Best SAA Clone "Outdoorsman's" Load in .45 Colt

[.455_Hunter]

Greetings,

I just picked-up an Uberti Chisholm Cattleman in .45 Colt with a 4 5/8" barrel. The quality and craftsmanship seem very good for a gun in its price range ($349). The correct (and compact) SAA size grip, cylinder and frame make for a very handy firearm, with more natural pointability than my Ruger 5 1/2" Blackhawk and 7 1/2" "Old" Vaquero (nothing against the .45 Rugers, I love them too!!!). I also appreciate the more or less "traditional" action with hammer mounted firing pin, four hammer positions, and independent loading gate action. This being said, I am curious what the opinion is for the best factory "Outdoorsman's" load would be for this gun. I opened carried gun today while snowshoeing above Apex, CO loaded with five Remington Express 250 gr. LRNs, and did not feel poorly armed. Please vote which of these readily available factory loads would best fit the purpose of improbable emergency use against two-legged and four-legged predators (no grizzly/brown bears in CO, yet!).

Thanks,

Hunter

 

[Nightcrawler]

I'd go with the Buffalo Bore. It's crazy expensive, but I've used it before and it's good stuff. It's also more potent than most of the other stuff.

 

[Jim March]

Yup. I've seen no other factory load that's even close.

And *every* time somebody checks velocities on Buffbore loads with real guns and a real chrony they check out, sometimes "and them some" .

 

[454shooter]

Personally, I would be VERY careful with ammo for that Uberti.
That 1873 Cattleman frame is a blackpowder frame.Those walls of the cylinder are thin.
And, you have to stay within blaclpowder pressures for this handgun.
I have one.It's a great packer.Very light. But, it can have the bite.
Cowboy loads can be used in it.If you reload, PLEASE, don't ever use the load info for Rugers. I stay in the 250gr/255gr bullets.
Enjoy that Uberti.They're great to shoot.

 

[Jim March]

Ummmmm..."Blackpowder frame" has two different meanings.

In a Colt, it means a gun made prior to...hrm...not sure the EXACT cutoff point but I think it was somewhere between 1895 and 1899. Somewhere around there anyways.

Two things happened: the frame was strengthened via better metallurgy mostly, and the base pin latch system was changed from a screw pointing down and forward under the barrel (I've only seen pics, and it was a while ago...) to a cross-pin system same as now used on Ruger SAs.

Much, MUCH later Uberti introduced replicas of the older-style frame with the older style latch - but did NOT weaken the guns to match. These "blackpowder frames" are the same strength as any other Uberti.

That's not to say "it's as strong as a Ruger large-frame" but it IS pretty close in strength to a Colt SAA of recent vintage. I would say that even the lower-end model Ubertis with brass grip frames and mediocre finishes can take at least some 200gr @ 1,100fps or 255gr @ 1,000fps loads assuming those loads were developed intelligently and/or professionally.

Remember: it's possible to do a load where peak pressure is high but it's just a quick spike and net bullet energy is only "decent". A very well engineered load can run at lower peak pressure for a longer period of ignition and sometimes get a FASTER load that way. The latter is what a pro does. Tim Sundles at Buffbore may have serious "issues" where certain canines are concerned but the man definately knows his ammo...

 

[bakert]

I voted for the traditional 250/255 gr loads because they're closer to the original .45 Colt loads. I don't own one but have heard the Uberti Cattleman is a nice revolver. I personally don't like cowboy loads. Choking that big old .45 colt down to the 700/750 FPS level just don't appeal to me. If I wanted less recoil for speedier shooting I would go to a smaller caliber. All of my single actions are Rugers which will handle some very potent loads but I seldom shoot those preferring reloads of 250/255 gr bullets at about 800 to 850 FPS although I do keep my BH loaded with the Win Silvertips as a house defence gun at times. I would use these same loads in a Cattleman if I owned one.

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