loads for 45acp

[tonybt99]

Please bear with me if this has been asked a million times before. I load a great many shotgun and rifle shell's, but never any pistol cartridge's. A dear friend of mine, because of age, gave me a ton of his reloading gear. So here is what I have, two 1lb. unopened canister's of Unique powder, two unopened boxes of 45 Hornady 200gr. XTP bullets. I need some loads for Unique ,primer to use, for a middle of the road, velocity wise, to use for target practice. I will be using these in a Colt Competition model with a 5 inch barrel. Please be gentle with me. Also any tips for loading this round would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all in advance.

[Former Cav]

go here
https://www.alliantpowder.com/produc...er/unique.aspx

In the old days, I used to load up a 230 FMJ (BALL) of Hornady brand, with 7.2 grains of unique and Std Large pistol Winchester primers.
Today, I load 230 FMJ Precision Delta Brand bullets with 5.7 grains of Winchester 231 powder using the Std Large pistol Winchester primers for practice.
For carry, I use Speer gold dots, 230 JHP's.
You could probably safely load your 200 grain xtp's using 7.2 grains of Unique, but I'd check with the manufacturer.
I am shooting these through a Kimber Polymer Target 1911 pistol and also a Colt Govt Model Series 70 Mark IV. Both have 5 inch barrels