How soft can I go with H110 in 45 Colt?

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

Wanting to makes some H110 loads for my SBH Hunter. What is a good target BNH for a non-gas checked cast boolit?
This is for a cup hollowpoint (239 gr MiHec) load for white tail. I'm not looking for an antimony vs tin discussion (I'm not that sophisticated of a caster):veryconfu. I have COWW, pure lead, hard range scrap and jacketed range scrap. I have a pretty good feel for mixing them. I just want to get a general BNH that should not produce excessive leading.

Thanks!

[stubert]

I use Lyman #2 equivilant for everything, (14bhn) lubed with 50/50 moly-beeswax. Never get leading.

[RobS]

Probably in that 12-15 area since you are working with a cup HP. I don't know about the H110 though with the lighter boolit as it's a powder that does best with near max or max loads and moderate to heavy boolits. Considering this type of top end load with a soft PB alloy and the shallower grooves of the barrel often times found in Ruger 45 Colt BH's the boolit due to it not being tough enough may start to skid as the RPM's/velocity increases. You won't know for sure though until you shoot and test.

[tomme boy]

I was having hang fires with 19 grs with a 300 gr in my colt with H110. H110 is NOT ment to be down loaded at all. Don't rely on jacketed data for this powder. The jacketed bullet will be much harder than lead so the initial engraving of the bullet helps to make the powder peak faster than a lead bullet will and it will lead to a hang fire or a SEE.

[C. Latch]

A better question might be: with such a large hollowpoint on such a small bullet, how soft can you go and still get good penetration?

[Dave18]

this is just my experiences with the stuff, have ran it in 44s and 357s, thought it would work great with the 45lc, wrong, we were using horn xtp jacketed, and the recommended loading, with Winchester Large Primers that said for either reg or mag loads, son in law loaded up a bunch before testings, then he showed up with one stuck in the forcing cone that locked up the gun, a Taurus raging bull, after getting his toy unstuck,, did some looking, and started off on him about being stupid on trying to use pyrodex pellets, then he pointed out it was the 110 that he got off of me, the powder compressed into a pellet, which was really hard to break up, anyway, had him pull the stuff down , he learned about making a run with out checking real quick along with using the hammer style puller he got tired of it quickly,

then I took that can that he had and loaded a 357 and 44 round, and fired them ,both went off, then tried the 45 again, dud, with stuck gun, do the ritual again, got things apart, another one of them pellets, :-| found some cci mag primers, tried them, same thing, :veryconfu

now Im getting pissed and tired of messing with the 45lc, dug out my 2400 and loaded up a few rounds, nice big bang, so from my experiences, the long colt for some reason does not build enough resistance for the 110 to ignite reliably in the larger case, now maybe a heavier bullet , we had 250g xtps from what I remember now maybe a 300gr bullet might eliminate this issue, but we just dropped the idea of 110 in the LC after what we went through,
later all, [smilie=s:

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

My experience with 250 gr xtps and H110 in 45 Colt has been good. It has been my deer load the last 3 years. Out of the SBH Hunter (scoped), it shoots 2.5" (avg) groups at 50 yards. That's not super accurate. But it's fine for deer hunting. I do think the key to loading H110 is to use magnum primers. Although I've used standard primers with 158 gr cast boolits with H110 in my 357 and never had problems.

For any noobies out there, using H110 in 45 Colt is only for heavy framed Ruger (or similar built revolvers like Freedom Arms) ONLY. I don't want anyone trying these out in their grandpa's S&W or Ruger NM Flattop.:shock:

[DougGuy]

I use the Lee RF boolits in .44 and .45 which are a gas checked boolit, the gas check lets you go quite a bit softer. You could also use some .060" dental wax sheets and cookie cutter over a charged case then seat the boolit, this is known as a soft gas check and they do work.

For the record, DO NOT download your H110 charges, if you need to step down in power, use LilGun or 2400 both work really well for the 75% ~ 90% power band in both .44 and .45 calibers. I'm sure there are other powders that will work for this too, these are the two that I have used with good results.

[paul h]

Personally I'd go with a slightly faster powder with the lighter bullets in the 45, or any handgun cartridge for that matter. For 300 gr or heavier it's as good as it gets, but for the lighter bullets IMHO there are better choices. If I was going to load a cast hp in the 45 colt using H-110 I'd use coww's with 5% tin added. Your looking at 1500 fps loads and pressures over 30 kpsi.

[RobS]

Personally I'd go with a slightly faster powder with the lighter bullets in the 45, or any handgun cartridge for that matter. For 300 gr or heavier it's as good as it gets, but for the lighter bullets IMHO there are better choices. If I was going to load a cast hp in the 45 colt using H-110 I'd use coww's with 5% tin added. Your looking at 1500 fps loads and pressures over 30 kpsi.

A 45 Caliber HP that is "softer" while being pushed at 1500 fps at a typical revolver distance would be explosive on impact.:shock:

[DougGuy]

You won't have to worry about hitting 1500fps, it just ain't gonna happen with the 300gr no matter what you do to it. A really good alloy for hunting in this caliber is 50/50+2% the tin helps it fill out the corners of the mold, plus helps it be tough enough to hit bone and stay together. If you can scratch it with a thumbnail, it will likely be a great hunting boolit and a great shooter given the Ruger's 1:16 twist, they seem to like softer alloy as mine shoots it very accurately with no leading. You won't have to worry about exploding boolits and other myths, scratch it with a thumbnail, put it over 21.5 or 22.0gr H110 and let it rock..

[RobS]

1500 fps, 239 grain cup HP as the OP is shooting. I never said the boolit would explode I said it would be explosive meaning potential meat lose and lead washed meat.

I've shot the 454640 Large HP at around 235 grains with soft alloy as a varmint round out of my Rossi Lever action............turns rabbits into a bloody mist. I use the same alloy and boolit in my 45 ACP at a moderate 850 fps velocity and it makes a nice mushroom of .85"ish with 60/40 straight lead to WW.

[jonp]

I use the Lee RF boolits in .44 and .45 which are a gas checked boolit, the gas check lets you go quite a bit softer. You could also use some .060" dental wax sheets and cookie cutter over a charged case then seat the boolit, this is known as a soft gas check and they do work.

For the record, DO NOT download your H110 charges, if you need to step down in power, use LilGun or 2400 both work really well for the 75% ~ 90% power band in both .44 and .45 calibers. I'm sure there are other powders that will work for this too, these are the two that I have used with good results.

Agreed although I use Unique to download. H110/W296 is for top end hunting stuff only.

[jonp]

A 45 Caliber HP that is "softer" while being pushed at 1500 fps at a typical revolver distance would be explosive on impact.:shock:
Is that what they use on TV to make a car explode with one shot from a snub nosed revolver? :-o

[RobS]

Is that what they use on TV to make a car explode with one shot from a snub nosed revolver? :-o

Yeah that's it since the original poster is shooting white tail cars.

[oger]

Take a look at John Linebaugh's site some very interesting reading about H-110 and load density. My testing with a Redhawk 45 Colt came up with the same results, you get to a point the sound of the round firing is even smoother and the recoil becomes a very hard push not a violent twisting of the weapon. It only comes at very close to max load so if that's not what you want to do I really would try a different powder.