of the most consistent and accurate 9mm loads I have EVER !

It certainly is low flash, low smoke and clean, but I had not thought to use it elsewhere.

I have used #9 in the 9mm, and thought it made a "snappy" load.

But 45 ACP? Now you have me heading for the reloading bench and Lyman's 49th.

Thanks, of course.

Flash

Thanks for the info. I'll make up an order after the first of the year. I order from Powder Valley in Kansas. Powder Valley, Inc.

That is a link to their web page. Good place to get powder and primers.

__________________
old not on active duty Marine

Anyone use this in .41 mag ? I've tried it, I like the way it meters and seems to be fairly accurate in the 57's.

This has become my most often used powder.
I think of it as a much improved Unique. Although it is not the "best" in
all of the calibers you mention it is "good" in more then most.
I use it in 44 Special, 45acp , 357mag , 380acp, 9mm, 38special and a lot in 40s&w, oh and also 32H&R mag.
Numbers 5 and 7 can not be beat for metering, although I check frequently
I rarely if ever find any drifting of powder measure, oh if only I could say the same with Unique.
I would caution though , although it meters nicely it is so fine that it rarely fills the case to where a person couldn't double charge.
I think in volume it would be close with Bullseye, although you use more
it is finer grained.
YMMV

Can you tell me what you run in .357 for 158 gr jacketed?
I agree 100% about the measuring.

After I got tired of the way Unique meters, I went with 5 and haven't looked back. I use it in .38, .40, .44 spc, .44 mag, and .45 acp. with no drama. It gives me decent "Goldilocks" loads in everything.

I use 7 grains of AA#5 in my 45 acp's with a 200 gr SWC of 230 RN (Homecast using Lyman molds) and get an average of 770 fps. I might add that these are "Midrange velocity" and can be stepped up a bit. The nice thing is that the extreme velocity spread of 7-11 fps makes for a VERY ACCURATE loading. Very accurate and pleasant to shoot. I am currently trying this powder in .357 mag and .40 S&W.
I bought this powder from Gander Mntn on sale for $10.00/ pound. (1000 loads per pound)
Bought 2 lbs and should have bought it all. I am also working up some rifle loadings with other AA powders. Excellent results so far.

Flash, I know this is an old thread but I've been working up a 115gr FMJ RN load using AA#5 and have pretty much settled on a very similar load charge for use in 3rd gens and Beretta 92's.

If you don't mind, what COL are you using on that load?

I'm not Flash but that is my absolute favorite load. Some times I do 6.4 but usually 6.7. COL is 1.125

AA5 is the only powder to use for hot 9X23mm loads. 8.7 grains behind a 124 grain jacketed bullet will get you >1400 ft/sec MV.

Wow, another 2 year old + thread brought back from the Abyss? Why?

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Archangle, who knows why? I clicked on it on the off chance that someone had found some #5 in stock somewhere.

History repeats itself. Long live Unique ! Oh wait, that isn't in stock either.

__________________
S&WHF 366

Accurate #5 is in stock somewhere?!?!?!?!?!!?

Oh wait, old thread...

What sort of speeds are you seeing with that load? I haven't worked the COL that far down yet. Any particular reason to run it that short?

The latest data from Accurate has the charge loads way down from old published loads with really short COL's.

Sure appreciate the input, I have a pretty good supply of #5 and can't find 231 anywhere so it's going to have to do the loading for all this years shooting.

I don't know how or why Accurate changed their data. I got my info from Lee's reloading manual which matches the data from Accurate's edition 3.3. The COL listed is 1.095 so mine is actually slightly longer than the data says. I'm not saying ignore the published data by any means but realize they are guides. This a perfect example. I've used my load for years with no problems and see no reason to change. I have no idea what kind of velocity I'm getting, never rally cared.

Jag, I have that same data from Lee that directly correlates to Accurate's older published data stating AA#5 should run @6.3~7.0 COL min 1.095 for loading 115 FMJ's.

I agree with you, why change something you know works well, and does it safely?