Opinions on 45 colt Redhawk loads.

[sam86]

Hey, haven't posted much here or lately but I thought I would ask a few questions.

I recently picked up a Ruger Redhawk in 45 colt (not 45 colt and 45 acp). Its has a 4" tube and I love it, great gun!

I bought some lasercast 250 gr rnfp and loaded them up with 7.0 grains of W231 and it is a very accurate load, however I am getting some leading.

I also picked up some 225 gr swchp-pb from gt bullets. I loaded 8.5, 9.0, 9.5 and 10.0 grains of W231. 9.5 and 10.0 grains produced 1 1/4 and 1 3/4" groups at 25 yards from a field rested position. But again I am getting some leading.

I measured the cylinder throats and they came out at .4515 on each throat. In retrospect I should have Dont that before buying bullets because if what I am learning is correct I should be shooting .454 bullets to prevent leading, is that correct?

Is there anything I can go with the other 600 bullets I still have to help with the leading or just shoot them up and keep cleaning the bore with chore boy?

Also, I have unique on hand and tried some loads with it, but they were not as accurate as the W231. I also have a # of 296 but Dont want that much abuse for a little old whitetail lol. I have not observed any signs of pressure from the heavy charges of W231. Does anyone have an idea of the MV I might be getting from the 225 gr bullet with 9.5 or 10.0 grs of W231 from a 4" barrel with a decent crimp?

Thanks a bunch!

[sam86]

225030225030

[RobS]

Running .454 bullets will not help as they will be sized down to .4515 as are the .452 bullets. You may be just fine i with those throats if the barrel's groove diameter is under the cylinder throats. If your barrel is .451" you are going to be ok. As to your current bullets you are working with I would go as far to say that they have hard bullet lube and the lube is not flowing from the lube groove at first so there is gas blow by resulting in the leading you are seeing.

A simply way to fix this is to simply tumble lube them with some alox and see if this takes care of your leading issues. Some people have taken commercial bullets as such and have made a work around on hard cast, hard lubed commercial bullets.

[sam86]

Ok cool, will have to try and find some and give it a try. I have a bunch of beeswax on hands, anyone to make a lube with beeswax?

[RobS]

As a test you can make some lithibee lube and simply scrape the old lube out of a few and then replace it with the new homemade sample lithibee lube. This will let you know what if it is a lube issue. Also probably wouldn't hurt to see what your bore groove diameter is so you can verify if you need to open up your cylinder throats or not.

[sam86]

So I have heard that your bullet should be .002 to .003 larger then your cylinder throats. I measured the bore and it is .450. So my cylinder throats are .4515 and about a 1/2" from the muzzle my bore is .450.

[Wheelguns 1961]

Where is the leading? Is it just past the forcing cone? I would not be surprised if you don’t also have some in your throats. If it is mostly at the muzzle end, then I would look at the lube. Did you check for a lube star? This is a very easy way to eliminate the lube.

[Wheelguns 1961]

Your bullets should be the same same size as your cylinder throats. On my .45 caliber revolvers, I ream my throats to .4525 because that is what my reamer is. I shoot .452 bullets. Are you measuring with pin gauges? How did you measure your bore?

[sam86]

I measured with digital calipers. The leading is mostly in the forcing cone and the first few inches of the barrel. Its not horrible leading but its there. Not sure what a lube star is.

[RobS]

Cast bullets work best at cylinder throat diameter however I have worked on several occasions with a diameter just slightly over throat diameter with very good results. You may be referencing the bullet diameter being larger than the groove diameter of the barrel. In accord to your cylinder throat to barrel groove diameter you have a very good relationship if the entire bore is at .450.

[sam86]

The .450 was in between the grooves. From groove to groove its was .44 something can't remember off the top of my head.

[RobS]

A lube star is lube at the end of the muzzle meaning your bullet has not run out of lube upon exiting the bore. The case scenario you are seeing is a fast powder pushing a harder cast bullet with crayon lube. Running a softer lube that will flow would likely take care of your issues. A slower powder could work too and many use 2400 for middle ground and up. I use 231 too with 225 grain fn bullets and have had no leading with a softer lube. I typically run 7.5 grains with easy shooting 225 grainers. Now-a-days I Hitek bullets and have shifted away from traditional lube bullets entirely as it is simply cleaner and I find I don't have to worry about the affect of ambient temperature on the lube in turn creating changes in accuracy.

[sam86]

So powder coating? So if I got some powder coating and scraped the lube off and powder coated them it might fix the leading issue? Would the hollow points still expand?

[RobS]

10 grains of 231 is pushing on a bullet pretty good especially right out of the gate due to it being a faster powder. I would think you would be pushing around 1150 to 1200 fps with a 225 grainer.

[RobS]

You would need to boil the lube off and make sure there is no residue so the Hitek or Powder Coat would stick. I wouldn't go this route myself to do the hassle of it all. The easiest means is using Alox and tumble lubing them and be done with it. If you are still planning on buying commercial, which is not an problem, you may want to start to look into companies who use softer lubes or there are now companies who use a Hitek or Powder Coat vs traditional lube.

Regards to hitek/powder coat and having a negative effect upon expanding of a hollow point I have not had any issues. Same as with a traditional lubed bullet in my experiences.

[sam86]

Ok I will think about either getting some alox lube OT powder coating. Either way I plan to start getting into casting and plan on getting molds for gas checking.

[Wheelguns 1961]

Ruger .45c revolvers are known for small throats and constrictions in the barrel where the barrel threads onto the cylinder frame. If you are getting leading in the first inch or two of the barrel, that is an indication of thread choke. There is a guy on here named Fermin Garza “two dogs” he is great at diagnosing leading issues. Calbers are not accurate enough to get good measurements on a revolver. You need pin gauges and a micrometer. I have two ruger .45c revolvers and they both had small throats and thread choke. They are both single actions. I am not sure about redhawks double actions.

[RobS]

Ruger .45c revolvers are known for small throats and constrictions in the barrel where the barrel threads onto the cylinder frame. If you are getting leading in the first inch or two of the barrel, that is an indication of thread choke. There is a guy on here named Fermin Garza “two dogs” he is great at diagnosing leading issues. Calbers are not accurate enough to get good measurements on a revolver. You need pin gauges and a micrometer. I have two ruger .45c revolvers and they both had small throats and thread choke. They are both single actions. I am not sure about redhawks double actions.

Not necessarily. A hard crayon lube with fast powders can easily create the experience the OP'er is having with his leading. I have the same Redhawk 45 Colt revolver and it came from the factory with nearly identical barrel/throat dimensions. .4505 groove diameter and had .4514-.4516 cylinder throats. Since I have a cylinder throat reaming set I went ahead and cut the throats to .4525 so they match the rest of my 45 caliber revolvers. There is the possibility of thread choke however this is seen more often in the Ruger single action 45 Colts than in the Redhawks.

[Cherokee]

Load info: 9.5 gr 231 & 213 gr RFN from 7.5" Redhawk yielded 1165 fps for my load.
I use .452 size cast in my RH and accuracy is better than I can hold. Never measured anything, what I already had on hand worked so I stayed with it.

[sam86]

Thanks for the info. So I would guess with 10.0 grains and a 225 grain bullet from my 4" barrel I would be getting at least 1000 fps probably a little more.

[Bigslug]

Highly likely you've got a thou or so of frame crush at the back of the barrel. I've seen this on a goodly number of Rugers and Smiths, including my .45 Colt /ACP Redhawk which I've yet to get around to fire-lapping the problem out of. In my case, it leads a little bit with my standard 230 gr Ranch Dog tumble lube bullet rolled in Ben's Liquid Lube (pretty dry stuff), but not at all with conventional groove slugs filled with Ben's Red (pretty squishy beeswax / grease combo).

[pls1911]

Nine grains of unique pushing the RCBS 270-SAA SWC with about any good lube has performed nicely in my Redhawks and Blackhawks.
Heavy bullets = dead pigs!