why no moderate loads for .45 Colt with Lil Gun?

[SCMtns]

Hi guys-

I reload .45 Colt for my Ruger SRH Alaskan (.454 Casull). Up until now, I've only loaded pretty hot stuff for heavy bullets, for which Hodgdon's Lil Gun powder seems to work really well.

I just bought a box of cast 250 grain FP (.452") bullets, and I'd like to load something a little milder-- somewhere in between the anemic cowboy action stuff and the bear loads I've been making. Thing is, I've scoured the internet and can't find any mention of people using Lil Gun for less-than-magnum loads. I know it's intended for use in .410 shotgun loads, so using it in revolver cartridges is already out of spec, but if it works so great in magnum loads behind big bullets, why doesn't anybody use it for moderate loads behind medium-sized bullets? Is there a danger of flashover?

It would be nice to load these 250-grainers with the powder I've got on hand, but if I can't find any tried and true loads with Lil Gun, I'm not gonna experiment that way. (I'm not what you'd call a highly experienced handloader.) So I'm already headed to the gun store later today to pick up a can of Unique (for which there's tons of data on loads in this range). I'd just like to know if there's any reason why I shouldn't use Lil Gun for moderate loads in .45 Colt.

Thanks!

 

[Steve C]

There is no single powder that's best or even good for all things. Many can be made to work outside their optimum pressure range but the results are often less than satisfactory. This is why you have so many different type powder available. Slow powders like LilGun are often not good for low power and pressure loads, they don't burn cleanly, and with some they will even squib if the load densitiy is too low (note: H110 and W296).

Select a mid range pistol powder like Unique and others for the kind of mid range or (full standard power .45 LC) load you are looking for rather than trying to make LilGun work in a poor application.

 

[rcmodel]

Quite simply, Lil Gun is a Magnum / small rifle class ball powder similiar to H-110, and it will not burn consistently, or well at reduced pressures.

In fact, it may become dangerous with loads developing less then Ideal pressure.

rc

 

[Dean Williams]

Hodgdon doesn't show any "medium" loads at all for this powder in 45 Colt. It may just be that the powder won't light up well without some pressure on it.

I think you're headed in the right direction with Unique. Using a load of 9.0 gr Unique with a 250 cast bullet will give you a nice shooting load that still has a bit of oomph (more than the cowboy loads), but won't beat on you like the like the hot .45 and .454 will.

What do you mean when you refer to "flashover"?

 

[SCMtns]

By "flashover," I'm referring to the rare phenomenon of a small charge of powder failing to ignite until the primer has already driven the bullet out of crimp-- the primer, in other words, "flashes over" the powder charge because the powder charge is so small and isolated within the large case (as in .45 Colt, .454, .44 Mag, etc.) and the result is, from what I've read and been told, an impressive explosion.

I learned about it from a friend back in Texas who's been reloading for a long time, but we always wondered what it was about until it was better explained to me in a thread I posted on here. My friend refers to it as a "pressure excursion." The guys who were talking about it on here called it something else...

I'm gonna dig up that thread...

For some reason I can't find the one I'm looking for, but here some guys explain it better that I can, in posts #15, 23, and 24:
http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=414648

 

[Dean Williams]

SCMtns, thanks.
Been reloading for decades, and though I've heard of this questionable "phenomenon" before, I had not heard it called "flashover".

 

[Walkalong]

I think you're headed in the right direction with Unique.

Ditto.

 

[SCMtns]

Well, my thanks to all who replied. I tried to buy some Unique, but it turns out all the local stores were out of it. Best I could do was a can of HS-6. I've never heard or read a bad word about Unique, though, and will be buying a can of it as soon as my main gun store has it in again.

I went with 11.5 grains of HS-6-- seems roughly equivalent to Dean's recommendation of 9.0 of Unique. I thank you for that, Dean, and I'll be trying that loading next time.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I was just about to recommend HS-6 but I see you are already using it. You will like the results you achieve with HS-6. I use HS-6 in my .45 Colt loads with a 250/255gr lead bullet. It's every bit as good as Unique and maybe even better. (IMO of course)

 

[Casefull]

I use little gun in my 458 socom so I have it around. I tryed some loads in my 10 mm and they were ok but not as good as 800x or unique.