I have some questions about Hercules 2400 and .45 Colt (Ruger only) loads.

[C. Latch]

I'd like to load some old (1970's?) 2400 in my .45 Ruger.

From what I gather, 2400 will max out somewhere south of what you can do with 110/296, which is fine, but I've also read that it is subject to being very sensitive to minor changes in loads at maximum pressures.

Ideally I'd like to use it to drive a 300-grain FN (my current bullet has a .400 nose length, I'm hoping to get another 300-grain mold that's a HP but with a .45 nose length, both should have similar amounts of bullet in the case) to at least 1125' and no more than 1200' MV out of a 5.5" Blackhawk.

Published data exists for 2400 and the .45 colt, though there's not just tons of it and for the most part I have to assume it's for newer Alliant 2400, and before I dive off into this I figured it would be good to ask what experience y'all had when the switch was made from old Hercules to new Alliant 2400.

[DougGuy]

I did a little research a while back on slowing down the Lee C-452-300-RF to about the same velocity range you are looking at, and my charge weights ran from 19.0gr H2400 to 17.0gr. I have a fixed sight 4 5/8" Vaquero and I was trying to "bring the boolit to the sights" which I was able to accomplish by downloading from max using 2400. Worked pretty good I have to say.

Could not tell you what the actual velocities are but I am thinking the 19.0gr charge is closer to 1150f/s and the 17.0gr charge is probably just over 1000f/s. This is with .415" of the boolit seated in the case, measured from the gas check to the lower crimp groove.

From what I have read, the differences between Hercules 2400 and Alliant 2400 are no more than lot to lot differences in Alliant 2400 and the data can be interchanged. There are numerous threads comparing the two.

[C. Latch]

Thanks for the info. You're seated deeper than me, so if I try an identical load I'll probably have lower pressure and velocity, but that gives me something to work with.

[DougGuy]

I tried some 330gr LFN boolits in my short barreled Vaquero and they didn't want to group very well. I came to the conclusion that I wasn't spinning them fast enough to stabilize. A higher velocity may have had them shooting fine but they didn't want to dance @ 1050-1100f/s. I would be looking at the velocity vs rate of twist in choosing the long nose boolit for the Blackhawk. If it's anything like mine, the shorter RF boolit cast from the Lee mold tends to work better right around or just below the speed of sound. The sides are much longer and have much more contact with the lands than the LFN designs. I also discovered that air cooled coww and air cooled Lyman #2 alloy don't shoot as well as 50/50+2% tin. I had exceptional groups and near zero leading with the slightly softer alloy.

As with all this fun and exciting shooting stuff, YMMV..

[454PB]

A while back Larry Gibson did some extensive testing to compare the "old" and "new" 2400 powders. As I recall, he found very little if any difference.

[C. Latch]

Thanks, folks.

FWIW, I tried the short-nosed Lee bullet but my gun didn't show any signs of liking it, and past 50-75 yards I couldn't hit a barn door with it. But, anyway, I loaded a few of my other 300's this morning and shot them, offhanded, just to see what they would chronograph. 19.0 grains of 2400 and they went just a fudge over 1000'. I figure that low number is due to long seating, and with no signs whatsoever of pressure, I'll bump that up another grain and then ease up slowly as needed to see if I can hit 1150' or so. I have no real desire to go past that.

John Linebaugh's data says I should be able to hit ~1175 with 2400; I don't want to take that as an absolute guarantee, but it does make me think that I'm at least comfortable going up another grain. We'll see.