45 Colt by gawd....

[Finnmike]

Just like He and Elmer intended. I wonder how Elmer would have experimented with the New Model Super Blackhawk? Kinda looks good atop my 1955 edition. Saw this up at a gunshop in Renton, WA and it was lust at first sight. One of Lipseys exclusives, 3 3/4" 45 Colt/ACP convertible. Headed to the range tomorrow with 100 assorted Category 1 and II handloads under 255 gr LSWCs. The chamber throats are .452, as near as I can slug. Fit and finish are exemplary, trigger pull right at 3.5 lbs on my gauge. I'll run a few hundred through it before trying any mods. I'll be shooting off of a rest over a chronograph for 5 each of the test loads (Unique, 2400, AA9, Trail Boss). H110 and others will come later, if at all, depending on accuracy results.

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[Beagle333]

Nice! I want one. :Fire:

[bluelund79]

Excellent! One of my favorite single actions is a Colt/ACP convertible, although certainly not as robust as yours, but that Uberti is one that will stay in my possession. Enjoy your range time, we look forward to the report to follow

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

What happened to the rest of the barrel? LOL.

My first centerfire pistol was a .45 convertible Ruger Blackhawk with 7.5" barrel back in 1974. Really liked it, but was relieved of it by two legged varmints while going to college on GI bill, and the money went elsewhere.

Now, decades later, I'm enjoying .45 Colt in Uberti revolver and cowboy action shooting. I plan on carrying this revolver while deer hunting this fall in hopes of getting a close shot. I don't doubt the round, just my marksmanship.

[Pistolero49]

Very nice woods gun for up in the NM high country.

[Lloyd Smale]

hard for me to come up with the money or justify another 44 mag but one just like that in 44mag was at the local gunshop and it took a lot of effort to keep me from selling something to buy it.

[6bg6ga]

hard for me to come up with the money or justify another 44 mag but one just like that in 44mag was at the local gunshop and it took a lot of effort to keep me from selling something to buy it.

Life is too short Lloyd. Buy the darned gun!!

I managed to get into a little trouble with the wife over the weekend when I came home with yet another 44 mag. A 629-3 this time with a unfluted cylinder and a trigger that brings tears of joy to your eyes when you fire her. The wife was upset for about 2 minutes when I brought up her second 22-250 she then understood that sometimes you just have to have that gun.

Go buy it Lloyd..

[DougGuy]

The chamber throats are .452, as near as I can slug.

You would want a .452" to slide into the throats from the front with finger pressure. If it can't do that, then there is some degree of downsizing happening..

Nice Ruger!

[str8wal]

Nice lookin' piece. Wonder if the front sight is tall enough for heavy loads.

[Lloyd Smale]

its long gone. It was actually there this spring. I already have a 4 inch 629 a 4 inch 29, 2- 4 5/8s super blackhawks, a clements custom 4 inch 44 spec. a 696 so I'm pretty flush with short barreled 44s
Life is too short Lloyd. Buy the darned gun!!

I managed to get into a little trouble with the wife over the weekend when I came home with yet another 44 mag. A 629-3 this time with a unfluted cylinder and a trigger that brings tears of joy to your eyes when you fire her. The wife was upset for about 2 minutes when I brought up her second 22-250 she then understood that sometimes you just have to have that gun.

Go buy it Lloyd..

[6bg6ga]

You owe it to yourself to find yet another toy that fits your fancy.

[Lloyd Smale]

problem anymore pal is to get a gun I about have to trade a gun. For me to just buy one it has to be something that REALLY trips my trigger. that and every new gun about comes with months of load development that I used to enjoy. But anymore its just work and id rather just shoot.

[6bg6ga]

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I managed 4) 44 magnums

A ruger super redhawk, a S&W 629-3 with unfluted cylinder, S&W 629-6, and a Desert Eagle with scope.

The most recent was the S&W 629-3 which I received a call on and bought it within 8 minutes of the phone call,

[6bg6ga]

45 LC?


Yup a S&W 25-5

I absolutely love 45 LC's but do appreciate a 5-6" barrel unless ported. There is just something about a good 45.

[Lloyd Smale]

if were just counting ANY 44 mag add to my list a 5.5 inch accusport bisley, and old 3 screw 7.5 inch super and a 10 inch TC contender. Also a 44p marlin
205228205229205230205231

I managed 4) 44 magnums

A ruger super redhawk, a S&W 629-3 with unfluted cylinder, S&W 629-6, and a Desert Eagle with scope.

The most recent was the S&W 629-3 which I received a call on and bought it within 8 minutes of the phone call,

[smkummer]

45 LC?


Yup a S&W 25-5

I absolutely love 45 LC's but do appreciate a 5-6" barrel unless ported. There is just something about a good 45.

What he said, I want at least a 5.5 barrel on my 45 colt with 250 grain bullets going out at 900 FPS or more, of course the bisley grip helps a bunch with recoil. But that's a nice packing gun.

[Finnmike]

Nice lookin' piece. Wonder if the front sight is tall enough for heavy loads.

Looks like it; I had to crank the rear sight down to the frame to get it sighted at 15 yards. Out of the box it shot 7" high and 3" Left at 15 yards.

[Finnmike]

Range report: all 5 round groups fired at 15 yards over sand bags, all loads under Silver State 255 gr SWCL
8.5 Unique - Ave 888 fps, 63 ES, 25 SD, 1.7" group
9.0 Unique - Ave 945 fps, 18 ES, 8 SD 1.3" group
9.5 Unique - Ave 1052 fps, 26 ES, 9 SD 1.3" group

16.5 2400 - Ave 1000 fps, 62 ES, 23 SD, 2.5" group unburned grains
17.5 2400 - Ave 1112 fps, 51 ES, 20 SD, 1.8" group unburned grains
18.8 2400 - Ave 1128 fps, 93 ES, 34 SD, 2.1" group unburned grains

7.0 Trail Boss - Ave 807 fps, 11 ES, 4 SD, 0.87 group!

17.0 AA9 - Ave 991 fps, 89 ES, 36 SD, 2.2" group sharp recoil
18.0 AA9 - Ave 1135 fps,82 ES, 33 SD, 1.85" group, sharp recoil

Commercial WW Silvertips - Ave 846 fps, 11 ES, 5 SD, soft shooting, 2.5" group

Takeaways - the sight radius is very short for my old eyes, a diopter may be useful in the future. There is a fair bit of creep to deal with in the future. Best way to eject the brass is to rotate the cylinder just to the point where the rim is caught on the upper recoil shield, so when one applies pressure with the short ejector and completes the cylinder rotation, the round "pops" clear. Otherwise brass has to be picked out due to short ejection.
A heavier crimp may be necessary for the 2400, but I suspect the barrel is too short for this powder
The AA9 was unpleasant due to the sharpness of recoil
Trail Boss was a pleasant surprise; more work needed
Unique is still a great powder for the 45.
I found some HS 6 to work with.
More work to be done. Now to get a holster - I think Barranti's Longhorn Companion will be a great winter holster here in
the PNW. https://shop.barrantileather.com/products/longhorn-companion

[birch]

I shoot a bunch of different calibers. The 45 colt is in my opinion the finest cartridge ever invented. I live casting and loading that round just as much as shooting it. I have 4 platforms for that cartridge and I am always looking out for number 5. Long Live the 45 Colt!!!!!

And a very nice and accurate piece by the way.

[6bg6ga]

I shoot a bunch of different calibers. The 45 colt is in my opinion the finest cartridge ever invented. I live casting and loading that round just as much as shooting it. I have 4 platforms for that cartridge and I am always looking out for number 5. Long Live the 45 Colt!!!!!

And a very nice and accurate piece by the way.

Like I think I've mentioned before I also love the 45LC. Too me its special because I watched my dad put one together when I was a young kid and I got to shoot it when I was older. Maybe not in the 44 mag power league to me its a heavy hitter with the ability to be a peaceful target shooter or to put down a large animal. It was a big hand gun for many years before other calibers came out.

[runfiverun]

the 2400 will clean up when you get to 19grs.
I needed a magnum primer at 18 or below but it wasn't compatible to good groups.
many of us shoot 19.3grs of 2400 under a 250-255 plain base.

I generally shoot 8.5 or 9.3 grs of unique it just seems to work as intended without any drama, and it saves the 2400 for rifle loading.

[hc18flyer]

What about velocity at 19.3 Aliant 2400? I shot some 45-270saa's at 19 grains, they were a handful. Guess I will try some of my NOE 255rfp's and 19 grains of 2400? Also working with some Win 540/HS6 . hc18flyer

[lar45]

I'm loading 22gns of Herc 2400 with the Hunter Supply 275LFN and a Win LP primer. It gives me 1184fps from a 5.5" Bisley and 1587fps from a 24" Rossi M92.
The lighter charges gave me some pretty erratic velocities in excess of 100fps depending on where the powder was in the case, but at 22gns it gave consistent velocities.

[Whiterabbit]

I too have a strong Ruger in 45 colt with 3.5” barrel. But in a large frame Vaquero, I had to customize it myself to get the features I wanted.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=188039&d=1487048360

The load it likes is 23 grains of H110 under a 300 grain bullet, and it is all the fun I can stand, the recoil is just brutal. And you are right, the short sight radius makes it hard to shoot on target past 15 yards, at least for my eyes. I’m gonna try an light 45 cal (preferrably dewc) to get the shortest possible bullet length and see how much I can back off on velocity to find a nice comfortable 45 +p+ that doesn’t recoil like my 460 s&w.

Anyways, I just posted to tell you the ballpark I suggest for H110 if you are running bullets 250-300 grains, if you want to get the most out of that 3.5 incher. Not much fun to shoot tho :)

[Whiterabbit]

BTW, I’m taking your TB load :). Think it’ll work with the lee 255 bullet? Its a WFN, not a SWC.

Holster I’m liking is the Simply Rugged Sourdough Pancake. Got it with border and fishscale atamping, I like it lots.

[sharps4590]

Good ol' 45 Colt. It just keeps going on about it's business of getting the job done without any extraneous BS. It's been my favorite big bore revolver cartridge for 30+ years and I doubt things will change.

[bisleyfan41]

I know it's a bunch of what-ifs, but what if back in the day 'ol Elmer had solid head 45 Colt cases and a Ruger Blackhawk? Elmer started with the Colt in a SAA and old balloon head cases, neither of which agreed with his stiff loads. So he went to the 44 special to hot rod and the rest is history. But if he had a Blackhawk, 2400, and solid head cases there very well might not be a 44 mag, 41 mag, or even 357 for that matter. The 45 Colt does everything all these do and so much more. It simply amazes me that a cartridge developed in 1873 is as modern and useful today as any handgun cartridge can be for just about any task and frankly can make all the late-comers useless. JMHO