Accurate Arms No. 5

[Bill in Oregon]

My usual smokeless go to powder in .45 Colt for normal (14,000) loads is Universal Clays, but I can't find the stuff. I have heard that AA No. 5 is pretty good propellant for a wide range of handgun applications, and a local shop has a couple of pounds on the shelf. Is this good stuff? Burn clean -- or at least cleaner than Unique?

[jmiller]

Bill, AA5 is a great powder. I used a lot of it in my 38Super, 356TSW, and 9x21 when I was shooting Team Challenge. It was one of the most accurate powders in each of those guns and it metered like water. I wouldn't even hesitate getting it. I think you'll like it better than the Clays powder (I used a lot of that also back then).

[BenT]

It is my go to powder for 32 H&R and 38 special. My friend uses it in his 45 colt because of the shortage with good results. A little goes a long ways. You can't go wrong with it.

[Bill in Oregon]

Grabbed a pound whilst I could.

[Griff]

you'd dang near have room for a triple charge of the stuff, so just do that little extra check for powder levels.

Which is why I don't like it for the 45 Colt.

[Sixgun]

(maybe Six's pubic hairs are extra thick). er.

Yes Earl. We Italians have everything thick, including our skulls. Now, as I approach 60 years of age, I wish I could get the hair on my head to be like the "other hair". Dang, it gets thinner everyday and everyday more strands go off on a visit somewhere and never come back.

On to the number 5. Like I said earlier it is a great powder but with full power loads, using plain base bullets, I notice it leads more than Unique. For an instance, my usual play load in the 44 magnum is 10 grains of Unique and it burns clean with no leading......yes, I size correctly......To equal that load, I need 11 of number 5 but that powder cuts the bases real bad and gives me plenty of leading.

Given a choice, I'll take Unique over #5.-----6

On another subject, I have a bad headache. Me and "The Gunny" spent the better part of the afternoon sending fruit cans full of cement 4-500 yards in the air with the mortar. You know, we have to break in the neighbors for the festivities on the 4th.

[Bill in Oregon]

"On to the number 5. Like I said earlier it is a great powder but with full power loads, using plain base bullets, I notice it leads more than Unique. "

NOW you tell me ...



Earl, I hand-weighed each charge. Don't even know where the old Lyman 55 is hiding ...

[earlmck]

On to the number 5. Like I said earlier it is a great powder but with full power loads, using plain base bullets, I notice it leads more than Unique. For an instance, my usual play load in the 44 magnum is 10 grains of Unique and it burns clean with no leading......yes, I size correctly......To equal that load, I need 11 of number 5 but that powder cuts the bases real bad and gives me plenty of leading.

Given a choice, I'll take Unique over #5.-----6

Given that it's much easier to be an "expert" when you don't do any shooting but just sit at a keyboard.... here's old earlmck who has never owned a can of AA #5. But playing around with the "QuickLoad" program it looks like that #5 is enough slower than Unique that your 11 grains of it is only getting you 22K psi vs. the 32K you get with your old favorite 10 gr. Unique load. And as we know, those plain base bullets may need the pressure to bump 'em up to keep from gas cutting. So just guessing it is the lower pressure that is allowing that base cutting/leading of a fairly hard bullet. If you were to ease that load on up toward 13 grains you might just eliminate that leading and get a new favorite 44 Mag load. Just sayin'...

Earl, I hand-weighed each charge.

It's not the accuracy of the charge weight that worries Griff and I, it is the density of the powder that would allow you to dump two charges weighed to precisely 10.50 grains into that big case and still only have it 75% full. So us fellers who place 50 rounds in a loading block and then charge them all before loading.... well we just need to make double extra sure we have a good inspection of the powder levels of all these before continuing on to the bullet seating. Since I am a "loading block" guy I have a modest bias toward loads that don't leave room for a double charge, even though I think that I never continue on without the "inspection" step. I have a strong bias against loads in which a double charge doesn't even come half way up the case. And that's what you have with this AA #5.

On a brighter note -- it looks like #5 would be quite good in the 380 auto .

[Bill in Oregon]

Earl, most of a pound of No. 5 available for trading, as 8.2 grains of it barely covers the primer hole.

Even though I hand weigh, my preference is also for bulkier powders, especially in the cavernous .45 Colt case.
Now where'd I put that Trail Boss?

[vancelw]

I buy AA#5 8 pounds at a time, but my usual .45 Colt load is with AA5744. Fills the case nicely. 5744 is more expensive than other powders though, and usually requires a heavier charge (to make it even more costly). I just got used to using it when I was trying (in vain) to limit the different powders I bought....

[Bill in Oregon]

Vance, 5744 is one of my favorites. Just never thought of it as a pistol powder.

[earlmck]

"Handloader" mag just showed up in my mailbox today. By some act of serendipity Brian Pierce has an article about some 23 different powders used to duplicate the old factory 45 Colt load. And he misses a bunch of powders (5744 and Green Dot and Blue Dot and 4759 and 4227 and 2400 and.....). He shows AA#5 for 10.3 grains, 860 fps. For what it's worth, "QuickLoad" thought it would take 10.5 grains to do it, at about 12K psi.

The old Scotsman here wouldn't throw that AA #5 out or trade it off cheap -- I'd just make sure I inspected the charged cartridges under a bright light before seating bullets.

[magyars4]

11.2 gr of AA#5 is my standard load for my tro of 45 Colts guns....plenty accurate and a good medium powered load.