Uberti .45 Colt with Brass Grip Frame: Looking for Effective Woods Load

[Southern Shooter]

I have a 4 3/4" Uberti 1873 Cattleman Millennium in .45 Colt. It has the brass grip frame. I have a Lee 452-255-RF mold that drops boolits at 265 grains. Powders that I have available are Triple 7 fffg, HS-6, Unique, Trail Boss.

QUESTION:
I want an effective woods load for the Southeastern U.S.. But, one that will not damage the revolver with regular use/target practice. **What load would ya'll put together with this boolit and these powders that would meet the stated need?

Thanks
116768116777

[44MAG#1]

8.0 to 8.5 gr Unique. If you can get some 6.2 gr Titegroup.
These loads wont hurt the gun. My Uberti shot low with all bullet weights which is a good thing.
I use 6.2 gr Titegroup with a Mihec 270 SAA bullet that, in wheelweights, weigh 283 grs.

[flyingmonkey35]

Trail boss

Or be very careful about no double charges.

116782

[runfiverun]

8 grs of unique here too.
7.5 is a bit light and soots up the cases but is easily within the 14-k specs.

[35 Whelen]

I load 9.0 of Unique under the RCBS 45-255 (which actually weighs 262 grs.)for my buddies brass frame Uberti. Alliant shows a max of 9.5 grs. with a 250 gr. SWC. Here's some good data from loaddata.com. It's all 14,000 psi data for a 285 gr. bullet so you should be safe with your 265 gr. bullet.



Wt.
Bullet
Powder Manufacturer
Powder
Charge
Velocity (FPS)


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Hodgdon
HS-6
10.5
893


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Alliant
Unique
8.0
924


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Alliant
Power Pistol
8.0
915


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Hodgdon
Titegroup
7.5
986


Remarks: maximum, excellent accuracy


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Hodgdon
Long Shot
9.5
959


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
IMR
Hi-Skor 700-X
6.5
850


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Alliant
Red Dot
5.5
782


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Winchester
W-231
6.5
782


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Hodgdon
Universal Clays
8.0
915


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Vihtavuori
VV-N110
16.0
894


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Vihtavuori
VV-N350
9.0
892


Remarks: excellent accuracy


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Vihtavuori
VV-3N37
11.0
1,020


Remarks: maximum


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Alliant
2400
16.0
987


Remarks: maximum


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Alliant
Blue Dot
12.5
966


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Accurate
AAC-9
15.5
925


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Accurate
AAC-7
13.0
988


285
RCBS 45-270-SAA cast
Accurate
AAC-5
10.5
947



Trail Boss? Sell it and buy TWO pounds of "normal" powder. Seriously, I was in a local gun shop a couple of days ago and they had Trail Boss for something like $27.95 per can, that'd be a 9 oz. can. That works out to almost $50 per pound! Think I'll continue to be cautious when charging cases.

35W

[Quiettime]

I have steel frame version, same bbl length. I carefully worked up to 8.5 gr of Universal behind 250 gr RNFP (same style as your mould, commercial cast *gasp*) Usually 5 or all 6 cases will fall out of the gun "movie style" without using the ejector rod. Recoil is snappy but moderate, very manageable.

[MtGun44]

Two ways to blow up a pistol, sorry for the thread drift. . . .

The most common is a double charge, as shown above.

The other method is "double boolit". This can be done in a few cases, and
both doubles the "boolit weight" and MASSIVELY reduces the combustion chamber
volume. The one example that I have heard of this problem is a pair of .44-40s
destroyed by a mild load, but by two boolits seating in the same case. Not possible
with many, but is possible if a few.

As to the original question. My favorite .45 Colt loads are either 8.0 of W231 for
a nice load under a 250-ish Keith boolit, or a hot ".45 Magnum" load -
the first is a bit of a +P load, and the second one is definitely for Ruger Blackhawks
and this is 20 middling (will not quote it here) grains of H110. It is actually the
starting load in Hodgdon's data for the "Ruger loads". Neither is best for the
Uberti, I would think. One powder is a bit too fast and one is a bit too slow.
You need a medium speed powder - I would look at Unique or Blue Dot, maybe
Universal.

Max in Alliant's data with a 250 Lead SWC and Unique is 9.5 gr, with a velocity of
941. I think working up to this load would be a good place to be. Stopping at
8 or 8.5 or 9.0 or whatever, as you find accuracy and power to meet your needs,
should be the process. Of the powders listed, I think you will be best served with
between 8 and 9.5 gr of Unique under a 250ish boolit.

Bill

[lbaize3]

My target and fun loads are 5.8 grains of Trail boss. The hunting and serious social intercourse loads are 7.5 grains of Universal Clays. Both using a 250 to 255 grain cast boolit. Both have been safe in my Rugers and Colt clones. Even my 1873 Winchester rifle clones like the 7.5 UC load.

[9.3X62AL]

Loves me some 45 Colt in 1873-vintage loadings! I don't have bullets of 285 grains in weight, but I have used Lymans #454190--#454490--and #454424 (all 250-260 grainers) over 9.0 grains of Unique in a Uberti Cattleman x 4-3/4" and a Ruger Bisley Blackhawk x 7-1/2". These ran about 825-850 FPS from the Pasta Colta and 900-925 FPS from the BisHawk.

After many years of revolver enjoyment, my fondness for the 45 Colt grows apace. At its 1873 intensity, the cartridge is perfectly capable of humanely harvesting deer at woods ranges and is easily managed by most shooters. If you limit yourself to this load level, the original Colt SAA or its various better clones (like the Uberti C-man) are a more sensible platform from the standpoint of size and weight than are the Ruger BHs.

[snapshot]

my SAA 5 1/2 inch shoots best with 9.8 grs. of HS-6 been shooting this load for so long I can't remember when I started. I like historicly accurate loads so I also use the Lyman 454190 mold it dates back to the 19th century and is a verygood choice for these type of firarms dead on with my AU pistol.

[StrawHat]

I have two older 1873 copies (Italian), one 5 1/2" and the other 7 1/2", I use the various nominal 255 grain boolits (454190, 454490, 454424, Lee, etc.) and my favorite powder is 3F black. But that is not what you asked. Smokeless, I like Unique and load those boolits over 8.5 grains of it in the long Colt cases. This duplicates the BP ballistics and gives good accuracy.

I also have nominal 270 and 235 grain boolits. Unique or black work well with those and are game getters also.

[robertbank]

I carry my Uberti Cattleman in the bush up here for a secondary firearm for bear protection (Grizzly/Black Bears). My 45 Colt carries 260 gr LSWC (water dropped from mold) loaded with 8.5 gr of Unique. Bought this mold off my good friend Felix Robins who recently passed. The bullet has a very wide meplat with sharp edges making ideal for the intended purpose - back up to my 12 gauge Mossberg.

8.5 gr of Unique is about all I can shoot quickly and with accuracy. I also have a 4 5/8" Ruger Blackhawk flattop and it carries the same cartridge configuration. The Ruger is heavier so the Cattleman usually gets the call.

Take Care

Bob

[DougGuy]

OP you have about the perfect boolit, 8.0 - 8.5gr Unique will have it slinging lead all day long without worry. Doubt you will recover any of those from a deer or black bear, should be a through and through shot.

Don't know what your cylinder throats measure, possibly .454" so you would want to size pretty close to that, hopefully they will drop from the mold big enough.. I myself would want them a little on the soft side, either 50/50+2% or 20:1 would work great, with Felix lube or other soft lube in the grooves.

[Springfield]

The load I use for my wife's 45 Colt Uberti is 6 grains of Trailboss. Might be a bit more exepensive, but if you figure a lb/7000 grains divided by the 6 grains of powder equals 1166 loads. That's 4 cents a load. Not much to pay to add one more layer of protection against double loading my wife's loads. That is a near max Cowboy load, I'm sure you can go higher for hunting.

[robertbank]

Doug Guy makes a good point. If it were not for Grizzly bears I would want my boolits on the soft side as well. X2 on the soft lube - Felix lube works great.

Bob

[Grapeshot]

When I bought my first .45 Colt SAA one of the first molds I bought was Lee's 454-255-RF, (Now 452-255-RF). It was my go to bullet for my A.Uberti 1873 Lever Gun and all my SAA's. It wasn't until Lyman came out with their Cowboy line that I bought one of those as well.

My load with the Lee boolit was and is 8.0 grains of Alliant Unique. It shoots very accurately out of all my SAA's from the 3.5 inch Doc Holiday Bird's Head, 5.5 inch Artillery Model and my favorite 7.5 inch Cavalry model. I've tried other powders, but unless you shoot BP, the Unique Load was the best in my guns.

[w5pv]

I shoot 9.6 grains of HS-6 in my Uberti with fairly good groupings at 25 yrds.About 3 inches I have never measured but this is a guessti mate.Mine is a Uberti/1873 cattleman with a 4 3/4" barrel.The recoil isn't bad and I run about 50 rounds a week through it.