Least amount of Titegroup in .45 Colt Tried?

Howdy

As stated in another thread, have been playing with low dose Titegroup loads in .38, .357, 9mm, .45 acp, .44 spl., .44 mag, and .45 Colt.

Because of multiple right hand medical problems and major surgery to right hand (not carpal tunnel or arthritis), I am more sensitive to handgun recoil.

This past week, I ran .45 Colt with 4.8 gr. Titegroup and 230 gr. cast.........100 rounds. Still has too much bark for my hand in light-barrel 625-7 Mountain Gun.

Going to now drop down to 4.5 grains with either 230 or 200 grainers in .45 Colt during my next bench session and I feel they should cough-up nicely with even less recoil.
(I currently use only 4.6 gr in .44 Mag with 200 gr. cast and 4.1 gr. in .44 special w/ 200 cast they are both spitting out the tube in fine style.)

I see no problems with the light powder charge position in anything so far.

Any opinions or experience with 4.5 grains or less in .45 Colt?

THANKS in advance, Bo in NC

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Any opinions or experience with 4.5 grains or less in .45 Colt?

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4.5 Gr is below MINIMUM!

230gr Bullet
- Titegroup 5.0 gr. 762 minimum
- Trail Boss 5.5 gr. 685 (IMR start load)

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Originally Posted by John Boy

4.5 Gr is below MINIMUM!

230gr Bullet
- Titegroup 5.0 gr. 762 minimum
- Trail Boss 5.5 gr. 685 (IMR start load)

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John...........and all:

So, I am below minimum already. Been reloading since 1969 and aware of signs leading to trouble.
I have a science background and study things quite closely.

So far, "nothing" appearing to be wrong. Getting 700 fps or more, no funny sounds, no funny signs on shells.

Scientifically, what could happen if I drop down to 4.5 grains TG as discussed above? Been doing this in
other calibers as well and no problems or signs there either.

Could those published minimums be just to protect the powder or handload manual people?

I would never place such a small amount of really slow burning powder in pistol shells, but
Titegroup is fast. Should it matter even if I dropped down to bare minimum to get the
bullet to clear?

As long as the bullet comes out of the barrel, I see nothing to worry about...........yet.

Whacha think? THANKS and y'all behave. Bo

The worst thing I can see happening is for the boolit to fail to exit the barrel. You would then need to drive it out. You would then know you had to increase the powder charge.
People used to have that happen fairly often when going for the lightest load in 38Special. I remember seeing a picture of several boolits stacked up inside a barrel. The first one never made it out and the rest piled up behind it.
I am loading below the suggested minimum in a couple of loads for my 1911 45ACP and they work fine for me. The paper doesn't care how fast the boolits are moving. So far the pistol doesn't care either.

The minimums must get set, then made even more 'conservative' to account for measurement error, variance in instrumentation, variance in materials etc., etc., etc...

You're just playing in the "gray area". An Engineer I used to work with would say: "You're robbing the safety margin".

I would not chagrin a bit if experimentation.

When testing these bounds, keep in mind if there are other innocent shooters near by.

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Originally Posted by tazman

The worst thing I can see happening is for the boolit to fail to exit the barrel. You would then need to drive it out. You would then know you had to increase the powder charge..........

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Concur. Titegroup is a fast burning, easily ignitable powder that does well with reduced loads. The "safety margin" involved is the danger of a bullet not exiting the barrel. Just make sure to use enough for all bullets to positively exit the barrel.

5 grains with 250-grain LFP in .45 Colt is as light as Hodgdon recommends:

BULLET WEIGHT
250 GR. CAST LRNFP
Starting Loads Maximum Loads
Manufacturer Powder Bullet Diam. C.O.L. Grs. Vel. (ft/s)
Pressure: The force exerted by burning powder measured in Copper Units of Pressure (CUP) or Pounds per Square Inch (PSI).
Hodgdon Titegroup .452" 1.600" Start 5.0 716 7,600 CUP Max. 6.2 881 13,000 CUP

Not really answering your question but asking my own... have you looked into Trailboss? I use it for reduced loads in all of my revolvers, including my 38 sp 2" barrel for PPC shooting. In my WWI Colt New Service (45 Colt) I make weak Trailboss loads. Nice fluffy powder compared to Titegroup or Bullseye.

Titegroup in a 45 colt is such a small amount. I messed w it one day, but velocity was all over the place. Way better off w trailboss.

Sorry but I can’t answer your question. May I ask why you aren’t reducing bullet weight, doing so will reduce recoil and the paper won’t care.