310-320gr 45 Colt cowboy loads

[Beagle333]

I have came by a couple hundred 310-320gr cast boolits that I want to use in my backyard cowboy shooting, but my books don't go that high in load data weights. I did a few searches here and found lots of loads but mostly by people who wanted to hunt with that big boolit in a rifle or a Ruger only use. I want to shoot these up in the backyard on paper targets or busting cans, and I do have a 7.5" Ruger BH, but I'd rather use my SAA clones (Piettas and Ubertis) to practice with. Powders are Unique, Red Dot, Blue Dot, Bullseye, American Select, PB, Trail Boss, TiteGroup and a few others. I don't have any 2400 or Green Dot.

So..... who has used the heavy boolits just for fun and not hunting loads? Thanks. Chuck.

[DougGuy]

Boy the one common denominator those heavies need is spin to stabilize. Won't get enough spin at pressure safe for a Colt SAA or clone.

[Beagle333]

Okay. I could always just use them in the Blackhawk or the Rossi 92 and just keep shooting my regular can busting loads in the clones.
I haven't ever had any boolits over 300gr to use before. I do shoot a lot of 45-270SAA but I guess these are considerably heavier.
Looks like it'll be about 21gr of H110 to start it off.

[FlyfishermanMike]

I use the Lee 310 so far in Ruger only loads but I've wanted to try this as well and have been looking for data.

As for standard 45 Colt loads check out the Lyman Cast bullet book:

http://forums.handloads.com/uploads/Bohica793/2013-06-22_051848_45Colt.jpg

There are a few here but no mention of pressure.

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/"Practice"+loads+for+big-bore+sixguns.-a0110470557

There's a little bit of standard pressure data on Hodgdon's site as well though not cast.

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol?&CartridgeName=45+Colt&OrderBW%5B%5D=300&Manufacturer%5B%5D=All&Powder%5B%5D=All

I haven't found very many others. Those bigger bullets need more speed to stabilize well. You could always use the Trail Boss method and use the 70% case capacity trick. Let us know how it goes.

If you want the Ruger only loads I believe the Taffin load for a 300+ gr. was 21.2 gr. of H110. Linebaugh shows 21.5 - 24 gr. for 310 gr. He also shows 11 gr Unique for a 310 gr at just under 1,000 fps @ 29,200 CUP.

[Beagle333]

Thanks Mike! My Lyman books didn't go that high. I might try a couple of those loads just to see how bad they tumble or wobble at soda-can shooting distances, just for the fun of it. I'm not looking to find a regular load for that weight anyway, those aren't my normal boolits but I got a bunch of them in a package deal. I could always just melt them and recast as 452423 or similar, but I'd like to sling em once first. :Fire: Then I'll dig em out of my berm and recast them later. 8-)

[crash87]

If you can find yourself the Hodgdon # 26 reloading manual you will find the the cast data your looking for.
Crash 87

[Beagle333]

Thanks Crash87. Maybe somebody will send me a pic of that page in their #26 manual.

I do have a fair amount of information that I have collected. :coffeecom


Update...... I just got Hodgon #26 manual. Yes, there are a lot of loads in there for nearly everything. Thanks. :-D:Fire:

[Texas by God]

They will shoot really high in your fixed sight guns; probably dead on around 70 yards or so. If they are plainbased I'd melt them.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Beagle333]

Yes, that was the main hesitation for not just doing that and not even mentioning it.... they are all checked. :-?

[Texas by God]

Since they are GC, call the Ruger Blackhawk off the bench for some fun. Maybe work up an Alabama deer & hog load!