Quick 45colt Question

[newton]

I have another thread going about my gun, but this is a generic question.

I came across some pure lead(if not, its close too it) in the form of roof flashing and shower pans. I am wanting to cast up some softer boolits for my 45colt as I am thinking the ones I had were to hard. Someone mentioned adding a little bit of lead in with my ww lead.

What would be the percentage? 50/50? I read about how you take the hardness number and multiply it by a given number to achieve a number of psi it takes to expand the boolit base.

So I am guessing I should be aiming for around 9 on the hardness scale? I figure around 12 for ww and around 5-6 for the lead, so midway will be the 9?

Any advice?

[Catshooter]

newton,

Welcome to the site.

The answer is it depends. :)

Since this is a very technical it requires all of the pertainent data. What sort of velocity are you shooting for? (Pun intended, sorry.) What do you want the boolit to do to your target? How's your boolit fit?

When you answer all these questions we can only give some vague guidelines. At least that's all I can do.

In my 45 Colt loads I run them to two levels: 900 feet and 1500. Nothing else. I can use 50/50 lead/wheel weights for the 900 foot loads but the upper ones lead badly in my guns. The straight wheel weight boolits at almost 1600 feet don't lead at all. I don't run hollow points for any target so expansion isn't a concern for me.

My boolits are also large. Usually .003 to .004 over bore size and I find they lead less/none like that. Seems to work better.

Good luck. As the man said, "The 45 Colt is never a mistake." I love mine.


Cat

[missionary5155]

Greetings
I use 50/50 for alot of shooting applications. For revolvers I find it a good place to start if you are looking for a hunting load looking at about 1000 fps.
Another factor in this equation is whether you are going to use a gas check with a slower type pistol powder. With these two options you can push 50/50 pretty fast. In my 375 Supermag Dan Wesson the lyman 375248 PB will get up to 1275 fps pushed by 296 or 1680with no leading. Using Unique this same boolit will not get close to this.
Mike in Peru

[Wolfer]

I shoot 2 parts lead to 1 part WW at around 1000 fps, plain base boolits, 255 gr.
Very accurate with no leading. I've also used 3 to 1 which worked great also.
The 45 colt is pretty forgiving at normal pressures or a little above.

Hands down this is my favorite hand gun cartridge!

[Larry Gibson]

I shoot 2 parts lead to 1 part WW at around 1000 fps, plain base boolits, 255 gr.
Very accurate with no leading. I've also used 3 to 1 which worked great also.
The 45 colt is pretty forgiving at normal pressures or a little above..........

+1, except I add 2% tin the the WWs before I mix at 1 part WW to 2 parts lead.

Larry Gibson

[runfiverun]

i use 3 parts ww's and one part soft [or mystery metal] with a titch of tin to get fill out.
it gets used in all handgun cases.

[newton]

newton,

Welcome to the site.

The answer is it depends. :)

Since this is a very technical it requires all of the pertainent data. What sort of velocity are you shooting for? (Pun intended, sorry.) What do you want the boolit to do to your target? How's your boolit fit?

When you answer all these questions we can only give some vague guidelines. At least that's all I can do.

In my 45 Colt loads I run them to two levels: 900 feet and 1500. Nothing else. I can use 50/50 lead/wheel weights for the 900 foot loads but the upper ones lead badly in my guns. The straight wheel weight boolits at almost 1600 feet don't lead at all. I don't run hollow points for any target so expansion isn't a concern for me.

My boolits are also large. Usually .003 to .004 over bore size and I find they lead less/none like that. Seems to work better.

Good luck. As the man said, "The 45 Colt is never a mistake." I love mine.


Cat

I am going for mild-medium loads. I am guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 900. I am plinking for now, just getting used to shooting the revolver and all as it is my first. Fit should be about .002 or so over bore size according to my measurements.

I am glad I got the 45. I almost was settled on a .357/.38 till this one came available.

I went ahead and mixed 50/50. Fill out was less that desirable, but its ok. In the future when more alloys become available to me I will experiment, but for now this seems the simplest way of doing the mixture for this handgun.

Now I just got to get the lube on them and wait for the gun to get back to me so I can shoot.

Thanks for the input guys.

[littlejack]

newton:
Welcome to the cast boolits.
There are a lot of folks that use 50/50 alloy, and have very good resuts with it. If you are not getting good fillout, there is something wrong. It should fillout as good as any alloy.
900 fps with a 250/260 grain boolit in the 45 Colt will probably stop anything you want to
stop in your area.
I use that load in my Uberti 45 clone, and do not feel under gunned at all, walking in the Oregon woods. I cast with ww alloy and a pinch of tin.
Jack

[sixshot]

Took my last elk with a 41 maggie, 250 gr slug using an alloy of 5 parts lead to 2 parts linotype, load was running just under 1100 fps & took out both front shoulders & exited. If bullet fit is correct you can use pure lead up to around 900 fps in most guns, not all. Thats about what the old original black powder loads were runnning. Don't think any of the calvary guys used WW's!!!:shock:

Dick

[Catshooter]

Yes, poor fillout isn't a good thing. Many here add the two % tin to cure that. Sometimes the mould and/or the lead could be hotter.

You've picked (in my opinion) the best cartridge. I liked the 357 right up until I fired one round with ear muffs out an open field with a short barrel. I danged near dropped it.

Forty fives with mild/medium loads don't do that to me, even inside an enclosed building.

Have a ball!


Cat

[littlejack]

I have taken two mule deer with my Model 57 .41 mag. It's been quite a few years back.
The boolits were the Lyman 220 grain 410459, cast of ww alloy. The load was a light practice load of 8 grains of Unique. The velocity was clocked at 1000 fps, +/-. Both deer were taken at approximately 50 yards. One was a big doe, the other was a spike buck.
With the doe, the boolit hit her right behind the front shoulder. She took a few steps and fell over dead. The buck was running. He was hit in the spine, and ran about 24" straight down. Both boolits went completely through each deer.
It goes to show that the big chunks of lead do not have to be going very fast to get the job done, and penetration is pretty much a sure thing.
Jack

[newton]

Man you guys are getting me excited. I am a hunter primaraly, took a buck and pig last year with handloads I made. But this year I want to go one step further and use boolits I made too.

It's good to hear success stories on the 45. I figure it can be done, but there are a lot of naysayers out there. I bet I catch some flack when I show up to deer camp with the 45 in toe. But it will be a sweet thing to see all my practice and work pay off in the end.

Fill out is not horrible, just could be better. I'm thinking the mini mag just had not got real good and hot. I tried to get as much done as I could with the time I had. These will be for generic plinking anyhow. Getting the gun sighted in and a feel for her.

[Wolfer]

I love hunting with a handgun. Started with a 22 and rabbits when I was young a long time ago. Later I got a 357 and the noise about broke me from hunting with it. When I got my 45 colt it was game on again. I've taken several deer, a couple coyotes, several grouse rabbits and other critters with it. I like that it has the oomph to kill deer but just punches a 45 cal hole in grouse and rabbits without tearing them up too bad.

I've had really good luck on smaller game with the Lee 452-255 RF but wasn't really happy with it for deer although I killed several with it. A much better game boolit IMO is Elmer's 255 gr. after deer season this year I sent my mold to Erik @ hollow point mold service to have one cavity hollow pointed. I have only shot one coyote with it since getting it back but couldn't check performance since I shot through a wild rose bush and the boolit hit sideways. Still did the trick but I'm anxious to try it on deer.

When I got my RNV it shot pretty good but leaded pretty bad. Accuracy would fall off after about 50 rds. I had a pretty good thread restriction in the barrel but after lapping that out I have no leading issues and the gun is the most accurate pistol I've owned.

When I got my Lipseys 44 spl I ran 300 jacketed bullets down it first and then went to lead and never had any issues with it.