Taurus 450 45 Colt

[Nomad]

Does anyone know what the pressure limit of the Taurus Mod 450 45 Colt is? What kind/type weight bullet and or loaded ammo are folks using in the 450 or Taurus Judge? Obviously, the 450 can't take 410 shotgun shells.

 

[bassdogs]

Just ordered 225gr standard pressure in solid density wadcutter fromBuffalo Bore. Has some pretty outstanding ballistics. Going to shoot them in the Judge. Mine is a Public Defender model. Taking it to Alaska in Sept as a backup gun.

 

[suemarkp]

Taurus says all of their 45 Colt chambered revolvers are designed for 255 gr at 900 fps or less. They are not rated for the higher power "Ruger only" loads. Here's the manual:
http://www.taurususa.com/pdf/revolver-manual.pdf (see page 9)

 

[Brian Williams]

How badly do you want to keep shooting it. I had one and just shot Winchester silvertips in mine. It was a very good gun and I should have kept it, one of the few I wish I kept. I would not over load it, shooting 255gr LSWC in mine did a nice job and was fairly accurate. I wish Taurus still made these even with the ugly Judge line.

 

[Lawdawg45]

"Taurus says all of their 45 Colt chambered revolvers are designed for 255 gr at 900 fps or less. They are not rated for the higher power "Ruger only" loads."

Yep, this was the optimal self defense load for Elmer Keith........good enough for me!

LD45

 

[Nomad]

Thanks guys. A 255 gr at 900 fps second is plenty for self defense. I tend not to load hot anyway. I need to get the chrono out as I'll bet it's hard to get a 255 gr going 900 fps out of a 2" barrel but whatever I'll keep it under 14,000 psi.

Thanks again

 

[stiletto raggio]

Silvertips were the hottest thing I would or could shoot from mine. You could try the standard pressure Dt stuff, too.

 

[Dnaltrop]

+1 on the Win Silvertip 225s, They're the hottest load that I'll run through my Schofield, and my current SD load when the urge takes me to bring the Werewolf gun out. They feel softer than off the shelf Cowboy 250 lead rounds.

See how well they work? not a Werewolf for miles... Works well paired with my Hippopotamus repellent... Haven't found a Hippo in my backyard pool yet.

 

[Nomad]

Update on Load

I'll post this in hopes of helping someone else with a short barrel 45 Colt. I have been looking for a self defense handload for my Taurus 450. After much head scratching and talking to the folks at Hornady and Speer, I loaded up some Horn 230 XTP with Unique and Vit 320. They are of course only .451 vs .452 and have no channelure to crimp to but with a good solid roll crimp they only move about .003 -.005 in four shots.

Both loads were loaded to about what the books call out as a 14,000 psi load. I first chronographed both loads. The load with Unique was 685fps and the load with Vit 320 was 775fps.

Next I shot both loads into lined up 1 gal jugs of water. Both expanded nicely and remained inside the 5th jug.

Thanks to all for your suggestions of the 225 Silver Tips. They will no doubt be used but for now I have a bunch of 230 XTPs on hand.

 

[Stainz]

I carry 250gr Gold Dots over 5.7gr Titegroup (From Speer literature - should be < SAAMI spec's of 14kPSI) - it exceeds 830 fps from my 4" 625MG in .45 Colt. It should make >800 fps from the Taurus. In any case, it chrono-ed almost identically to Speer's packaged 250gr Gold Dot ammo - in pretty nickle cases. Speer - and others - have noted full opening by 800fps - more than doubling it's frontal surface area.

Stainz

 

[mgkdrgn]

"Taurus says all of their 45 Colt chambered revolvers are designed for 255 gr at 900 fps or less. They are not rated for the higher power "Ruger only" loads."

Yep, this was the optimal self defense load for Elmer Keith........good enough for me!

LD45

That's what I have in mine! Have some really nasty HP's in the speed loader ... just in case.

I LOVE being able to pocket carry 45 Colt.