Shotloads for 45 ACP revolver

[Eutectic45]

Speer makes very nice shot capsules for 45 Colt, they are 0.445 diameter If your 45 ACP revolver has cylinder leads on the large size, like many do, they may work for you.
I tried seating them in sized, belled 45 ACP cases, but the seating force was too high, the capsules broke. They will fit in a fired, belled case quite nicely, then sizing the loaded round in a carbide size die without the decap pin works every time. This gives a very tight fit so you may not have to resort to rubber cement to hold the capsule under recoil.

I was surprised the patterns were so good. This may be because of the shallow rifling in my revolver. I do not know why manufacturers used the shallow 45 pistol type rifling in 45 ACP revolvers it plays hob with some cast bullet loads. Now I may have finally found something good about it.

[vinny1892]

what do your shot patterns look like at various yardages? im thinking about buying a few of those capsules to try..

[Der Gebirgsjager]

What size shot did you use?

[Harter66]

I made some up for my Ruger , so take anything I offer with that in mind and that the Ruger offers a safety margin for stupid ideas .

I shortened cracked 308s to cyl length. I necked cases to fit at correct head space and used a 410 wad in the case over Unique for 250 gr WC in 45 Colts .
A few cases were reamed which yields a near straight inside wall . I felt that Colts 250 WC data was safe with the 1/2 oz shot charge being even longer than standard oal .

I only shot a few with floor mix #6-8 shot inside 30-40 ft I wouldn't want to be on the business end , at 20 yd cardboard backers were well poked through 50/50 . MV should have been around 750 fps . Snake shot type circles went to 25' or so . I tried a few with card stock type wads with poor results .
The case mouth was roll crimped with a soda box type overshot card waxed in . It was just a fun experiment for me .

[justashooter]

i made shotshells from 8X57 cases cut to cylinder length and fire-formed that hold about 1/2 oz of shot, using paper wads and glue, over 6 grains of unique for good patterns at 25 feet.

[jmorris]

I use cut down 308 brass and .410 wads for mine.



Regular 45 ACP shotshell for pistols beside a 230 gn, the others are revolver only shot loads.

[bigjake]

jmorris, I made some of the .45 auto snake loads with cut down .308 cases also. they cycle real well too. I wouldnt want to be a snake with those 7 shots blazing away at me !! I use reclaimed 7 1/2 shot with a pretty hot charge.