.45 Long Colt 'Indoor' loads?

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However, since I already load the .44-40 I should be all set, if I decided to load the Schofield in the future.

Dunno.

I use a different shell plate for 45 Schofield than I use for 44-40 and 38-40 on my Hornaday AP Lock and Load progressive press.

Just checked. 45 Schofield does not fit into the shell plate I use for 44-40 and 38-40.

Perhaps it will work with different brands of shell plates/shell holders, but not with my Hornady shell plates.
 
I use Universal for all of my smokeless pistol cartridges. For 250 grain bullets, I use 7.3 grains of powder generally, which is probably a bit stouter than what you're looking for. Hodgdon lists the starting charge of 6.5 grains at a velocity of 742 ft/s, and I can say that anywhere between that and 6.8 makes for very mild shooting out of my guns.

You'll have the same issues as you will with other powders in such a large case of course. I've heard that Universal is particularly position sensitive (although I have never had any noticeable issue with this, just loading for the purpose of plinking) and obviously it does not nearly fill up the case. There could be pistol powders without that issue (aside from the obvious example of Trail Boss I'm not aware of any) but I will say it does fill it far beyond "barely covering the bottom of the case." As long as you are paying attention, the powder is visible enough that you will never be wondering even at a glance whether the case is charged or not. Its biggest advantage is that it's fairly cheap, and at least in my experience relatively easy to find throughout this whole ordeal, and as the name implies it really does work well in pretty much every pistol cartridge.
 
I have 700x,how many grains in my 1860 pietta steel frame 45 cases would be safe to load, and would I need a filler
 
I now have a nice load for 45 Colt (6.2 grains of trail boss and a 200 grain HG 68 clone I already cast for 45 ACP). I have beaucoup Colt cases, dies, bullets, TB. Any reason to consider fooling with 45 Schofield?
 
I have 700x,how many grains in my 1860 pietta steel frame 45 cases would be safe to load, and would I need a filler

I assume you're talking about a 45 Colt cartridge conversion of an 1860? What is safe depends entirely on what bullet you're using. Even though it's an open top, you should be fine using standard 45 Colt loads. I personally use moderate loads with my open top '72. According to Hodgdon, using a standard 250 grain LRN bullet, you have a range of 4.8 to 5.7 grains of 700-X. This applies only to a 250 grain LRN bullet - if you're using a different bullet, you can find the data you're after at hodgdon.com. Somewhere right in between will probably end up being a decent load, but you need to cross-check against other sources (sometimes Hodgdon runs on the higher side compared to other manuals, in my experience, and I wouldn't want to push the envelope with a cartridge conversion revolver) and work up a load on your own. Start at the low end, and go till you find a load you like or hit the limit.

Disclaimer, I am not familiar with 700-X, but I have never heard of using a filler with any smokeless powder before, and intuitively it seems extremely dangerous with absolutely no upside. Filler is sometimes used to create mild loads with black powder specifically because black powder needs to fill the entire space beneath the bullet and ideally be slightly compressed, so the only way you can reduce the amount of powder (and therefore the power of the cartridge) is to reduce the volume it needs to fill, hence the filler and/or wads. With smokeless powder, all you would be doing is reducing the volume of the case and increasing pressure. For obvious reasons, don't do this. Just use the powder the way it was meant to be used.
 
using 200 grain flat top in my load with the 700x

Hodgdon recommends anywhere between 5.0 and 6.2 grains of 700X under a 200 grain cast bullet. Interestingly Lyman Cast 4th Edition is a little more aggressive on this one, recommending 5.9 to 6.6 grains of 700X for a 200 grain bullet. I would refer to the Hodgdon data for an open top, as the higher load there is still getting you well into the 900 FPS+ region which would be plenty stout anyway. Lyman's data starts at 922 FPS, which is fine but probably about where I would stop with mine, personally.
 
Just a trivia example. I load a 200 grain SWC in 45ACP. Hand casting figured I could double down and use the same bullet in the 45Colt. Never could get that bullet to work well in the 45C. No crimp groove as it was designed for a cartridge that head spaces on the mouth. I finial deduced the primer was unseating the bullet before the powder full ignited.
Now that this thread is still going I’ll add a foot note to my post.
I now load Trail Boss and black powder only in 45C. Those 200 grain SWC’s work great over TrailBoss.
 
do u have to do anything different with schofield brass will it fit ok

Yes, Schofield will be different, but will chamber just fine in your .45 Colt. Smaller case means less volume, which means higher pressures than the same charge in a bigger case. Hodgdon does not have data for 700X, but Lyman Cast suggests 4.5 grains as a starting point, and 5.0 as a max with a Schofield case and a 200 grain cast bullet. Interestingly they seem to be pretty conservative here compared to Hodgdon in terms of max pressures, but if you're using Schofield brass you probably want a weaker load anyway (otherwise I don't really see the point of using it). If that's what you're after, their suggested starting point of 4.5 grains will probably be fine for you.
 
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