Hornady 45 cal 255 gr FP .454 Cowboy= Winchester .45 cal Brass?

[chriscokid]

Just picked up some Hornady 45 cal 255 gr FP .454 Cowboy bullets & red dot powder. I'm assuming these lead bullets i can reload & shoot with Winchester.45cal long colt brass that was originally loaded with a 250 gr lead? Please excuse me as i'm new to this and i will have a friend help me along the way as he has quite a bit more experience in reloading but i am just worried that the sells man guy gave me the wrong bullets than what i need.. i will be shooting them out of a judge taurus and a henry big boy colt 45 (((by the way this is my first set up)))

 

[Walkalong]

Your bullets will work fine. Red Dot will work for light lead plinking/target loads as well. Other powders to consider are Unique & Trail Boss. Unique is a classic .45 Colt powder and Trail Boss is very popular with lead for light loads. It is also super bulky and eliminates the possibility of a double charge.

Welcome to THR

 

[chriscokid]

Thanks!! for the reply!!! and plinking as it's called is all i want to do right now as this will be my first time ever reloading i'm guessing i will reload about 12 rounds and see where i stand from there. i was just concerned that the 255gr 454 lead was wrong for the brass i'm using. i will be getting some trail boss as i have read and saw some comparison pictures of how it would be hard to double charge. i just don't want the gun to blow up in my hand or in my face

 

[chriscokid]

O yea that shoots nice just where i want to be for a beginner. thanks... i loaded 12 of them at 6.5. i don't know how hot i can load them though

 

[Walkalong]

i don't know how hot i can load them though

Follow the load books. Any 250/255 gr lead data will work.

 

[Para Cassatt]

The Hornady Cowboy bullet #12458 is my favorite commercial bullet for low velocity 45 Colt loads in my Vaquero. 6.0 grs. of Red Dot is max. for standard pressure(14,000 PSI) loads.

 

[chriscokid]

yes i realized that after i loaded 12 of them.. Good thing i only shot 2 one in the judge taurus & one in the henry 45.. I believe the hornady book reads 6.2gr for riffles and 6.1gr for revolver. I have a hammer like bullet puller I'm going to break them 10 down and make all of my loads 5.0gr or 5.5gr with the red dot powder. This gives me a chance to use my equipment a little more.. By the way.... To save my firing pins i would have to pull the firing pin needle out of that die to resize it again? is that possible for me to do?

 

[MifflinKid]

Your 6.5 gr Red Dot is a little hot but that Henry Big Boy can easily handle the few rounds you assembled. Just shoot them in the Big Boy. You have no reason to disassemble them.

Also, those Hornady 255 gr bullets are very soft so pressure with them will be lower than with a similar weight harder bullet.

FWIW, I used to shoot those bullets with 6.0 gr of Red Dot with CCI LP primers in Cowboy Action matches. Just barely over 800 FPS from 5.5" Vaqueros.