Decided on the Ruger 45 Long Colt for Deer

[richhodg66]

I have a 7 1/2 inch Blackhawk in .45 Colt I like a lot, and I find I seem to shoot the longer barrels better. I doubt they're really more accurate inherently, I just seem to shoot them better.

100 FPS with a 255 grain bullet should do the job from about any angle and reasonable distance. I have found shooting stiff loadings in a Blackhawk that my willingness to withstand recoil and muzzle flash is the limiting factor more than the strength of the gun.

[StrawHat]

...Even the 1873 BP loading behind the hollow base lead round nose is bad medicine for a deer, as it was originally conceived to shoot through the enemy's horse, and still kill the enemy.

Most of the experienced .45 Colt shooters here have been with this caliber for 30+yrs...

DougGuy got my description down pretty good. I was a big Keith fan and had to have a 44 Magnum. 429421 and 2400 powder, I was in Heaven! Used it a few years on Ohio white tails and watched as my hunting buddy was getting quicker stops with similar placement but he was using black powder and the 45 long Colt. It took me a while, but eventually I found that for some reason that combination and either a 5 1/2" or 7 1/2" barrel worked a good bit better. At least for me. I have used a variety f 260 grain bullets and even the 280 grain Keith Group Buy with a full casing of 2 or 3Fg powder. Whichever boolit shoots to the sights is the one I pick. The same boolits and Unique have also been successful. I have not seen the need for, nor tried heavier, nor have I tried lighter. You have made a good choice in cartridges.

I prefer my revolvers to more resemble the SAA as they are lighter and fit my needs.

Kevin

[44man]

I know my Vaquero .45 with a 335 gr and 296 forced me to get Pachmeyer grips. Much more recoil then my SBH with a 330 gr. Gun weight is the difference.
I would prefer 260 to 300 gr boolits in a WLN, WFN or RNFP. The Lee 300 shoots great.
Since the .45 BH will be lighter then a SBH .44, you WILL feel recoil more. I can tell you a .45 can kick the snot out of a big knuckle!

[vmathias]

I know my Vaquero .45 with a 335 gr and 296 forced me to get Pachmeyer grips. Much more recoil then my SBH with a 330 gr. Gun weight is the difference.
I would prefer 260 to 300 gr boolits in a WLN, WFN or RNFP. The Lee 300 shoots great.
Since the .45 BH will be lighter then a SBH .44, you WILL feel recoil more. I can tell you a .45 can kick the snot out of a big knuckle!

Yeah, This definitely will not be a range plinker. I plan on changing out the grip to a hogue and working up a load that will get me to around 1150fps. John Linebaugh stated in an article that his wife has taken many mule deer with a 260G at 950fps at 100 yards. That is pretty damn impressive. He also stated that out to 100 the 45 colt is equal to a 270 through a 3006 for performance and sheer knock down power. Only experience will tell.

[John Allen]

Those big flat bullets are just nasty looking.

[DougGuy]

Once you get to 255gr and above, and handload, the .44 and .45 are pretty much neck and neck to each other in about every way you could compare them. The biggest differences, are on paper. Once you get in the field and start taking game, things like barrel length and optics will matter a lot more than caliber.

I hunted the thick woods of the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia, and I took more whitetails shooting straight down on them walking under my treestand or angling down on them within 25yds of my stand. My 7 1/2" SBH was pretty cumbersome sitting in a treestand with it crossdraw and bringing it to bear on a deer, so I got a short barreled Vaquero in .45 Colt to use instead. Walking the woods, the big long barrel SBH was right at home, and it adds a good 30yds or thereabouts to my reliable kill distance over the 4 5/8" Vaquero.

[Jevyod]

I have read many articles and have received advice from a very knowledgeable friend on this very subject. When I first asked him about hunting calibers for a pistol he immediately stated the 45LC due to how versatile the cartridge is. I also read a informative article from John Linebaugh: "The .45 Colt - Dissolving the Myth, Discovering the Legend". A very good read on comparing the 45 LC to the 44 magnum.

Sounds great! Thanks for letting me know! I agree there is a certain history that goes with the caliber! Sounds like you made a good choice and I will keep that caliber in mind!

[rexherring]

So far the three mule deer I've shot with my Ruger BH with just about the same spec load you've listed never needed a second shot. I'm shooting the 7 1/2 inch but the 5 1/2 inch should be easier for carry and work great. I'm using an older RCBS 255 SWC mold that drops closer to 265 with WW's. At 1000 fps or more it will penetrate a deer almost lengthwise as I found out when I skinned out one of my deer. Hit it in the chest when it was coming straight at me at 40 yds and the bullet was under the hide in it's rear end.

[vmathias]

Sounds great! Thanks for letting me know! I agree there is a certain history that goes with the caliber! Sounds like you made a good choice and I will keep that caliber in mind!

I will again state that this mostly has to do with the terrain that I hunt,thickets and deep woods. I want a big bullet with moderate velocity hitting hard. If I was hunting the prairies out west and field edges here in PA I would most likely be looking at the 44 mag or 454 Casull for a better velocity and trajectory. Out west it would be hands down the 454. If you have never shot one they are def an experience with full power loads.

[vmathias]

So far the three mule deer I've shot with my Ruger BH with just about the same spec load you've listed never needed a second shot. I'm shooting the 7 1/2 inch but the 5 1/2 inch should be easier for carry and work great. I'm using an older RCBS 255 SWC mold that drops closer to 265 with WW's. At 1000 fps or more it will penetrate a deer almost lengthwise as I found out when I skinned out one of my deer. Hit it in the chest when it was coming straight at me at 40 yds and the bullet was under the hide in it's rear end.

Ballistic tests through gel for the standard 45 Colt are down right scarey. That is a BIG bullet carrying a LOT of momentum.

[Jevyod]

I will again state that this mostly has to do with the terrain that I hunt,thickets and deep woods. I want a big bullet with moderate velocity hitting hard. If I was hunting the prairies out west and field edges here in PA I would most likely be looking at the 44 mag or 454 Casull for a better velocity and trajectory. Out west it would be hands down the 454. If you have never shot one they are def an experience with full power loads.

I understand! Where I hunt, 75 yards is a long shot. Most happen inside of 50. So I believe the 45 would be a very viable option.

[taco650]

I think you've made a good choice too. I own two 44 mags (6" DW & SBH) but have always pined after a Blackhawk in 45 Colt with the 45ACP extra cylinder. For hunting, 44M & 45C are both going to kill the deer dead. Shot placement is key and you sound like you know what needs to be done so go for it!

[pls1911]

Great choice... IMHO the best choice.I highly recommend not trying to max out the load unless you just like recoil.
Big slugs 250-300 grain at 900 fps will still pound about anything walking the lower 48, usually with full penetration.
faster penetration means mire nergy lost to the woods behind...not necessarily more to your intended target.

My overall hunting load had gravitated to the RCBS 270 SAA, (which casts about 285 in my alloy). The flat nose and sharp edges slap poop out of deer and pigs at 900 fps and are quite pleasant to shoot in a 7.5" Blackhawk or Stainless Redhawk. Why beat yourself and your equipment up needlessly?

[Geezer in NH]

Works for me

[vmathias]

Great choice... IMHO the best choice.I highly recommend not trying to max out the load unless you just like recoil.
Big slugs 250-300 grain at 900 fps will still pound about anything walking the lower 48, usually with full penetration.
faster penetration means mire nergy lost to the woods behind...not necessarily more to your intended target.

My overall hunting load had gravitated to the RCBS 270 SAA, (which casts about 285 in my alloy). The flat nose and sharp edges slap poop out of deer and pigs at 900 fps and are quite pleasant to shoot in a 7.5" Blackhawk or Stainless Redhawk. Why beat yourself and your equipment up needlessly?

Yes, The more I research the more I realize the 900-1000fps range is really all I will ever need. I would like to keep pressures WELL below the 30,000 cup that many loads recommend as max.

[DougGuy]

The only thing that I don't like about handgun hunting, is shooting subsonic loads. At 900f/s it takes a boolit a full quarter of a second to travel 75yds. It takes the sound of the gun firing exactly 1/5th of a second to travel that same distance. That means the sound of the gunfire will get to the deer 50msec before the boolit will. That's a lot of reaction time for a wild animal. Enough time for them to put a move on and cause the shot to miss them totally or hit them well outside of where the shooter was aiming.

For the wide flat nose boolit like the RF, there is an optimum velocity that causes the most damage in the wound channel, and this is somewhere between about 1150 and 1300f/s, it seems like faster than this creates a pressure wave that actually pushes tissue away from the projectile and can lessen the wound channel considerably. I strive to launch the boolit so it is right above supersonic when it gets to the target. If I got 1175f/s muzzle, and I shoot a deer 35-40yds away, I am right above the 1126f/s sonic barrier when it hits the target. I don't think going subsonic will upset the RF boolit too bad but at 1150f/s when it hits home, I don't have to worry about it. By comparison, a 12ga slug in flight becomes very unstable when it goes subsonic around 110yds from the muzzle.

I took an interesting shot on a gray fox one evening right at dusk, from a distance of 120yds with a .308 from a Ruger M77 rifle. The fox was stalking the farm cat across a paddock, and in the paddock was a large dirt area with a cowpie in one side of it. I put the scope on the fox, and he stopped at the cowpie to check it out. I fired with both eyes open, I saw the muzzle blast, saw the muzzle rise and fall, at the exact moment the shot broke, the fox turned his head and looked directly at me. He also saw the muzzle flash and skedaddled at warp speed. I never saw the fox run, but the crosshairs were on his shoulder and I did not miss this shot. I walked it off and laid my head down at the boolit strike in the dirt, and looked back uphill to the fencepost I had been sitting against, and the shot was dead on. At 2400f/s, it took 0.15 of a second for the boolit to travel the 360' between the fencepost and the boolit strike. That was enough time for the fox to react, and EASILY outrun the boolit.

[shoot-n-lead]

The only thing that I don't like about handgun hunting, is shooting subsonic loads. At 900f/s it takes a boolit a full quarter of a second to travel 75yds. It takes the sound of the gun firing exactly 1/5th of a second to travel that same distance. That means the sound of the gunfire will get to the deer 50msec before the boolit will. That's a lot of reaction time for a wild animal. Enough time for them to put a move on and cause the shot to miss them totally or hit them well outside of where the shooter was aiming.

For the wide flat nose boolit like the RF, there is an optimum velocity that causes the most damage in the wound channel, and this is somewhere between about 1150 and 1300f/s, it seems like faster than this creates a pressure wave that actually pushes tissue away from the projectile and can lessen the wound channel considerably. I strive to launch the boolit so it is right above supersonic when it gets to the target. If I got 1175f/s muzzle, and I shoot a deer 35-40yds away, I am right above the 1126f/s sonic barrier when it hits the target. I don't think going subsonic will upset the RF boolit too bad but at 1150f/s when it hits home, I don't have to worry about it. By comparison, a 12ga slug in flight becomes very unstable when it goes subsonic around 110yds from the muzzle.

I took an interesting shot on a gray fox one evening right at dusk, from a distance of 120yds with a .308 from a Ruger M77 rifle. The fox was stalking the farm cat across a paddock, and in the paddock was a large dirt area with a cowpie in one side of it. I put the scope on the fox, and he stopped at the cowpie to check it out. I fired with both eyes open, I saw the muzzle blast, saw the muzzle rise and fall, at the exact moment the shot broke, the fox turned his head and looked directly at me. He also saw the muzzle flash and skedaddled at warp speed. I never saw the fox run, but the crosshairs were on his shoulder and I did not miss this shot. I walked it off and laid my head down at the boolit strike in the dirt, and looked back uphill to the fencepost I had been sitting against, and the shot was dead on. At 2400f/s, it took 0.15 of a second for the boolit to travel the 360' between the fencepost and the boolit strike. That was enough time for the fox to react, and EASILY outrun the boolit.

I have shot a few deer in my life and have never had one "jump" the string. Now, I have missed some because they moved...but it was not because they moved from the gun firing and avoided the bullet.

[Piedmont]

For the wide flat nose boolit like the RF, there is an optimum velocity that causes the most damage in the wound channel, and this is somewhere between about 1150 and 1300f/s, it seems like faster than this creates a pressure wave that actually pushes tissue away from the projectile and can lessen the wound channel considerably.

If that were true then .44 Magnum from a rifle and .45-70 from a rifle (let's use the 300 grain load and you may use a cast flatnose, expanding or not) would be poorer big game cartridges than your revolver load. Do you really believe that is the case?

[DougGuy]

If that were true then .44 Magnum from a rifle and .45-70 from a rifle (let's use the 300 grain load and you may use a cast flatnose, expanding or not) would be poorer big game cartridges than your revolver load. Do you really believe that is the case?

Nobody said better or poorer big game cartridge. My comment was specifically about the wound channel from the RF boolit. The velocity I listed produces an efficient wound channel. golfball sized. Same RF at 1600f/s can zip through tissue and not create as much damage IF it creates a pressure wave in front of the boolit.

As far as 900-1000f/s loads, I'm NOT saying anyone is doing anything wrong. Not the point I was intending to make at all. My own preferences are for supersonic loads, for the reasons I explained. That's just how I like to hunt. Doesn't mean it's better or worse than anyone else's way.

[Motor]

After exhaustive research I decided to go with the Ruger Blackhawk 5.5" in 45 LC. With slightly hot hand loads (1100fps)/ 255g boolits and the thick Pennsylvania woods I think this is the clear choice. Shots will be less than 70 yards but have read that similar loads will easily get the job done out to 100.

Well ain't that nice. After starting a 8 page heated debate you choose neither.