What's Your Favorite 45 Long Colt Boolit?

[mtgrs737]

I just got a new Ruger Vaquero in 45 Long Colt and was wondering what boolit and loading was working for those here. The throats measure around .452"+ I have not slugged the bore yet but the calipers show a tad less than .452"

Thanks!

[BCB]

RCBS 45-270-SAA...Shoot well in my Blackhawk. Good-luck...BCB

[leadeye]

I use two, the RCBS 300 GC for high power stuff and the RCBS 250 FN for low powered stuff. This helps keep problems like getting a Ruger load into my Colt from happening. Also a good excuse for buying more molds!:castmine:

[Heavy lead]

RCBS 45-270-SAA...Shoot well in my Blackhawk. Good-luck...BCB

+1, This boolit will do everything you need. I use the 454190 and the Lee RF255 for lighter loads.

[Dale53]

LYman's 452664 (round flat nose) works VERY well in my Ruger Bisley .45 Colt with both Black powder and Smokeless powder.

Thanks to a gentleman on this forum, I have taken delivery of a Lyman four cavity 454424 (Elmer Keith bullet) the older designation of the present 452424. I will be trying this after I get some cast up. I have used Elmer's design by the thousands in my .38/,357 Magnum .44 Special and Magnums with excellent results and I expect the same with the Keith bullet in the .45 Colt.

Dale53

[Heavy lead]

LYman's 452664 (round flat nose) works VERY well in my Ruger Bisley .45 Colt with both Black powder and Smokeless powder.

Thanks to a gentleman on this forum, I have taken delivery of a Lyman four cavity 454424 (Elmer Keith bullet) the older designation of the present 452424. I will be trying this after I get some cast up. I have used Elmer's design by the thousands in my .38/,357 Magnum .44 Special and Magnums with excellent results and I expect the same with the Keith bullet in the .45 Colt.

Dale53

Dale, I am :mrgreen: with envy, been looking for one of these, or even a darn two cavity forever. The new 452424 is simply worthless, both I've bought have only casted at .447. Good find. IMO this is THE boolit to use for the lighter loads, but Lyman evidently disagree's, and I much prefer the 4 cavities.

[NHlever]

In a New Vaquero, I would stick with the traditional bullet weights, or possibly something lighter. I've used a Lyman 452424 250 grain SWC mold with good results. I found that in my old model Blackhawk sized Vaquero that the 300 grain bullets really needed to be driven to stabilize at longer ranges, and the New Vaquero isn't up to those kind of loads. Actually, for just plinking, and target shooting I would try one of the 200 - 230 grain boolits, and for carry in the woods I would be quite content with a 250 -255 grain SWC over a standard Colt load of Unique, or Universal, or HS-6. It would be likely to shoot to point of aim with your fixed sight gun, and would be perfectly adequate for close / medium range hunting.

[monadnock#5]

I have two S&W DA's. One of them is a 25-5 that is the reason got into casting, trying to find an accurate load. It won't ever be a bulls-eye shooter, but the Lyman 454424 gets me closer than any of the other 4 or 5 moulds I've bought for that gun.

I've got to admit I haven't yet tried the Cayoot "Wide, Flat and Kinda Heavy" though. That will make a good winter project.

[Dale53]

I have used the Lyman 452664 extensively on targets and it shoots to the sights (as issued) on my Ruger Bisley Vaquero. Most of the matches I entered required fixed sights and black powder. The 664 has a nice large lube groove that does nicely with black. I use Emmert's home mix lube (50% pure natural beeswax, 40% Crisco, and 10% Canola oil - all measurements are by liquid volume). I later modified the Emmerts by replacing the 10% Canola oil with 5% Canola and 5% Anhydrous Lanolin. The modified seems to have a longer shelf life on lubed bullets and shoots as well as the original formula.

I was quite fortunate with my Ruger Bisley as it shoots to the sights at 25 yards "out of the box". FWIW, the barrel is 5.5" long.

Dale53

[mtgrs737]

Dale,

Mine is 5.5" long also, I am going to try the 452664 boolit to start with, it seems to have a shorter nose than the SWC boolits that may be needed in the shorter New Vaquero cylinder. what amount of Unique are you loading in it?

[Dale53]

Lyman lists 9.0 grs of Unique for a velocity of 875fps (about the original ballistics of the .45 Colt). In the Bisley Vaquero I can go to 10.2 grs for a velocity of 1087.

Note: in the original 1873 Colt and Colt Clones (and also the NEW Ruger) you should not exceed 8.5 grs with a 250 gr bullet.

If you are just shooting paper and want to reduce the recoil with the 250 gr bullet Lyman shows as low as 6.0 grs of Unique for a velocity of 595 fps.

My preference, when using Unique is to stay between 725 fps - 875 fps for general use. In fact, I often find that an accurate load that runs between 725-750 is quite comfortable to shoot all afternoon. You should find that level with 8.0 grs. of Unique.

As a matter of interest, you can get nearly 1000 fps with a case full (1/16" above the base of the bullet when seated) of Swiss 3F.

Dale53

[mtgrs737]

8grs. of Unique sounds like a good starting point. I am looking for a load that shoots to point of aim or lower. Thanks!

[Tom W.]

I have a mis-cut RCBS 45-255 SWC that has a nose profile that uses a 638 top punch. RCBS told me that they'd replace it, but I like it a lot. The other is the RCBS 45-270 SAA and it too shoots well from my Blackhawk. I haven't tried the Lee 300 gr. boolit yet because I haven't gotten any...

[jleneave]

RCBS 45-270-SAA...Shoot well in my Blackhawk. Good-luck...BCB

Another +1 for the RCBS 45-270-SAA!! It shoots very well out of my 5.5" Blackhawk as well. Using straight WW the bullets drop from the mold at 281grs.

Jody