[mrming]

And here is the curosity point for me. As many of us are already aware, many loadbooks list seperate significantly higher pressure loads for rugers / TC's for the 45 colt.

Can any s&w wheel gun stand up to a steady diet of the stiffer loads? Not talking max loads that rival 44 mag, but definitely stronger stuff than factory...

[Walosi]

They will hold up - the question is, how many rounds? I enjoy shooting my .45 Colt Smiths. I keep them at or below the 900 fps recipes in the several manuals I load from, and leave the "TC/Ruger" loads to TCs and Rugers. It isn't a mattter of "how hot can you go?" but a matter of "how hot is adequate?". A 255 SWC at 900 fps is very accurate in my guns, and is "good enough" for whatever I might run into, if well placed. If I need more out of the guns, I also load a 300 gr. wadcutter at 800 fps. Stout, but manageable, and very, very decisive.

[HSMITH]

Go to Handloads.com and read the article by John Linebaugh on the 25-5. Then stop back and thank John K for hosting such nice articles.

[James Bondrock]

Stopping just short of the Ruger starting loads as the maximum load for the Smith, and limiting the use of those, seems prudent to me.

[45crittergitter]

I understand that Smiths will get loose from shooting hot loads. I believe Speer has a +P .45 LC section where the +P is limited to about 25,000 psi, which is lower than most manuals' "Ruger" sections. Perhaps that is what you are looking for.

[mrming]

hmm. thanks for the input gent's.

[carpettbaggerr]

Go to Handloads.com and read the article by John Linebaugh on the 25-5.

http://handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=12

[badgerrr]

I bought a 25-3 a number of years after buying my Ruger Blackhawk.

Being prudent, I started by thumbing in my Ruger Squirrel loads. That was 10 gr Unique under a cast 230gr round nose. Cases stuck in that S&W cylinder, hard enough, that I had to poke out each case individually with a screwdriver.

Over time, I discovered that, by going to Blue Dot, I was able to push a 250gr cast bullet 1125 fps. That was pure top end for that thin cylinder. Sure killed these small blacktail deer good though.