.45 Colt shotshells

[RidgwayCO]

I had some time free yesterday, and thought I'd load up some .45 Colt shotshells. I've already done this for .38 Special and .44 Special in years past, as I like to have a box of shotshells available for my revolvers, and the commercial CCI rounds are a little rich for my blood...

I started by filling 50 Speer shot capsules with 163.5gr of #11 shot each. Total weight for each filled capsule is about 180gr. This amount of shot allowed for a tight fit of the base cap, and no wiggle room for the shot. At 3.8 gr for 10 pellets, I got about 430 pellets in each capsule. I like the #11 shot because it gives very good coverage on the target.

With the capsules filled, it was time to start loading. Using some new Winchester brass, primed with CCI LP primers, I dropped 7.2gr of Unique (.95cc) into each case, and then seated each capsule to 1.575" COL. That's a lot of capsule in each case...

Then came the light roll crimp, and finally into the storage box.

By the way, when Speer recommends a light roll crimp, they aren't joking. I can't believe I did this twice. I swear, I just tightened the crimp die a smidgen the second time...

So, in return for an hour or so of my time, I've got 48 shotshells for my .45 Colts. Natchez has the CCI Blazer shotshells in .45 Colt for $14.21 per ten. That means my 48 shotshells are worth about $70. Plus my brass is reloadable... And finally, MidwayUSA says that CCI has discontinued the loaded .45 Colt shotshells.

 

[Funshooter45]

Thank you very much!

I had seen the shotshell capsules before and I saw in my Speer manual some load data foor them, but I have never actually making any shotshells for revolvers. It seems like I have 4 or 5 of the store bought CCI shells laying around somewhere for my .357. Not a whole lot of reason to be shooting them, especially at the prices you mentioned, so they just kind of siit around on a shelf somewhere. I suppose a guy could use any size shot he wanted, anywhere from #12 down to #00 huh? That might be fun to play around with someday.

Thanks for the tip regarding crimping.

Are the capsules delicate when it comes to seating them in a press?

 

[RidgwayCO]

No problem seating the capsules at all. In fact the capsules feel like nothing compared to lead or jacketed bullets. I used a standard SWC bullet seater.

 

[hogcowboy]

I don't actually change my crimp die. I just 'feel' for a light crimp. Just barely moving the handle ever so little. I still end up with a cracked case now and then. But one or two lost is a small price to pay for your own reloads I think. I've started reloading with #5 shot for bigger game like rabbit and squirrel. You can't find that on the store shelf! There is something special about your own loads.

 

[cheygriz]

You haven't mentioned firing them yet, but in my experience they work quite well on rattlers out to about 10-12 feet. BTW, i use #12 shot. With #11, you may get good performance to 15 feet.

Congratulations on finding an area of handloading that many never explore!

Note. My .45 Colt Anaconda loaded with my shot loads performs as well on rattlers as the Taurus Judges (410/45) that several of my friends own.

 

[Funshooter45]

I'm not a bit surprised at that. Plus, you have a really beautiful revolver instead of the ugly ole Judge with its long cylinder.

 

[BUG-O-1]

I have some 45LC Speer capsules on order, want to try them in my 1858 Rem. with R&D cylinder. I was using 7gr. of Win. 231, under 250 gr. bullet, est.900 fps.,a little to much. Did some reading about Trail Boss, like it better, using 5.5-6gr. grains under 200gr. bullet=approx. 800 fps. But I'm wondering if I should switch back to Win.231 for a No. 8 shot, anyone have a suggestion.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

By the way, when Speer recommends a light roll crimp, they aren't joking. I can't believe I did this twice. I swear, I just tightened the crimp die a smidgen the second time...

Don't feel bad, I broke more than 2 making up .38 Special shotshells. You are totally correct, when they say slight roll crimp they really mean slight.

I bought a used .38 Special taper crimp die at a gun show a while back (only $5) I'm going to give a try next time I load up some shotshells. We'll see if they hold on the rounds in the cylinder when fired.

 

[loadedround]

I load the Speer Shot Capsules in 44 mag, 45 Colt and 45 ACP (S&W 25-2) and have found that in these big bore revolvers #8 shot seems to perform much better than the 11 or 12 shot. Much better shot pattern and seems to be effective to 25 feet. Would like to try #9 shot if I dinn't have to buy a 25 lb bag. Just remember YMMV.

 

[rcmodel]

My experience has been that #7 1/2 or #8 shot doesn't kill snakes as dead as the smaller #9 or #12.

Seems to me more tiny pellets completely shorts out their nervous system and they don't even twitch, while fewer bigger holes doesn't.

I picked up a couple of strap-on excercise weights at a garage sale years ago thinking I could use the shot in shotgun reloading.
Turned out, they were filled with #12 dust-shot, and that is all I use for handgun shotshells now.

rc

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I use #9 shot in all the shotshell loads I make for handguns. I also find they kill quickly.

 

[ReloaderEd]

With the crimp problem, all the cases would probably need to be trimmed to the same/correct length? Very interesting going to try in my ROA conversion. Thanks Be Safe

 

[FROGO207]

Hey guys I have the thought that if they are discontinuing the finished product in that caliber it might be that the capsule supply will also stop. It might be a smart move, if you want to have some in the future to buy a bunch ahead just in case. I will be doing just that as the capsules are not that expensive yet. I have also messed with loading them into the brass casings and that works but the payload is smaller unless you use longer brass like for the 454 Casull.

 

[suemarkp]

As I recall, these shot capsules are a bit smaller than bullet diameter. So when you resize the case, you don't need to neck expand them. Then, they'll seat fairly tightly on their own. You won't really need to crimp the mouth either, since the mouth was never expanded.

 

[cfullgraf]

Hey guys I have the thought that if they are discontinuing the finished product in that caliber it might be that the capsule supply will also stop.

If I remember correctly, empty 45 Colt empty shot shell capsules were available a while before loaded ammunition was available. So, maybe just the loaded ammunition did not sell at volumes desirable to CCI.

But that is only conjecture on my part as I am not privy to CCI's marketing plan.

Definitely a small niche market.

 

[Notfade]

Fun with speer shot capsules

Im not going to tell anyone this is a good idea, but when you get as old as I am you get strange ideas about whats fun.
That said, I started buying shot capsules when they first came out. I have only used the 38 cal. caps. One day I wanted to see just what you could put into one of these little do-dads and low and behold I found that 4 pcs. of #4 buckshot fit just about perfect. If you add some of that shot buffer it fits better than perfect. They weigh in around 93 grains assembled. (with some shot buffer) I put them over 5 grains of unique and shot them out of a 6" bbl. Ruger GP 100. and a Taurus 850 2" bbl.
Both shot to point of aim at 10 yards both had about a 6" pattern at that range. At 5 yards I got around a 2" pattern and both guns put all the buckshot clean through a piece of 3/4" flooring plywood.
Now like I said before I'm sure no one would recommend this, all I can say is it worked for me with no kind of pressure signs at all. I kept a few of those old loads around for I don't know what, but a few weeks ago Racoons started raiding my trash and making a big mess. couple of nights ago I caught one in mid scrounging and popped him with one from my old Taurus with that load and it looked like he was struck by lightning.
Strange whats fun when you get old.