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I am trying to get a conscenous on which powder will work the best in my .45 ACP. I will be loading my cartridges using 200gr. SWC cast bullets and the Lee Loadmaster progressive press. Please respond with your powder preference and reason(s). Thanks.

All I load in .45 Auto is 230 grain bullets, so I'm not sure what would work well for 200 grains. Check the on-line reloading data from the various powder mfr's to see what they recommend.

With the 230s at "standard" velocity (about 850 fps), Universal Clays gives a very uniform performance at 5.7 grains; Hodgdon lists 5.6 as max, but Hornady 7th edition goes all the way up to 6.1.

For a hotter load, 6.8 grains of Longshot gives about 970 fps.... but if you're shooting a 1911, change to a 20 lb spring and add a recoil buffer before shooting this load.

Here is a link to AA web site. You can navigate to the reloading guides. I think AA is the best powder for handgun reloading, period. JMO

http://www.accuratepowder.com/

I've been reloading 45ACP with 200 grain SWC's for many years. Most of the time I use Bullseye. 4.0 grains for a target load (May require a softer spring) and 4.5 grains for anything else. Recently loaded a batch with W231 (HP38). Used 4.4 grains for a target load.

For that 200 gr I would go with Unique-7.0 gr will be a warm load and help fill that case

I'd have to agree with Fourbits' recommendation.

I've shot targets competitively for quite a few years and have always reloaded using cast 200-gr. SWC over 4.0 grains of Bullseye. I use a somewhat larger charge of Bullseye in my .45 ACP "defense loads" as well, with 185-grain Speer Gold Dot Hollow Points.

The nice thing about Bullseye is that it works nicely with target and defense loads for other calibers such as 9mm Luger and .38 Special. Unless you like keeping a lot of other pistol powders on hand, you can't go wrong with Bullseye. The down side is that it is dirty, at least in my opinion ... but then so are a lot of others.