.45 Colt Powder

Which is your favorite powder for loading the .45 Colt with a 250/255gr lead bullet?

  • W-231

    Votes: 14 9.9%

  • Unique

    Votes: 59 41.8%

  • Universal

    Votes: 7 5.0%

  • HS-6

    Votes: 5 3.5%

  • AA#5

    Votes: 3 2.1%

  • Herco

    Votes: 3 2.1%

  • Trail Boss

    Votes: 26 18.4%

  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 24 17.0%
  • Total voters
    141
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Trail Boss 5.8gr for 250 RNFP (or more in Ruger BH's) low recoil
Trail Boss 6.3gr for 200 RNFP colts low recoil, can shoot these "all day"
Unique 8-8.5 250 RNFP colts snappy & sharp over 8.5
Unique 9.0+ 250 RNFP VERY BEST LOAD for '92 Rossi, good in Ruger BH
2400 18.5 265 Kieth type Ruger BH "my best 100 yard load"

FFF 35-37 265 Kieth SWC, with SPG or Equiv BP lube, CCI mag primer
Triple 7 21 250 RNFP colts & '92 Rossi

I shoot 50% trail boss, 25% Unique, 25% FFF Black powder, & 2400 only when I am out on the rifle range and just have to hit a 100 yard target with my hand gun.
 
Well I'm new to handloading and so far I've only used unique. I'm not happy with the metering though my Lee Auto Disk, but other then that it seems ok.

I'm using 250gr lead RNFP bullets and I've loaded everything from 7.5-9.5 grains, 9.5 being the max load listed on Alliant's site. I'm using a Ruger Vaquero from the mid 90's with a 7.5" barrel. My OAL was about 1.610. CCI 300 primers.

9 and 9.5 gr loads were heavy hitters and even though 9.5 is the max recommended load I don't like it in the handgun. Rifle probably would be fine.

The latest Lee book lists 8gr as a recommended load with a min OAL of 1.550. I'm still using my 1.610 setup, but I'm going to back that down to the 1.550-1.555 range.

I've backed all the way down to 7.5 grain looking for a light target load, but it's still not there yet. I'm not sure I want to go much below 7.5gr.

Any suggestions on a lighter load?

Because of the metering I'm going to try a different powder, maybe the TB.
 
700-X

Burns clean with CCI primers and is economical.
Click to expand...
Ditto, and American Select does too. I am a long time 700X fan who is really liking American Select.
 
I don't load 45 Colt, but I do load 38 spl, 40 S&W, and 357 mag with Unique, works great in all. Unique is what I would use in 45 Colt.:)
 
Walkalong,
I don't know anyone who has used American Select. How does it meter? What type of powder is it? Does it burn clean? I know, a lot of questions... sorry but you sparked my interest! LOL
 
It is a big flake powder like 700X or Red Dot so it meters so so, but gives pretty good ES & SD numbers despite that. It runs through my Redding 10X smoothly without jamming or bridging. It is super clean. It has proven to be very accurate in .38 Spl and downloaded .357 with 125 gr plated and jacketed bullets. It is very similar to 700X which I like a lot and have used for years, but it just may bump 700X out. Yea, I'm impressed so far. :)

I just loaded 50 .44 Spl with it. My standard for that has been 700X for years. I will probably get a chance to shoot them tomorrow.
 
250gr RNFP
9.0gr Unique
6.0gr Red Dot
6.2gr Titegroup

The Red Dot load is very accurate and light. The Unique load is my deer load, and the Titegroup lives up to it's name as my favorite target load.

This is in 7 1/2" and 4 5/8" Vaquero's.
 
For "standard" to "slightly above standard" colt 45 loads I like Unique.
It can be easy to get 1 ragged hole groups with cast bullet and 9 grains of it in a Blackhawk. I would start below this if using in an SAA Colt.
For Ruger loads or Ruger loads with heavy bullets (270+ grn) it seems either 2400 or H4227 work pretty good.
 
what kind of accuracy has anyone gotten with trailboss? unique is looking great but i have a lb of tb an tightgroupe, and im discrediting all previous accuracy i thought i had due to horrible leading and lack of lube lol
 
1858rem, in theory Trail Boss should have good accuracy since the powder fills most, if not all, of the case resulting in consistent powder distribution during ignition. This isn't the case for many of the other powders out there if low (< 800 fps) velocities are the objective. I got good accuracy with a Marlin 1894 in .45 Colt shooting 200 grain LRNFP bullets from Oregon Trail with a "middle of the range" load. The barrel on that particular Marlin was replaced at the factory due to a manufacturing defect and I upgraded the sights so I'm hoping to get even better results next time. I should add that many folks use Trail Boss for CAS type events where "accurate enough" may be the norm. Somehow I doubt that Trail Boss is used for hunting or other more serious pursuits since the velocities are in the 600 - 800 fps range. I'd expect to see H-110, W296 or similar in .45 Colt loads intended for personal protection or hunting.

By the way, I think you have 9oz of Trail Boss rather than 1lb. :D


:)
 
6.2 grains has been a good fun load. I wanted to try something new so i loaded up some sr 4759 for fun but then my ms started acting up and can't quite control my hands so if anyone else has tried this I would like to hear your results
 
I currently am running 700X in a Win 1894 and Green Dot for a Vaquero. Mainly because I got an awsome deal on about 40 lbs of it at an estate sale. Unique at 9 grains will duplicate factory velocity with a 250 grain lead FP according to Lymans cast bullet handbook.

700X,Green,red and Blue Dot, Unique(these are the only ones i know for sure) are a large flake powder that does not meter real accurately. Ball powders such as W231, W296, H110 and Bullseye meter exceptionally well but do tend to require larger charges for same velocity. The flake powders meter ok at charges higher than 5-6 grains.

Also, if you want to shoot cowboy action, clubs like to keep velocities below 700 fps when shooting steel and for cowboy action.(around here, anyway)
 
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Unique has almost half the votes. I'm still wondering if that's because the reloaders using Unique are doing so because they have been using it so long they do so out of habit. (and because they like the results) Some of the newer powders may yield better results than Unique, that's what I'm trying to find out.
 
ArchAngelCD,
I shot my Ruger Redhawk in .45 Colt for the first time today. I bought it a few months ago but hadn't had a chance to shoot it. Anyway, I shot loads using Trail Boss, W231 and H110. I won't be wasting any Trail Boss in that revolver in the future since the other two powders are way more fun to shoot and I found 6.0 grains of TB pushing a 200 grain LRNFP bullet to be way too anemic. The W231 loads (200 grain LRNFP with min/max powder listed in Speer #11 manual) were just about perfect to shoot. Not too much recoil, a nice snap actually, and accurate. The H110 loads were also great to shoot so I plan on doing some accuracy tests over the next few months with W231 and H110.

:)
 
1858,
Thanks for the range report. The 2 powders I wanted to use are W231 and HS-6. I'm still thinking they will be the best choices even though Unique has so many votes. I can't shake the feeling there are so many votes for Unique because it's an old powder and was used a lot for the .45 Colt in the past.

Unfortunately there is so much going on at home I haven't gotten the chance to load up any .45 Colt rounds yet. I really have to get that done before the really bad weather moves in and shuts everything down for the Winter. I've found that HS-6 works very well with medium heavy loads using lead bullets in the .38 Special, .357 Magnum and .45 Auto. I hope is does as well in the .45 Colt.
 
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