45 Colt Loads

[jrhoney]

So yesterday afternoon, my friend and I went to the gun shops around here to get 45 colt brass and rcbs dies to load them and I was wondering what 'opinion was for 8.5, 9.0, and 9.5 gr loads of Unique powder behind a 230gr LDRN? They are going to be launched out of a Ruger Old Vaquero with a 4 5/8 inch barrel. He wants a round that will be good all around carry and working round. Hoping to bump it up to a 250gr lead Keith style bullet in the near future.

[white eagle]

those loads sound ok

[44man]

Yes, very good. I use only 7 gr of Unique for fun shooting myself. Good enough for pop (OOPS, "beer cans") at 50 yards. :bigsmyl2:

[Wally]

I prefer 7~8 grains of Red Dot. Red Dot is fluffier & fills the case better.

[Char-Gar]

My favorite 45 Colt loads are with Unique and I have not changed much in 50 years.

454424(260 Keith)/8.5/Unique

452423(240 Keith)9/Unique

The longer and heavier bullet gives a mite better accuracy at 100 yards and beyond, but either bullet does the job at the shorter ranges.

I have gone up to 10/Unique but the primers are flatter than a fritter and I don't like that.

[Wally]

In my Blackhawk I have done very well using the Lee 200 RF bullet and 7.0 grains of Bullseye w/ a filler---970 FPS... For some reason I shoot it more accurately than when using a 454190 or a 255 Keith bullet.

[waco]

I use the RCBS SAA 270gr over 8.0 universal for around 900 fps out of my Evil Roy SAA.

[H110]

Your good to go. My most accurate 45 Colt load using unique was with 9.0gr and a 250gr round nose flat point. Unique is a great and very universal powder, just dirty in IMHO.

[sixshot]

There are 3 loads that are "sort" of univeral in the 45 Colt when we are talking Ruger sixguns. First is 9 grs of Unique, its kind of dirty but its a classic & shoots great in any sixgun with decent throats. Shooting a gun will get it dirty!! Next load is 18.5 grs of 2400, I've taken many deer with this load. I'm using the old Keith style 452424 which weighs 255-260 grs depending on alloy, also using standard LP primers.
The third load is 20 grs of 4227, again with the same slug & standard primers. I remember several of my Silhouette buddies liked this load & it would take the rams off. If you really want to wind up the old 45 then switch to H110 or 296, they now come out of the same bottle so there's no difference. You'll need to work up your own load, these can be pretty brisk if you run top end loads. Don't reduce anything with H110 or 296 powder, go by the book loads. Magnum primers are recommended with both powders, especially in cold weather.
The Hodgdon #26 manual will steer you in the right direction for high pressure loads. The Ruger 45 is a wonderful caliber, capable of taking anything out there with correct loads. With heavyweight bullets (300 grs & up) it will out perform the 44 magnum & thats saying something because the 44 maggie is great.
The 230 gr RN you mention, does it have a crimp groove, sounds like a bullet for a 45 ACP. You can make it work but not with top end loads.

Dick

[white eagle]

Thanks Dick
always look forward to hearing from you
I have found some of the load data you recommended to be
rite on the money
Man you sure could have saved me alot of powder and money if I would have
seen that earlier
don't mean to hijack the thread so take care

[rststeve]

I found unique to be very dirty, but it shoots good. Now I use 9.5 gr Herco good and clean and I find better accuracy with it 250 grain pill.

[jrhoney]

Yes the bullets have a crimp groove on them which is why I spent 20 minutes trying to use the roll crimp feature on my RCBS dies and get the crimp just right. Finally got it. originally I used those bullets for my 45 ACP but I recently traded it so I'm relying on a 41 Mag for social work. But thats beside the point. Anyway, that is all I have bullet wise in .45. I even measured the cylinder mouths with my micrometer and the bullets I have should be just right for the cylinders. About .001 oversized sound ok?

Also I forgot to mention that after adding the charge, I added a 1.5gr tuft of polyfill on top to hold the charge against the rear of the case and then seated and crimped the bullet nice so its not going anywhere under recoil. I thought about getting a container of 2400 but I found 2lbs of Unique on sale for less than 1lb of 2400 so I nabbed what was left.

[tek4260]

Try Universal as a grain for grain replacement for Unique.

[bigboredad]

I have a older bisley vaquero in the same barrel length the sight is perfect for windage and is perfect for elevation as long as you like heavy bullets:p But lucky for me my favorite bullet is a 340gr and with 15.5gr of 2400 it is right on and easy on me. It shoots great little one shot groups[smilie=s: but seriously is groups great and is a lot of fun you should really enjoy that vaquero

[jrhoney]

...and is a lot of fun you should really enjoy that vaquero

I wish I could but he got his wallet out before mine and snagged it so its his gun :mrgreen:

But hey, I get to shoot it and load for it so yay for me.

[bigboredad]

oh sorry dude that really sucks well just borrow it and shoot the piss out of it;-)

[jrhoney]

oh sorry dude that really sucks well just borrow it and shoot the piss out of it;-)

Precisely!

[Tristan]

9.0gr Unique/WLP/Magma 255 SWCBB has worked very well for me, this for Ruger BH's and original Vaqueros.

Can anyone comment on what a good load level would be for a Smith 625 in 45 Colt? Seems the 9 gr. is a bit over max in my manuals.

[sixshot]

Tristan, drop down to anywhere between 7 grs of Unique & 8 grs, you'll find a sweet spot in there somewhere for your nice S&W. As mentioned Universal is also another good powder in the 45. I have an 8 lb bottle of it but I've used Unique for 45 years & have been very happy. A firm crimp helps Unique to give a better, cleaner burn.

Dick

[Wally]

I have used an old Lee 240 WC bullet with this as well as a Lyman 452389 (185 WC) with 6.0 & 7.0 grains or Red Dot (respectively) to get 900/ 1,050 FPS MV...very accurate and a lot of fun to plink with. I have found that when plinking one just doesn't need to shoot heavy 250~300 grain bullets and waste a lot of lead. I do use a poly filler, as I've found I get less spread and much better Std Dev when I do.

[cottonstalk]

There are 3 loads that are "sort" of univeral in the 45 Colt when we are talking Ruger sixguns. First is 9 grs of Unique, its kind of dirty but its a classic & shoots great in any sixgun with decent throats. Shooting a gun will get it dirty!! Next load is 18.5 grs of 2400, I've taken many deer with this load. I'm using the old Keith style 452424 which weighs 255-260 grs depending on alloy, also using standard LP primers.
The third load is 20 grs of 4227, again with the same slug & standard primers. I remember several of my Silhouette buddies liked this load & it would take the rams off. If you really want to wind up the old 45 then switch to H110 or 296, they now come out of the same bottle so there's no difference. You'll need to work up your own load, these can be pretty brisk if you run top end loads. Don't reduce anything with H110 or 296 powder, go by the book loads. Magnum primers are recommended with both powders, especially in cold weather.
The Hodgdon #26 manual will steer you in the right direction for high pressure loads. The Ruger 45 is a wonderful caliber, capable of taking anything out there with correct loads. With heavyweight bullets (300 grs & up) it will out perform the 44 magnum & thats saying something because the 44 maggie is great.
The 230 gr RN you mention, does it have a crimp groove, sounds like a bullet for a 45 ACP. You can make it work but not with top end loads.

Dick

best advice a man can get on the 45colt from ol sixshot there,and you can really get a beast with 296/H110.I however don't use mag primers as the WLPs,CCI 300s,and a few others work well in my part of the country,now where sixshot runs around it gets alot colder.