H110 or 'Lil Gun for heavy 45 Colt loads?

[rvpilot76]

Not real sure about this, as this is the first time loading the heavy boolits in the 45Colt Bisley. I've done a little research, and I've found that Blue Dot, 2400, 'Lil gun, W296, and H110 are pretty much the powders to use for the heavy stuff. Does anyone here have any experience with this loading? Boolit weights will be with the RCBS 277 SA mold, the Group Buy 310 Keith mold, and the 283 Cayoot mold. Thanks for all of your help fellas,

Kevin :cbpour:

[454PB]

Since I own three 454 revolvers, I don't push my Blackhawk .45 Colt very hard. However, I have used the Lee 255 SWC in front of 14 grs. of Bluedot for 1150 fps. in that 7 1/2 barrel. It is a very accurate load in my gun. One of the braver guys will have to jump in on the slower burning powders. They should work fine in moderation, they sure do in my 454's.

[ktw]

2400 tends to be useful across a wide range of load levels.

296/H110 will give you high velocity with minimum pressure at the top end but is erratic/dangerous for use in the low to moderate load level ranges. Usually requires mag primers if that makes a difference to you.

Don't have any experience with 'Lil Gun and very little with Blue Dot.

IMR4227/H4227 can also be useful in this application.

I tend to use H110 for the heavier stuff and HS6 for the moderate to light loads.

-ktw

[Dale53]

rvpilot76;
Here is a good link for you:

http://www.sixguns.com/tests/tt45lc.htm

Dale53

[Scrounger]

I think WW680 or one of it's stepbrothers might be the best powder for heavy loads in the .45 Colt.

[rvpilot76]

Wasn't Hodgdon offering the smaller powder canisters for testing? Something like four powders of 1/4 lb. each? Does anyone know if they are still doing this? I'm pretty sure that they offered it for the varmint class powders; not sure if they did it for the handgun stuff.

Kevin

[hopper_64]

Vihtavuori N110 works great for stiff loads with heavy bullets in .45 colt.
22gr gives 1300fps and good accuracy in my Blackhawk with 4 5/8" barrel.
Boolit is a 320gr semihard cast with gascheck.

/ Jocke

[45r]

I like 2400,4227, and vitt N-110 for heavy 45 colt.Lower extreme spreads and consistant performance.N-110 is cleaner but more difficult to get.H-110 is accurate if loaded hot but the kick is not for the faint hearted and in cold weather can be finicky sometimes.Have gone to lil gun in the mag caliburs when I want to use a ball powder but not 45 colt.If I had only one powder to use it would be 2400.It works well with cast and doesn't need a mag primer.

[C A Plater]

I've tried 4227, Lil'Gun, H110 and Blue Dot in the .45 Colt. Lil'Gun did nothing special and preferred H110 for maximum power loads getting better accuracy. I have not used IMR4227 in a while and then only in a Contender barrel. Again the accuracy of the H110 won out. Now that I have throttled back to more comfortable shooting levels, Blue Dot has been winning the day. In the Smith Mountain Gun I like to feed it 275 Keith lead over 13.0 grains of BD. In that gun, I get good accuracy at a less punishing range time. For the Ruger Bisley, it loves 310gr. WFN and being a heavier gun, 14.0 grains seems to do the trick and still comfortable to shoot.

[georgeld]

Awhile back I posted about loading 19.0gr H110 /250 SWC's as doing a great job for me. Much less recoil and blast than 23.5gr.

Someone sent me a note about this being a light load and I'd get erratic ignition etc.

I've fired around 250 rounds of 19gr so far and haven't had a single problem other than the knuckle busting SOB with the factory grips.

IF I'd known ahead of the purchase about that, I'd have ordered H4227 instead. I used both in my .30 carbine blackhawk interchangably and have for over 35 yrs without a problem. 12.0 or 12.5gr of either with the 110gr RN's.

For cast in that one, I use Red Dot, can't recall the charge right off now though. BUt, it's a plinker compared.

Hope this helps.

[lar45]

I'm assumeing your talking about a Ruger Bisley in 45 Colt.
I have pushed mine very hard. I think the recommended top pressure limit is around 28,000 psi.
I tried Blue Dot several years ago and it didn't burn clean at all for me. The gun got very dirty in a short time and had to be taken apart and cleaned at the range.
2400 and 296 do work very well. I haven't tried Lil-Gun in anything. WC820 is a great pistol powder. I've been shooting more of it than anything else for the past 3-4 years.

[Lloyd Smale]

to me the best powder for heavy 45 loads has been h4227 followed closely by wc820(aa9)

[twoworms]

If you want to make things go fast, use LittleGun. I use it in my 500S&W and it spits 450gr boolits out real fast for a 4" barrel. It also works great in longer barrels.

Tim

[shooting on a shoestring]

I can push 300 grains of ww to the other side of 1300 fps with Lil'Gun in my 7.5" Blackhawk. Sure hate too, it measures 6.3 on the Richter Scale when I do. Sad part is it groups rather well that way. I much prefer 7.5 grains of Bullseye under 250 gr 454424's. Gives me one ragged hole off hand 10 to 15 yards. Its a hoot shooting next to an auto spewer, but that's off thread.

I do have 250gr Gold Dots loaded over H4227 for about 1250 to 1275 fps as defensive loads in the Blackhawk. I have also had good results with W296 and H110. But I really don't shoot the heavy loads much, I do shoot lots and lots of the Bullseye load.

[AlaskaMike]

I use 24 grains of 296 with the RCBS 270 SAA bullet in my Redhawk, but that's probably a little too warm for the Blackhawk. I've also tried from 14.0 to 15.5 grains of Blue Dot, but with the Lasercast 255 grain SWC. 15.0 and 15.5 were pretty good if I remember correctly, but I think 14 was really pretty dirty.

I also have a 320 grain Ballisticast mould and some Lil'Gun that I might try playing with soon.

It's hard to beat the smell of burned 296/H110 though!

Mike

[44man]

I have taken a lot of deer with my Vaquero (The old one.) with the 335 gr LBT and the Lyman 452651 that actually weighs 347 gr's with my alloy.
I use a FED 150 primer and 21.5 gr's of 296.
I reamed the throats and have shot quite a few 75 yd groups of 1". This load has dropped a large doe in her tracks at 100 yd's.
I had to put Pachmeyer grips on it to protect my middle finger.
Not your every day load and I just use it for hunting because I am afraid to open a sinkhole on my range.
I like a 255 gr boolit with 7 to 8 gr's of Unique for plinking.
With the heavy boolits, start at 19 gr's of 296 and work up slowly to find the accuracy.
If any of you think a .44 mag, .475 or .454 has a lot of recoil, shoot my Vaquero a few times! Just remember the new one is smaller so you are better off with a BH or RH if you want to shoot heavy loads.