What's your favorite 45 Colt load for your Low Wall?

[AlanF]

Found a NIB Browning Low Wall in 45 Colt and payment is enroute. What are you shooting in your 45 Colt Low Wall? I would like a mild plinking load and a good eastern whitetail load. I will be buying cast boolits since I am not yet set up to cast. Thanks.

[ss346]

I also have a brn.low wall,this was a 22 hornet with a bad/ rusted/pitted bore. I purchased it with the intent of rebarreling it to a deer hunting caliber. I,m a big fan of large bore calibers so I chambered it to 45 colt. the load that I'm now testing and it seems to be very good is, a 45-70 cast of 20 parts lead to 1 part tin. this cast out to 340 gr.with bullet lube,sized to .452. the load I'm using is IMR4227(22gr) no gas ckeck. you don't have to crimp as it is a single shot, just remove the flared case mouth. I have miked the fired case's and they show .474 just in front of the rim, and .480 on the wall. as a side note the brn. low-wall is chambered for the .260 round which is a MUCH greater chamber pressure than the 45 colt. I don't have a light target load yet but any revolver load will work. the OLD(orignal) winchester low-wall is MUCH weaker and should NOT use this load. the new metal used now in high/low-walls is very good and will be usable to higher pressure's. I hope this help's as always start low and work your way up. I will say this you can hear the bullet hit the target @ 100yd. with your ear muff's on,now that's slow but nothing stop's it when it get's there.

[AlanF]

ss346 - Thanks for the info. Is the 45-70 bullet round nose or a flat point? I've found some 350gr bullets with a flat point as offered by Penn Bullets and I imagine they would make for an impressive hunting round.

[rking22]

I do much like ss346.I can't help with the light loads ,but I use a 457122 cast soft and loaded over a well documented charge of 296 to about 1350 FPS. There are lots of references to these loads with 340 gr bullets in the 45 LC carbines and Rugers. Do not load "reduced" loads of 296 as it can cause problems. I have eaten 2 deer collected with his combination. I am presently trying some Lil Gun loads . All these "mini trapdoor" loads have noticible recoil in the little Browning, beware the cresent butt plate!
That light weight is the reason I like it ,along with the pretty wood , tang sight, oct to round barrel .... Anyway ,it kicks some but not miserable. look in the manuals for loads for the 340 gr bullets , no need to go to the max , we have 24 inches of barrel and a 340 gr HP of FP at 1350 or so is very effective on whitetail. That is roughly the old express 45-70 BP in a compact package. I hunt on the ground and shoot close , cause I like to ,so have done no long distance tests on paper. Workup was 75yards.
I size to .458( bore slugged .454 if I remember correctly) . The chamber on these rifles is generous , mine will easily chamber a round with a .461 bullet seated. I shot some light loads of unique at first and working up saw no difference in pressure signs due to bullet size. Then started with the lested minimum of 296 and worked up to the velocity/accuracy I wanted .It's under the book max. Have fun with it , mines got a permanant home!

[AlanF]

I'm starting out with a 290gr bullet and about 9 grs of Unique and work from there. There is some Lil'Gun, H110, 2400, IMR 4227, and Reloder 7 in the cabinet so I'll eventually be looking at loads with these.