Bullet weights for 45 colt carbine 1 in 30 twist.

I bought a Rossi 92 this week in 45 colt. I shoot some plated 250 grain to try it out. Just some off hand shooting at cans about 25 yards out. It did well with them. I also have some 200 grain cast SWC. What bullet range is good for the rifle?

ive got a Rossi built 92 I got a 4 cavity mold from mp the 454640. and It works great. I have no need or desire for any other mold for that rifle. I use the same charge of 20 or 21 grains of 4227 regardless if I make solids or any of the hollow point pin options. I weighed them once I think the solid weighed 270 or 275 grains the small hollow point was 265 grains and the large hollow point I think was 260 or 255 grains. lube sized to .454. average velocity was 1200fps. the load is probably too much for an old revolver but isn't going to beat up the modern built 92

I use Accurate 45-290H in mine with 7.5 grains of Bullseye. Carbine velocity is 1080 fps in my 20-inch Rossi, not greatly different from Larry Gibson's 10-inch Contender in the pressure test data below. I use same load in my Ruger Blackhawk and get 855 fps from a 4-5/8" barrel. VERY satisfactory game load.

Attachment 295344Attachment 295345

I would expect the 250 gr. bullets to work well.
If your Rossi is like mine, you may have trouble getting the 200 gr. LSWCs to feed smoothly through the action. The sharp shoulders don't work & play well with lifting levers and chamber rims.
Have you tried the 200 gr. RNFPs, often used in Cowboy action shooting? It might work very well with the 1:30" twist rate. I piddled around with my Rossi and worked up a load that approximated the old .44 Henry rimfire round (200 gr. RNFP at ~1120 f/s). Because these bullets were REALLY meant for CASS, they were softer than need be, and I had SOME leading, but not what one might expect. Accuracy was surprisingly good.

The 250 grain plated flat nose worked great in it. I did try some 230 grain round nose but they would not feed. They were a little long. Next time i order boolets ill get some 200 flat points.

I got lucky with 200 grain flat points. I was telling my son i need to order some. He said ''you have a bunch''. Sure enough i do. I had a box of 500 on deck. And i have a box 950 125 grain 9mm too.

I like the 454424 in two Rossi M92's . I've shot 2 round grooves in it and the NOE version . It also was very good with the Lee 452-252 .
It shot the 45-200 , 452-200 RF well also .

It was dismal with the Lee 452-252 SWC past 50 yd .

Here's the thing it shared loads with a RBH , 1050/1240 fps with the 250-265 gr bullets and even small targets to 75 yd were in a lot of trouble . But . At 78-82 yd they hit transonic and departed line of flight 30° at 10:00 hitting about 8' high and 12-15 ft left on the berm at 115-118 yd . So you either load something that will stay above 1100 fps to 100 yd or start it no higher that 1080 MV ......I guess you can just not shoot past 75 yd too .....

I have a custom 453-350 that I thought I could just load subsonic and make up for the velocity sacrifice .......they started out the gate too fast with a QL start load of H322 so there's that as an option . A 300 TC and Unique would probably fill the need if I ever get back to it again .

It's really on how you want to use it . In my case I wanted a 100 yd knock about to go with the pistol for 50 yd smack down . If you're just punching paper then 800 fps pistol loads running 1000-1050 is probably plenty . It'll punch through 3' of hog at 10' and exit clean at 47 yd through 2' of hog with the NOE or Lyman 454424 so it's not a complete loss going slow .

I'll play around more with it. After i shoot some 45 colt. All my casings are loaded. It's good to know it will handle some warmer loads. I just need to mark them well. So i don't shoot them in my SW 25.

I use a 200 grain round nose flat point over 8.5 grains of Unique in my Rossi 92. No problem hitting targets out to 80 yards.

Awesome Froogal.