I have several pounds of AA #5. I used it very successfully to develop loads in .32 SWL and .32 H&R Mag. Looking to branch out into other calibres where it may excel. Specifically interested in .38 Special +P, .38/44 HD, .44 Special, .44 magnum midrange and .45 Colt in modern guns.

I have the Accurate (Western) Powders Guides, plus some emailed data direct from them, and many other manuals. I've been reloading for 45 years (rifle, pistol, shotgun), and IMHO the available AA #5 data is pretty weak sauce. My usual powder is HS-6 or Power Pistol for the above applications.

Any experienced reloaders have any insights as to load data for AA #5 in .38 Special +P, .38/44 HD, .44 Special, .44 magnum midrange or .45 Colt?

Have a Merry Christmas!

I have not used AA#5 in 44 Magnum and I do not have a 45 Colt, but I have used it in 9x19mm, 357 Magnum, 10mm Auto, and 45 ACP. AA#5 acts a lot like Unique. It does not produce as much smoke as Unique, but it definitely burns cleaner the closer you get to maximum safe pressure.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Find their loading manual, "Accurate Smokeless Powder Loading Guide, Number1" (and only) Published 1994 by Wole Publishing. Mine cost 15.95 back then. 346 pages. Has No.5 loading data for every cartridge you listed in several weight bullets. I used No.5 for Subsonic 9mm when nobody else had data.

Ivan

I use AA#5 for .38 spl, .357, .44 spl, 9mm, 40 SW, 45 colt and 45 ACP it's clean and meters well. The only thing I don't use it for is heavy .44 mag loads I use AA#9 for that.

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SWHF #595

andy52 beat me to it, AA#9 for 44 Mag. AA#5 is excellent with the mid size cases, and should be great in 38 Special. 231 has been my go to powder for so long, I just haven't bothered to try AA#5 in 38. Let us know your results.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Western Powder's latest free reloading guide is edition 7.0 , I just received it a few weeks ago . Plenty of data for AA#5 .
Newer Manuals , Speer , Hornady and Lyman contain some data also .
I have found AA#5 to be a little slower than Unique ...So any application you would use for Unique you can use AA#5 .
357 magnum standard midrange and 38 special +P , 9mm Luger and 41 Special (215 cast lead SWC @ 850 - 900 fps) are a good fit .

Think of AA#5 as Unique's slightly slower brother!
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

As I mentioned in my OP, I have the latest Accurate data. It only cites pressure at the maximum charge, so is limited in utility for extrapolation. BTW, the latest guide is 8.0.

I do load .41 Special, and thought AA #5 might be useful, but there is no data for that in the Accurate guide. I found some info in a 2017 article in Handloader magazine.

Hopefully a member here has some hard data for Accurate No5.

I see starting & max charges listed in free 8.0 download from Accurate/Ramshot. Don’t see the 41 Special listed. I do see #5 data listed for the 41 & 44 mag, also the 44 Special. There would be room to interpolate a low pressure, revolver load with all that.

#5, Unique, H Universal, all right next to each other on the burn rate chart.

Attached Images

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My .45 colt Henry BB Steel loves 300gr cast bullets pushed by a good dose of A#5 and is very accurate.