Lee 452-255-RF @ 270gr, 9 grains Unique, S&W 625 .45 Colt.....Velocity??

[Southern Shooter]

Hello,
I loaded up my S&W 625 in .45 Colt (with a 4" barrel) with Lee 452-255-RF dropping at 270gr. The powder charge was 9 grains of Unique. I liked how they were hitting at 15 yards and want to pursue loading them. However, I did not have my chronograph that day. Any rough estimations as to how fast the bullet may have been moving?

Thanks

[dubber123]

A lot of variables, but as I recall, I shot a 265 gr. WFN from my 4" 625 and got only around 1,100 fps. from 10 grains of Unique. 950-1,000 would be my guess.

[seaboltm]

I clocked that exact bullet with Unique just last week in a 4.5" Ruger BH: 934 fps, 9 grains. 10 grains of Unique clocked at 1034 fps.

[Wolfer]

In my new Vaq with 7-1/2" barrel. 8.8 gr unique gets me 970 fps with the lee 452-255 rf. mine only weighs 255 gr. if I use rem primers they'll break a 1000 fps sometimes.
This is my most accurate load. Woody

[Southern Shooter]

UPDATE:
A little range time this past weekend answered my question. From the S&W 625, using the Lee 452-255-RF dropping boolits at 270gr with 9 grains of Unique average velocity was 929 FPS with the spread being around 6 FPS above and 6 FPS below. I may drop to 8.5 grains of Unique to get closer to 900 FPS.

[seaboltm]

UPDATE:
A little range time this past weekend answered my question. From the S&W 625, using the Lee 452-255-RF dropping boolits at 270gr with 9 grains of Unique average velocity was 929 FPS with the spread being around 6 FPS above and 6 FPS below. I may drop to 8.5 grains of Unique to get closer to 900 FPS.

I clocked 8.5 grains at 869 fps, but the standard deviation was 40fps! Standard deviation fell to 25 fps with 9 grains, and 14fps with 9.5 grains.

[TMenezes]

Since your mold is dropping slugs distinctly on the heavy side and it sounds like you want some speed I would look at something a little slower burning. As a plus I noticed the recoil impulse went from kind of sharp to a more relaxed shove. My Lee manuel shows 15.4gr of 2400 going at 972 fps. Wanted to try that but simply could not find 2400 anywhere.

So I tried Blue Dot, AA#7, and AA#9. Blue Dot was fun and had a lot of muzzle blast but had a hard time getting an accurate load with it. Ended up liking the recoil impulse of #9 the best but still working on finding my favorite full power load in this caliber.

If you have some 2400 around I would try that and see if you like it.

[Southern Shooter]

TMenezes,
I have spent some time pondering that. I have Blue Dot, HS-6, and some IMR 4227. But, at 15 yards the 9 grains of Unique and the 270 grain boolit are hitting dead center of where I aim and about 1.5" above.

Think I may need to just leave it alone, for now.

[smkummer]

Lyman 454190 250 grain and 9 grains unique is in the low 900 FPS range out of a 7 1/2 in Colt SAA and 6 in. Anaconda but over 1000 FPS out of a Colt 12" buntline. Its my 100 yard metal plate load. I don't have a ruger in 45 Colt, but in my Colts when I stop sizing at .452 and went to .454, the accuracy went way up and the forcing cone/barrel leading went down. I also like AA9 for Colt pressures but have a good stash for now with unique so I am not going to change what works. In my buddies 25-5 Smith, this load killed a deer.