45 Colt Ball and Shot Load

[35 Whelen]

Thought you guys that roam around the woods inhabited by venomous snakes might be interested in this.

It's rattlesnake season around here and lately I've been carrying my NM Vaquero 45 Colt for which I have no shot loads. Years ago I loaded them for a S&W 25-5 using cardboard for over powder/over shot tasks. This year, I tried a different twist. Using an empty 45 Colt case, I cut over powder discs out of a plastic coffee can lid...

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/Cast%20bullets/20140424_165600_zps2a23c943.jpg (http://s60.photobucket.com/user/308Scout/media/Cast%20bullets/20140424_165600_zps2a23c943.jpg.html)

...and instead of using the same for over shot, I seated a .451" pure lead ball over the #9 shot and crimped it in to place. The ball weighs about 140 grs. and the shot 120, so I loaded it over 8.5 grs. of Unique. I didn't chrono the load, but it should be running in the 850 fps range.

The round looks like this:

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/Cast%20bullets/Vaqueroshotandball2_zps0654ce19.jpg (http://s60.photobucket.com/user/308Scout/media/Cast%20bullets/Vaqueroshotandball2_zps0654ce19.jpg.html)

I shot the load a few times at 15', PLENTY far away for rattlers, and the ball pretty much hit to the sights if I was careful. Too, there was plenty of shot in the pattern (Point of aim was the letter "B"):

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/Cast%20bullets/20140424_171621_zps4e53b2cc.jpg (http://s60.photobucket.com/user/308Scout/media/Cast%20bullets/20140424_171621_zps4e53b2cc.jpg.html)

In reality I'd likely use it at half that distance and I'd imagine the ball would be doing the work and the shot would just be added insurance.

35W

[huntinmo]

I have used a very similar load in my S&W 25, 45LC, and did not like the excessive amount of leading from the soft ball, sized .452. Did you experience leading in the barrel or find a convenient way to lube it?

[35 Whelen]

It did lead a little but no more than I'll use it, it really doesn't matter.
The most I've ever had to kill in a year is 7 or 8, so not a big deal.
35w

[bangerjim]

I have a 451 mold on order right now just for this. I plan to powder coat the balls to eliminate the leading problem.

Rattlesnakes.............they make good belts! And taste like chicken....with a little afterburn.

bangerjim

[Changeling]

It did lead a little but no more than I'll use it, it really doesn't matter.
The most I've ever had to kill in a year is 7 or 8, so not a big deal.
35w

That is a pretty cool idea, what size shot were you using?

[35 Whelen]

That was #9 I robbed from some skeet loads.

[tacklebury]

I just load up #6 shot in a speer shot capsule and seat it on 6 gr. Unique. Works great to 10 feet. Past that rifling starts to donut the shot too bad to be useful.

103639

[35 Whelen]

I didn't even realize Speer was making .45 caliber shot capsules. Good to know! I slipped one of my .44 shot capsules in to a 45 Colt case and felt I could probably crimp it well enough for it to work, but decided it'd be a lot more fun to experiment with a home-made load.

35W

[DrCaveman]

I just load up #6 shot in a speer shot capsule and seat it on 6 gr. Unique. Works great to 10 feet. Past that rifling starts to donut the shot too bad to be useful.

103639

Man, this site must be a marketing dream for midwayusa!

I had 3 boxes of the speer 45 shotshell cases in my cart for the last 2 weeks, waiting for more needed items to push me into the 'reasonable' shipping cost range.

After reading this post, i check my cart:

Not available, backorder overdue!

Maybe a pure coincidence... But if not, well done, sirs, in the interest of capitalism!

[35 Whelen]

FWIW, the load I assembled as detail in Post #1, holds the same amount of shot as a Speer .44 caliber shot capsule. Also, one other thing I failed to mention...in order to save my 45 Colt brass, I used 44-40 brass for the shot loads. Just run the 44-40 brass into the 45 Colt belling/flaring die as far as it will go, then load as normal. After the first firing, it looks like a 45 Colt case...ecept for the headstamp, of course!

35W