45 Colt Goex 3F Chronograph Data

[JeffG]

Thought I'd post some FFF BP 45 Colt loads I chronographed this past weekend for your viewing pleasure and comment. It was interesting to see the numbers compared to what they felt like.

Gun - Ruger New Vaquero 45 Colt, Groove diameter .451
Bullet - Lee 90358 RNFP, weighed at 253 grains, 20/1 alloy, Sized .452
Lube - Crisco and Beeswax, roughly 50/50 with a little canola oil added
Case - Starline
Primer - Federal LP
OAL - 1.565 with firm roll crimp
RCBS Cowboy Action Dies with .452 expander
Powder - Goex FFF, 34 grains by volume via 24" drop tube
Charge compressed .100 inch

Chronograph ~ 6' from muzzle
80 degrees outside in NC, slightly overcast day

Shots - 11 total
1- 775.6
2- 769.6
3- 794.7
4- 782.5
5- 767.6
6- 781.7
7- 781.4
8- 748
9- 782.9
10- 785.2
11- 787.1

High Velocity - 794.7
Low Velocity - 748
Average Velocity - 777.8
Extreme Spread - 46.61
Standard Deviation - 12.4

This seem typical for BP loads in 45 Colt? I was freehand shooting at about 25 yards at 6" steel targets. As long as I did my part, they went 'DING'.:grin:

[MT Chambers]

Orig. .45 Colt's loads had velocities in the 900fps. range, they used better BP and with the balloon head cases fit 40 grains of it.....if you want more vel. you can try switching brands of cases, more compression, and Swiss Bp.

[Don McDowell]

I'ld say from your load and description the velocity is about right.
I ran some velocity tests a few years ago. Using the Remington bulk bullet, 37 grs of Goex 3f and managed a solid 875 fps from a 5.5 inch vaquero. The same charge with the rcbs 250 KT ran a bit over 900 fps. I did use a .030 fiber wad under each bullet. Winchester cases used in both loads.
I know of another recent test on some 45 colt ammo using the Goex Old Eynsford that spit a 230 gr rnfp bullet out of a 7.5 in barrel Colt at 1035 fps..
From the velocity I got with 2f Eynsford in the 38-40, I have no doubt it'ld push a 250 gr bullet out of the 45 Colt in excess of 900 fps.

[nwellons]

I've found I get more consistent results using magnum primers with my BP loads but I have not loaded .45 Colt. My standard deviation really dropped and I also got higher velocities, as expected.

[Don McDowell]

That's interesting nwellons, most folks that pursue the super accurate bp loads have found that magnum primers actually hurt more than help.. But as with anything what works for one fella might not work worth a hoot for the next..

[TXGunNut]

I had the opportunity to chrono my Lyman 454424 over 37 grs KIK FFFg in RP cases a few weeks ago out of a Colt and a Uberti SAA clone both 4 3/4", velocities a little either side of 750 fps. Primer was the WLP, pretty much all I keep around. Can't recall the ES but performance was acceptable, think another grain or two of powder may tighten that up some.

[Outpost75]

Your results look spot on and very uniform to me.

In my Ruger Old Army cap & ball revolver I have noted differences of as much as 100 fps in using different production lots of Goex 3Fg powder, and it is not as strong as Swiss or some of the other premium black powders.

Using Balloon head cases in combination with hollow-based bullets to provide maximum powder capacity, and loading to 110% of bulk density 900 fps sample averages are possible, but not the norm. You must remember also that catalog velocity figures for revolver ammunition were based upon SOLID test barrels until about 1980 (when SAAMI standardized the "vented" pressure test barrel, which simulates revolver conditions).

[Reg]

Interesting results. No matter what the minor details are they do show you have a very usable load. This could be expanded to various other calibers such as the .357, 41 and .44 Mag and others.
Until this powder availability problem goes away we are going to have to consider using powders we once might not have considered using.
Have been trying to find some 2400 with no luck at all. Checked last week at Cabela's in Sidney and the salesman just laughed when I said what I wanted. Did notice they had a very good supply of Pyrodex so picked up a couple of pounds and later this winter will see how they preform. Only bad thing out of it I can see is that the gun will have to be cleaned after each session and to that all I can say is that it wouldn't hurt me to go back and relearn good habits. Have become spoiled through the years with smokless powders and a very dry climate !!

:Fire:

[JeffG]

Thanks for the comments folks, very interesting. Good to know their relatively typical. The loads feel great shooting. Just loaded 50 more tonight. Got cast tomorrow, getting low.

I''ve been loading them with Unique and Blue Dot too but haven't chrono'd those yet. I may load some of those up and post the results.

[RobfromME]

Good evening, JeffG,

What barrel length was that Ruger?

[QUOTE=JeffG;
Gun - Ruger New Vaquero 45 Colt, Groove diameter .451
[/QUOTE]

Thanks in advance!

Warmest regards, Rob

[prs]

Just an interesting aside; quite a few years ago, perhaps 10 or 12 years, I compared full house loads of Goex 2fg and 3fg in "same as much as possible" loadings under 454190. The 2f charges produced consistently higher velocity and less extreme spread. I mentioned this on the SASS site and another fellow experimented similarly and found the same. Counter to intuition. I was using CCI regular LP primers at the time.

prs

[KCSO]

You forgot barrle length, the most important part of B/P velocity. Your results are just about the same as those I got with a 4 3/4" SAA a few years ago. The same load in a 7 1/2" barrel ran 860 or so and from a 24" barrel rifle the loads went clost to 1200 fps. Suprisingly FFg powder wasn't far ehind and 38 grains in a baloon head case was about equal to the FFFg loads and seemed to burn just a little cleaner, but that changes with the brand of powder.

[JeffG]

Hi Rob, sorry it took so long to get back to you. It's the 5.5 inch model, I forgot to include that.

I have some Blut Dot chrono results I need to post at a point.



Good evening, JeffG,

What barrel length was that Ruger?



Thanks in advance!

Warmest regards, Rob