.45 Colt shooting all over.

[WildmanJack]

Gentlemen,
I took my new Uberti 1973 in .45 colt to the range yesterday. At 100 yds. it was all over the place.I presume it was the load. 230 gr. rnfp cast from ww over 4.5 Gr. of Clays. So I'm gonna switch to 700-x and see if the increase in velocity helps any. If any of you have any suggestions then I would be more than happy.
Again as always, thanks for any help,
Jack

[felix]

About 6.0 grains 700X. ... felix

[WildmanJack]

Thanks Felix. I'll give it a try. I think that's max load for 700-x in 45 colt..
Jack

[missionary5155]

Good morning With all revolvers your best bet is to FIRST slug the barrel and the cylinders. If the boolit is to small for the cylinders and or the barrel the bolit is gonna get a rough ride to the target. Hopefulley the cylinders are wider than the barrel.

[WildmanJack]

Missionary,
It's a long gun, not a revolver. I specifically bought one with a looong barrel so I could shoot out to 100 yds accurately and was ver disapointed when I saw the results. But again I really think it was more the load than anything else..
Jack

[missionary5155]

Roger that ! I was wondering why ya was wanting to be shooting a model "73" out to a 100 yards. WEll then if the boolit fills the bore it is just a matter of getting it spinning fast enough to stabilize.

[WildmanJack]

Well, to be perfectly honest I was hoping to use it for side matches at Cowboy shoots. The range here only goes out 100 yds for their side matches. And untill I scrounge up enough money for a sharps I thought I'd stay local and shoot the 100 yard matches with the 73. Am I asking too much from the '73 to be accurate at 100 yds??
Jack

[missionary5155]

I would think a 73 replica should shoot out to a 100 yards.. the origonals do. Unless you have a fauty barrel. Never give up as you have just begun. There are many powders to try... My outright favorite is Unique.. then there are bullet styles and diameters.
Most important in all this is the bullet diameter. My rifles shoot BEST with a FAT boolit. If my CHAMBER area slugs .453 then I will start with a .454 minimum and would not hessitate to load a .455 SOFT mix boolit. My 44-40 down here has a .433 chamber and I feed it .434 and .435 boolits. I would happily take it whitetail hunting out to 100 yards.. but there are none here. So check that chamber area for sure. With that you can begin working over the powders..

[WildmanJack]

I guess that I should first, slug the barrel. I spoke to my gunsmith and he said, don't worry about that, I'm sure it's .452. But be that as it may, tomorrow I slug my barrell.. We'll see what happens then..
Jack

[junkbug]

With long barrels, and relatively short bullets, lubrication is often a problem. If your bullet doesn't have generous lube grooves, that may be part of the problem. Bevel base bullets also give trouble in these type of rifles.

I never have owned a Win 73 clone, but did have similar problems with a Marlin 94 in 44 mag.

Good luck.

sean

[runfiverun]

is that a commercial cast 225 rnfp??
those do have a pretty small lube groove. but i have shot many of them with the plastic lube over 5.0 of clays.

[Jon K]

I guess that I should first, slug the barrel. I spoke to my gunsmith and he said, don't worry about that, I'm sure it's .452. But be that as it may, tomorrow I slug my barrell.. We'll see what happens then..
Jack

Jack,

Slug it, and trust only what you see. I had a Uberti '73, and it slugged .4535 at the chamber end, .452 muzzle end.

Shooting all over, my guess is the boolit is too small for the groove diameter to stabilize, and it starts leading, before you know it is shooting about a 4 foot group @100 yds. I had that happen, I took a buddy's Civil War Cimarron imported Uberti 45lc to the range, did the same thing, cleaned out the lead, took it home slugged it .454, loaded some .454/10bhn boolits.........end of problem, shoots great.

Jon

[WildmanJack]

Runfive, no it's a Magma 230 gr I cast with wws. Junkbug, it is a beveled base. I figured it would be easier to set in the case with a beveled base. I'll have to check the depth of the lube groove.
Jack

[WildmanJack]

JohnK,
Thanks a lot for the info. I'm going to try to slug the barrel tomorrow. Had an unexpected death in the family yesterday morning and it's been a bit crazy around here. So If I have the time I will sure try. I really want this gun to shoot good groups at 100 yds. I know that I can do it, I just want the gun to do it as well..
Jack

[Jon K]

Jack,

It'll shoot accurate to 100 yds no problem, lots of loads will do it, the 16 twist in that gun is not real hard to find a good load. just size it to fit the barrel.

Have Fun Shooting,
Jon

[WildmanJack]

Thanks Jon, sure appreciate the info.
Jack

[Doug Bowser]

I use a 200 gr semi-wadcutter with 6 grains of Bullseye. Shoots great.

[Just Duke]

Try the 255 grain Lee. I can send some if need be.

[NickSS]

I have shot several long guns in 45 colt out to 100 and even 200 yards. I found that the secret was to use a heavy bullet and send it down range at at least 1000 feet per second. My favorit cowboy gun is a 92 Winchester clone from Rossi. It is a 20 inch carbine and I have a tang sight on it that will adjust out to 200 yards with my favorit load for it which is a lyman 250 gr RNFP slug (i foget the mold number but it is the original colt bullet with two lube grooves) over 8 gr of Unique. It gives me about 850 fps in my 5 1/2" colt clone and a little over 1000 fps in my rifle. Oh I size my boolits to .454".

[cajun shooter]

Hey WMJ, I shoot the RCBS 230 cm and with my mix; sized and lubed it comes in at 240. Loaded behind your same load of 4.5 grains of Clays it shoots the x ring out at 25. It opens a little at 50 but it's still very accurate. Hope everything works out for you and if I can be of help well you know us brothers in blue stick together. Take Care