American Select: The New Solo 1000?

I used to load Solo 1000 in my .45 wad loads but it isn't available any more. It appears that Alliant American Select is very similar to Solo 1000 in terms of burning rate (fast), density (low) and cleanliness (high). Has anyone here tried it?

No, but what was your load for Solo?
Thanks

I think I was loading 4.5 grains of Solo 1000 under a Nosler or Zero 185 grain JHP. That was a few years ago so I could be off a tenth or two.

I think that Darius Young also was using Solo 1000 for a while.

Oh, and I also loaded 4.1 grains under a Star 185 grain LSWC or LSWCHP, both with the sticky black lube and then with the powdery white "match" lube.

I've been using American Select for some time now in light loads for .357 Mag., 9X19mm and .45 ACP. For .45 ACP, I have been using 5.0 grains under a 200 gr. LSWC bullet. It seems to meter pretty well out of my Dillon powder measure.

I did a comparison and discovered that American Select is not as close to Solo 1000 as I expected.

1) It's even "fluffier" than Solo 1000. My Lee Auto Disk powder measure uses the .49 cavity to drop 3.8 grains of Solo 1000; American Select needed the .53 cavity to drop 3.9 grains. American Select has big, black flakes that look almost identical to Hodgdon 700-X and it doesn't meter as well as Solo 1000.

2) AS seems to burn a bit slower than S1000. I loaded both powders in 45 ACP under a Precision Bullets 200 gr coated SWC.
3.9 grains American Select: mean velocity 664 fps
3.8 grains Solo 1000: mean velocity 676 fps

I can't report on any differences in cleanliness or 50 yard accuracy as I was testing at 25 yards. Both loads would work well on the short line.

A load of 4.5 grains of American Select under a Zero 185 gr JHP yielded 710 fps. I may bump that load up to 4.7 grains and try again.

I went back to the range with three loads: the Zero 185 gr JHP over 4.7 grains of American Select, the Speer 185 gr TMJ SWC over 4.7 gr of AS, and the Precision Bullets 200 gr coated SWC over 4.2 gr of AS. I didn't bring the chrono this time because I felt confident that my loads would be up in the velocity range I wanted.

The 4.2 gr load with the CSWC was my favorite. It shot well enough at 25 yards that I think I'm going to use it as my long line load in a match.

The 4.7 gr loads with 185 gr bullets were also good. All three loads left minimal powder residue which is a nice bonus.

The only downside I've seen with American Select is that it takes a long time to get consistent drops from a powder measure. I swapped from the Lee Auto Disk Pro to a RCBS Uniflow and it still took many trials of dropping, weighing and adjusting to get the charges I wanted. I wouldn't suggest American Select for 38 Special wadcutters or any other load under 4 grains.

Orpanaut wrote:I went back to the range with three loads: the Zero 185 gr JHP over 4.7 grains of American Select, the Speer 185 gr TMJ SWC over 4.7 gr of AS, and the Precision Bullets 200 gr coated SWC over 4.2 gr of AS.  I didn't bring the chrono this time because I felt confident that my loads would be up in the velocity range I wanted.

The 4.2 gr load with the CSWC was my favorite.  It shot well enough at 25 yards that I think I'm going to use it as my long line load in a match.

The 4.7 gr loads with 185 gr bullets were also good.  All three loads left minimal powder residue which is a nice bonus.

The only downside I've seen with American Select is that it takes a long time to get consistent drops from a powder measure.  I swapped from the Lee Auto Disk Pro to a RCBS Uniflow and it still took many trials of dropping, weighing and adjusting to get the charges I wanted.  I wouldn't suggest American Select for 38 Special wadcutters or any other load under 4 grains.

Good info - thanks

An update:

I thought my powder measure was all set to drop 4.2 grains of American Select. I was wrong. After several frustrating minutes of getting drops of 4.1, 4.3, 4.4 and only a few 4.2 grains, I dumped the AS back in the bottle and loaded with Solo 1000 instead. After a few tweaks I was getting consistent drops of 4.1 grains and I loaded my match ammo.

Yesterday I tried my new load in a 2700 match and the results were... ugly. Everything functioned fine, but my slow fire scores were dismal, down about six points per target from my average. But I can't blame the ammo because my .22 slow fire scores were down as well. And when I tried a magazine of a different load, I still threw shots out in the six and seven rings.

So, until I can shoot some 50 yard groups from a rest to really test my loads, I am going to give up on the Precision bullets, even though they are beautiful and look like they should group well. And I am not going to use any more American Select for a while either. Maybe I will use it in the fall with heavier charges for 44 Magnum plinker loads.