Do everything round for .45 colt lever gun and pistol?

[Idaho45guy]

I have a Ruger Bisley BH with 5.5" barrel in .45 Colt. I also have a Marlin 1894 carbine in .45 Colt. Both are carried in the woods for self-defense against predators.

Looking for a load that will shoot well in both. Needs to have enough oomph to be effective against critters and be accurate in both.

I have Blue Dot, Unique, Lil' Gun, H110, 231, and Tite Group.

Last week I loaded up 250gr Hornady XTPs and 250gr cast boolits from a Lee mold. Used 10.5 gr of Unique with both bullet types and 26gr of H110 with the cast 250gr.

Both guns preferred the 250gr cast boolits and the 10.5gr of Unique. But, rifle accuracy fell off sharply after 55yds. And the pistol accuracy wasn't all that great at 25yds.

Pistol did 2" at 25yds and rifle did 1" at 55yds. XTP bullets are at .451 and lead boolits sized to .452.

Going to load up some 300gr Lee boolit loads and going to try 9.5gr of Unique and 18.0gr of Lil' Gun. Also going to try un-sized boolits since my mold drops them at .4525 and see if that helps.

Looking for hotter loads that do well in both firearms. Any suggestions would be appreciated using the powders and boolits listed.

[nicholst55]

I have used some of John Linebaugh's recommended loads in my Ruger, and they were accurate and would surely kill anything that you shot with them. Just hang onto the gun when you pull the trigger!

https://www.johnlinebaughcustomsixguns.com/writings

[RedlegEd]

Hi. I have the same problem with my Ruger BH and Henry Original in .45 Colt. I haven't found "the" load yet, but thought I would follow the advice in this link. Hope this helps. Ed

[BigBore45]

I run a 265 grain Keith style bullet behind a pretty good charge of h110, also get good accuracy from Bluedot and imr 4227. Ran in a win 94' and ruger Blackhawk. I would like to add that i run mine all the way up in the ruger only loads. And the best accuracy was from 4227. But got alot more 000mph from the h110 so I went with it. Accuracy was acceptable for me in both loadings.

[Fyrd]

For what is may be worth I have some chronograph records on this topic from 2013.

Lee 452-252-SWC #90356 that drops out at 247 grains with my hard alloy.

Load is 6 grains of Red Dot. All loads gave ‘reasonable accuracy’ (Sorry, I didn’t record specific groups/ranges.)

Italian Copy of Colt SAA 5 ½ barrel = 714 fps.
Conversion cylinder in 1860 Colt = 610 fps.
Puma copy of 1892 = 1032 fps.
Henry Yellow Boy = 1004 fps.

Fyrd

[DougGuy]

You get to that 300gr boolit? FORGET Unique. Much too fast to make a magnum load under a heavy for caliber boolit. H110, 2400, LilGun, AA#9 but NO UNIQUE! You need slow burning powder for this one.

For the record, the Lee C452-300-RF boolits I use weigh 320gr lubed and checked.

[Pigboat]

Hi. I have the same problem with my Ruger BH and Henry Original in .45 Colt. I haven't found "the" load yet, but thought I would follow the advice in this link. Hope this helps. Ed

Thanks for the link

[Jack Stanley]

Unique and a two hundred fifty grain bullet , you probably won't have to use the Ruger only loads either . Something close to nine hundred from the handgun should do what you want .

Jack

[Brad Cayton]

My New Vaquero really likes 8.5 grains of unique under the Lee, 255-RF. My Marlin likes it just as well. It's not running fast but I've taken deer and smaller stuff with it in both of them. The Marlin will keep 5 shots in 4 inches at 100 yards with a Skinner peep sight when I hold up my end.

[dverna]

My pistol/carbine combo is .357 Mag but maybe my protocol will help.

I find the most accurate load in the rifle first. It will be used at the longest ranges. If I get acceptable accuracy with the pistol I am done. For me, a 3” group at 25 yards with the pistol is **** good. If you are getting 2”, that is exceptional.