.45 LC part 2

[Random 8]

Well, I did a thing today. Most of a week of driving fire tankers in Northern MN with very little sleep and no down time left me with a fat wallet.

Picked up a Western style .45 LC Taurus revolver today. It's very light, and will certainly not be used for any sort of precision shooting, but will likely be a woods, casual shooting, and camping gun.

I've got a die set, Starline brass and some MBC 255 SWCs on order. The box of factory ammo I talked Cabelas into half price for with the gun also slung a cast 255, and seemed to shoot OK with pretty tolerable recoil.

I have a limited supply of Unique (no brainier for the cal) as well as some HP38, zip and TG. Any favorite loads here? I would like to use in order of preference....Zip (I have a lot of it), TG, easily replaced, HP38, Unique (saving this as much as possible for reduced rifle and mid power .41 mag).

As wildcards, I also have some Longshot, and WST if one of those has an interesting application here.

Not sold on the 255 SWC, but I would like to stay in the relatively heavy weight spectrum as that load zeroed my elevation pretty well. If anyone has a heavyish bullet that they really love in the old .45, by all means share!

 

[Outpost75]

Since the 1920s, now for about 100 years, the factory smokeless charge for the .45 Colt according to Hatcher (1935) with 255 lead was 6.5 grains of Bullseye at 12,700 cup.

In post-1900 smokeless frame Colt Single actions you can go to 7 grains for 13,700 cup This is also fine in post-1918 Colt New Service revolvers which are heat treated.

In modern Uberti and Pietta clones proofed to CIP and in the S&W Model 25 and any of the Rugers you can safely go to 7.5 grains at 18,000 psi as measured by modern piezoelectric gages.

 

[ballman6711]

I don't shoot my 45 LC often, but I do like a 250gr RNFP with W231 in my new model Vaquero. I'll have to look at my notes to be more specific.

chris

 

[AJC1]

I shoot a Lyman 250 with 6.6 red dot... it's an easy shooter.... my herco load is a tier2 for modern guns at 9.8 same bullet... I shoot these both in a new smith...

 

[Galil5.56]

I shoot a Lyman 250 with 6.6 red dot... it's an easy shooter.... my herco load is a tier2 for modern guns at 9.8 same bullet... I shoot these both in a new smith...

If you can spare the Unique Random 8, you know what to do, at least for some loading. FWIW, TG would be my last choice.

Nice to see some Red Dot being burned up here. Although in .44 Special, 6 grains of Red Dot and any well-sized 240 grain LSWC was very accurate and pleasant from my Model 29. RD was also great in any 30 cal service type rifle round I tried it with cast, and of course fantastic in 12 gauge trap loads. Never felt RD got the respect it deserves for its versatility, performance and economy.

 

[Outpost75]

With Bullseye being hard to get, lately I have been using alternately TiteGroup, WST or 452AA. Initially I test starting loads at 6 grains, then work up over a chronograph adjusting the charge for 870+/- 25 fps with the 260-grain Accurate 45-260F from my 1920 Colt New Service with 5-1/2" barrel and B-C gap of pass 0.007 / hold 0.008".

With these powders my charge establishment tracks within +/- 1/2 grain of the customary Bullseye load.

 

[BW460]

Depending on the gun, the standard Unique load is either 8.0 or 8.5 grains under a 250/255 gr lead bullet. My Ruger Redhawk does better with the RNFP bullets than the SWC's. It also likes 8.5 grains Unique.

 

[black mamba]

7.5 - 8.0 gr. of HP38 will give you a good load of around 950 fps and very accurate.

 

[.45Coltguy]

BW460's post is spot on. 8.0gr Unique/250gr coated rnfp bullet and you are good! HP-38/Win231 will work well also.

 

[Quanah]

I really like Maplewood Bullets' Lee 452-255-RF, sized 0.454" and loaded over 8.5 grains of Universal. The load produced 864 fps from a 4 1/2″ EAA Bounty Hunter and (shooting from improvised rests) immediately grouped 1 1/2″ to 2” at 25 yards, right on top of the front sight. My old 16” Puma lever action did 1113 fps with it and kept three of them in 3 inches, at 100.

Maplewood Bullets Lee 452-255-RF for the 45 Colt | The Sixgun Journal

 

[ballman6711]

I don't shoot my 45 LC often, but I do like a 250gr RNFP with W231 in my new model Vaquero. I'll have to look at my notes to be more specific.

chris

My notes say I got good accuracy at 6.4-6.6 grains, and settled on 6.4. FWIW I went as high as 6.8 grains.

chris

 

[bigpower491]

I've been burning a fair amount of Zip in my 454 "Casual" loads with very good results. Basically a 45 Colt loads in the Casull brass. Shooting a 250 coated SWC, using westerns standard 45 colt data. They list 6.0-7.1gr range with that weight. I've been doing quite well with it at 7gr in the larger case. Recoil is very light and accuracy is superb.

 

[Charlie98]

I have a limited supply of Unique (no brainier for the cal) as well as some HP38, zip and TG. Any favorite loads here? I would like to use in order of preference....Zip (I have a lot of it), TG, easily replaced, HP38, Unique (saving this as much as possible for reduced rifle and mid power .41 mag).

Honestly, because Unique works so well in the .45 Colt, and particularly for Cowboy-level loads, I would probably use it there and find something else for your .41MAG loads. A lot of the powders mentioned here are either Unobtanium (Unique, RedDot/Promo, Bullseye,) or expensive (WST, and some others.) The good news is for 'reduced rifle and mid power .41MAG' loads, there are powders available on the shelf today that can easily be used there, and with ease... AA#2/5/7 and even AA4100, TiteGroup (not my favorite, but it works...) some Vihtavuori powders, and others, that might not work so well in .45 Colt loads.

 

[.45Coltguy]

Agree with Charlie98^^^ about Unique. Too bad my old standby's just aren'e found any longer: Red Dot, Universal and Unique[hard to find].
Glad I have what I have left of those.

 

[murf]

luck,

murf

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Agree with Charlie98^^^ about Unique. Too bad my old standby's just aren'e found any longer: Red Dot, Universal and Unique[hard to find].
Glad I have what I have left of those.

Wasn’t BE86 supposed to be the New and Improved Unique? I’m still seeing it on sale online at $34-$38/lb.

 

[Charlie98]

Wasn’t BE86 supposed to be the New and Improved Unique? I’m still seeing it on sale online at $34-$38/lb.

There are those that call it that... I am not one of those. BE-86 is pretty versatile, but not like Unique is. If you are using it in it's use range, then it's not a bad powder, but I used my 1# up and don't plan on buying any more.

 

[gilgsn]

 

[.45Coltguy]

There are those that call it that... I am not one of those. BE-86 is pretty versatile, but not like Unique is. If you are using it in it's use range, then it's not a bad powder, but I used my 1# up and don't plan on buying any more.

Again, I'm in agreement with Charlie98 here. But, IMO only, Win 231 is a better fit and in more calibers/cartridges. Not to mention more data.

 

[Charlie98]

Again, I'm in agreement with Charlie98 here. But, IMO only, Win 231 is a better fit and in more calibers/cartridges. Not to mention more data.

Of the newer powders, I think a better comparison to W231 would be SportPistol, not BE-86. In my rather limited testing with BE-86, I found it behaved like a slightly slower version of Unique, which is why I think it gives up some of it's versatility.

 

[Random 8]

I should clarify my OP. I have slightly less than 1lb of Unique left in the stable, so other than I will probably do a half box run just to see what "the right powder" does here to use as a benchmark, that one is pretty much a non starter going forward. I DO have enough for my limited application of light .41s and reduced near gallery centerfire rifle for the foreseeable future.

My application does not require great consistency or precision going forward, and although I wish to shoot a full powerish .45LC load, maximizing velocity is not a priority. My requirements are it go bang, not click...bang. I will be using one of the previously mentioned powders.

I do have a significant stockpile of WST purchased before the price hike. Some is earmarked for shotgun, but once my supply of 1 1/8 oz wads is expended, I'll happily substitute here if WST is especially sweet for this caliber.

 

[AJC1]

I should clarify my OP. I have slightly less than 1lb of Unique left in the stable, so other than I will probably do a half box run just to see what "the right powder" does here to use as a benchmark, that one is pretty much a non starter going forward. I DO have enough for my limited application of light .41s and reduced near gallery centerfire rifle for the foreseeable future.

My application does not require great consistency or precision going forward, and although I wish to shoot a full powerish .45LC load, maximizing velocity is not a priority. My requirements are it go bang, not click...bang. I will be using one of the previously mentioned powders.

I do have a significant stockpile of WST purchased before the price hike. Some is earmarked for shotgun, but once my supply of 1 1/8 oz wads is expended, I'll happily substitute here if WST is especially sweet for this caliber.

Have you considered n330/340. Should be gooder. Depending on your position on it I could load some up for real world sample data.... I have n340

 

[gilgsn]

Have you considered n330/340. Should be gooder.

I have tried (see chart above) N340 and it is indeed very good and economical, but lately I have found that 3N37 is great for the .45 Colt and doesn't leave as much empty space in that large case, which I try to avoid.
Gil.

 

[Random 8]

Have you considered n330/340. Should be gooder. Depending on your position on it I could load some up for real world sample data.... I have n340

Thanks for the offer, but I plan on using one of the named powders until they are near exhaustion. One of these should work reasonably well for my purposes, and I don't feel like adding any new powder horses to the stable at this time as I'm already adding a new caliber, dies, bullets, brass.

 

[AJC1]

Thanks for the offer, but I plan on using one of the named powders until they are near exhaustion. One of these should work reasonably well for my purposes, and I don't feel like adding any new powder horses to the stable at this time as I'm already adding a new caliber, dies, bullets, brass.

Of what you have hp-38 seems a fan favorite I've just not found it to be ideal... lots of unburnt chunks.