Looking for a boolits for my 45 LC Ruger

[tayous1]

So I'm looking for advice on a good boolits for hunting. It's mostly going to be for hog SD maybe hunting them also. I'm not sure what I'm looking for style or weight wise. So any advice would help and yes I'd like to be able to cast this round and would like even more if it came with a sold and HP.

Thanks for the advice.

[Froogal]

So I'm looking for advice on a good boolits for hunting. It's mostly going to be for hog SD maybe hunting them also. I'm not sure what I'm looking for style or weight wise. So any advice would help and yes I'd like to be able to cast this round and would like even more if it came with a sold and HP.

Thanks for the advice.

200 grain round nose flat point. I do not hunt, but those bullets hit the steel targets HARD, and I mean HARD.

[reloader28]

The Lee 300gr is never a bad choice. It drops 320gr with my alloy.
I have an NOE RF that drops a 235gr HP or a 255gr solid that shoot and perform excellent for me.
The Lee 200 RF is a nice bullet and it also works very good in 45acp if you have one of them

[Wheelguns 1961]

If a hollow point is required, mp-molds has 2 great hunting bullet molds. The mp- ruger only is a great bullet for a heavy hunting round. They are accurate at longer distances when driven hard.
The other is the mp-454-270 saa. This bullet is a great one for tier 1 and tier 2 45 colt loads.
If hollow points are not a big deal, the NOE 454-280 WFN is a great hunting bullet, and my personal hunting bullet. I shoot this out of a ruger blackhawk, and a marlin 1894. It is too long for my model 25.

[Hickok]

RCBS 45-250-FN

Beautiful boolit and a big meplat for tissue damage. I use this in my 45 Colt.

Use 8.5-9.0 gr Unigue and will duplicate the original black powder load. I have used this load on deer, and it can penetrate a buck from stem to stern, and cuts a nice deadly hole. This load will do 99% of what is needed from a 45 Colt.

If you want to up the speed in a Blackhawk, I always use 2400. Just my experience with these components.

[white eagle]

When I had a 45 colt I always liked the mp-454-270 saa
just seemed rite to me

[winelover]

Only have two bullet moulds for my 45 LC. The RCBS 250 SWC and MP's clone of the RCBS 270 SAA............ complete with pins to make solids and hollow points (penta & conical).

Winelover

[GasGuzzler]

260 grain Lee RNFP

275980

[cwlongshot]

I do love a HP mold... But frankly it is NOT REQUIRED!!

Buy a good WFN style bullet like a Lyman 454424 or a RCBS 270 saa. Great molds. Load the bullets to about 1100 and enjoy what the 45 Colt does best. You can play with alloys if ya feel expansion is needed. But if ya have larger hogs I recomend against that COWW alloy is popular for good reason and quenching that will produce a bullet when launched at 1100 will penetrate a FEW BIG HOGS!

CW

[siamese4570]

Before you head down this road you might want to check the throats of your cylinder. They tend to be tight on rugers. They were on mine. Also check your barrel for thread choke (tight spot) where the barrel threads into the frame. If the cylinder throats are tight, DougGuy can fix that. He's a regular on this site. If you have these conditions and don't address them you'll have leading issues. Been there/done that.
Siamese4570

[tayous1]

I do love a HP mold... But frankly it is NOT REQUIRED!!

Buy a good WFN style bullet like a Lyman 454424 or a RCBS 270 saa. Great molds. Load the bullets to about 1100 and enjoy what the 45 Colt does best. You can play with alloys if ya feel expansion is needed. But if ya have larger hogs I recomend against that COWW alloy is popular for good reason and quenching that will produce a bullet when launched at 1100 will penetrate a FEW BIG HOGS!

CW

Understand what you say but the HP was more for HD. Also just like to have the HP just in case it's needed for anything else.

[Jeff Michel]

NOE 454-280 WFN and a stout dose of 2400. HP not needed.

[Ramjet-SS]

WFN 270-290 grains that’s all you need heck a nice reasonable dose of Unique to get you around 1000 FPS

[PositiveCaster]

^^^This bullet^^^

I have had good success with a 280 WFN ahead of 13.0 grains of BlueDot. That gives 982 fps out of my 4-5/8” BH with good accuracy. Lower pressure than Unique gives for the same velocity, and not too loud. No expansion needed in hogs, this load took two Texas hogs no problem.


276007

[koger]

I use a Lyman mold, 255 gr but comes out 265 with my alloy, the big old Keith/Thompson semi wadcutter. Hard to beat, Elmer Keith done a lot of great shooting with this type bullet in .44 and .45. He killed a lot of critters, good penetration, good performance.

[Bigbore5]

Lyman 452664. 250gr rnfp. Great for pigs and black bear. MP 452640 with large or penta hp pin for deer.

[AlaskaMike]

I think anything from 250 - 300 grains would be ideal, as long as it has a large meplat.

I love the looks of the Lee 310 with it's huge meplat and large mass, but I greatly dislike the tiny crimp groove. I guess for me I'd go for the 270 SAA design, either the RCBS or MP versions. Most of the 260-280 grain RNFP designs mentioned so far look really good too though.

[Bigslug]

Depends a little on if you're set for .452 or need something fatter. I can take some of the credit for this one: https://noebulletmolds.com/site/product-category/452-454/tl452-234-rf-bi2/

I launched the group buy discussion between Ranch Dog and NOE as a way of getting a tumble lube version of the LBT 45ACP bullet I had very good luck with. One of the participants suggested turning the front lube groove into a crimper for double duty in revolver applications and the rest is history. The solids will penetrate A LOT if you cast them out of harder alloys (you don't need 300 grains to take down a cavalry horse - they figured this out a LONG time ago) ; the deep HP pin would make an outstanding equivalent to .45 ACP duty ammo; and the shallow cup point will give you a controlled expansion, medium depth option.

[Mk42gunner]

452424 and just about any suitable powder that your gun likes, and you can find should work well.

Robert

[LenH]

I have several .45 Colt molds but it always goes back to the old Lyman 454-424 SWC. I think ole Elmer was on to something.

[cwlongshot]

I just picked up a LEE 452-255 6cav.

I have had a single or double for a while and like the bullet. My buddy found a friend selling and its now headed my way.

Its a more common profile but with a wider flat point.

CW

I think I made a video showing the bullet.

https://youtu.be/RdP29QAjyEU

[pls1911]

RCBS 45-270 SAA. hands down, with your choice of powder. For me, 9 grains UNIQUE.
Its a moderately warm load, pushing a moderately heavy slug with a good bearing area, and a large meplat for slap factor.
It casts easily (282gr in my alloy, 12 bhn or lazily heat treated to 20-22 bhn), accurately penetrates like no tomorrow (normally all the way through) and is pretty... its a pig pounding DRT slug if you do your part.
My molds are beautiful 5 cavity brass units from NOE, so production at one sitting approaches embarrassment.
The multi cavity brass is heavy when working quickly with two, so you really earn your slugs,
but they rank high among the best casting mold in the collection.

[kingrj]

For your purposes I would choose a SWC or a RFN with a large flat meplat weighing at least 250 grains...go heavier if you like but the 250's definately penetrate better than the 200's...Load them to about 1000 fps...I have had very good luck with Unique, Power Pistol and Blue Dot in this regard...The suggestions that you check your cylinder throats is a very good one. If you cannot easily push a sized .452" bullet through the throat you need to have the gun throated...You can do this yourself by renting the tools from here: https://4drentals.com/ I would not be concerned about any bullet expansion...you won't need it...You "can" load 250 SWC's up pretty fast with H110 or W296 but that is only in 7 1/2" barrel guns...In my 4 5/8' Blackhawk 11 grains of Power Pistol pushes a Lyman 452424 250 grain cast almost as fast as 25 grains of W296 with less muzzle blast. There is not a deer or pig on this earth that cannot be quickly and cleanly dispatched with a hard cast .45 SWC at 1000 or so fps.

[hc18flyer]

Ditto, what 'kingrj 'said. I have the large frame Blackhawk. A rnfp or Keith swc, 255-280 grains, running 1,000 fps will do anything you need and is comfortable to shoot.
Tom

[Iwsbull]

I am using a MP 454-340 hp mold (330 grains penta hollow point, gc and powdercoated with my alloy) in my 454 and have just ordered the 454-460 hp mold (hope it drops hp closer to 260-270 range)for a more lead stash friendly version and the devastator type boolits seem to be very effective.

[gitzitfish]

Really happy to see and read all the replies here as I am in process of the same. I did end up getting a couple of molds recently and waiting for them to arrive

[missionary5155]

Hunting or HD we use the same FN cast. If it works on a pig or corn cruncher it sure will work on whatever needs persuaded to walk a better path.

[tayous1]

I bought a MP 452. 285gr 45 carbine mold it has the solid, Large HP and small HP. I just now need to find load date for it.

[FLINTNFIRE]

I have the same mold coming but he was out of lube groove so its no lube groove , oh wait mine says 275 grain and I bought it as I want the 255 grain hollow point and compare to the Lee 255rf , options on weight I like and there is something cool about the hollow points but not really needed .

[DougGuy]

^^^This bullet^^^

I have had good success with a 280 WFN ahead of 13.0 grains of BlueDot. That gives 982 fps out of my 4-5/8” BH with good accuracy. Lower pressure than Unique gives for the same velocity, and not too loud. No expansion needed in hogs, this load took two Texas hogs no problem.

277440



It's HARD to beat a solid boolit with a meplat this size, check out Veral's LBT 250gr WFN-PB, WFN-GC (pictured?) and the 250gr OWC these are three in the 260gr weight range that are excellent hunting boolits, and if you take the same WFN design and go 300gr with it, now you got a bulldozer for hogs, again, no HP needed, or recommended...

[tayous1]

I have the same mold coming but he was out of lube groove so its no lube groove , oh wait mine says 275 grain and I bought it as I want the 255 grain hollow point and compare to the Lee 255rf , options on weight I like and there is something cool about the hollow points but not really needed .

Just got done casting mine tonight the solid came out closer to 295gr-300gr, deep HP came out closer to the 275gr the star HP small HP dot HP all came out around 280 gr- 283 gr. I used range lead to cast them.

I did cast some 300gr+ solid but could not get them through the sizing die and had to drill them out .

[Rick R]

I’m having excellent luck with an MP 45 270SAA mold. The gun (4 5/8” Blackhawk) and boolits want to shoot into one hole at 25 yards using 9.5gr Unique. Unfortunately the screwup holding the grips keeps messing things up. ;)

It’s one of MP’s brass solid molds and was almost too pretty to use when I took it out of the box.

I haven’t shot any game with it but I have no doubts it’ll put venison in the freezer.

[FLINTNFIRE]

I am looking forward to casting with mine , but am at work for 3 more days . Will check weight with my alloy .

[Doog-Meister]

Lyman 452424 in front of 8.5 gr Unique. Been my go-to load in a Ruger blackhawk for nearly twenty years.

[Saguarokid]

^^^This bullet^^^

I have had good success with a 280 WFN ahead of 13.0 grains of BlueDot. That gives 982 fps out of my 4-5/8” BH with good accuracy. Lower pressure than Unique gives for the same velocity, and not too loud. No expansion needed in hogs, this load took two Texas hogs no problem.


276007

Nice looking bullet. Did you cast it? Sure would like the mold number!!

[olereb]

I have a NOE 454-255gr one that worked great in my 45c rifles and my Blackhawk,i have been away from casting for the last few years due to kids but am about to start testing new loads for it for hunting. i didnt wright down my previous loads but that bullet worked great on deer here in FL. I did not resize and leave it at .454 and had no issues.

[Jniedbalski]

How about the Lyman 454190?it’s the only mold I have for it. It’s probably 50 years old and still new in the box. Need to try it out soon

[JesterGrin_1]

The Lee 300gr is never a bad choice. It drops 320gr with my alloy.
I have an NOE RF that drops a 235gr HP or a 255gr solid that shoot and perform excellent for me.
The Lee 200 RF is a nice bullet and it also works very good in 45acp if you have one of them

I have to agree on the Lee 310Gr for the 45 as it was designed as a hunting bullet.

[hornady308]

If I were going to have just one mold for the 45 Colt it would be the NOE 454-265-wfn. These drop at about 270 grains and are also available as a hollow point, though it really isn't needed. I use this bullet in Colts and Casull's with equal effect. In reality, since we all know that we aren't going to have just one mold, I also have the Lee 452-255-rf, the Lee 453-300-rf and an Applegate mold that throws 320 grains. All of these work great and are not swc designs. I don't know why, but in the pistols and rifles that I have shot using cast bullets, the rf and wfn designs have always been at least as accurate, and usually more accurate, at longer ranges than the swc's. For the money, the two Lee molds are really hard to beat.

https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop/452-454/454-265-wfn-ao1/454-265gr-wfn-2-cavity-pb/

[bangerjim]

I cast and shoot all weights/designs between 200 and 300 gn for my 45LC guns, both revolvers and long guns. HP's in that range are nice and I have 3 molds for HP's also with changeable pins for different weights and designs.

Load data is widely available in the many books out there and from powder maker's websites. I do not give out load data on any forum.

Good luck.

banger

[osteodoc08]

45-270-SAA and 13.5gr HS-6. Done.

[tayous1]

I cast and shoot all weights/designs between 200 and 300 gn for my 45LC guns, both revolvers and long guns. HP's in that range are nice and I have 3 molds for HP's also with changeable pins for different weights and designs.

Load data is widely available in the many books out there and from powder maker's websites. I do not give out load data on any forum.

Good luck.

banger

Thanks but not asking for "load data" I'm more wanting books and website.

[maglvr]

45-270-SAA and never look back!

[David2011]

For a while I was using Hornady XTPs to dispatch wounded hogs. They’re fairly pricey even at normal prices so I started using boolits from my Lyman 452374 which is a clone of John Browning’s 45 ACP bullet and “only” 225 grains. It killed them just as effectively as the XTPs. Most of the shots were head shots and the loads were of the “Ruger/Contender only” variety.

[John Van Gelder]

I have a Ruger Blackhawk that I got back in 1975, I have used bullets from 160 gr. up to 350gr. What I use the most these days is Lee 200 gr. RNFP bullet, it works well in my gun and makes my supply of lead go a little further. I can't say I ever had a bullet that wouldn't work in that gun.