45LC and 45 Schofield-Length Ballistics Compared; 3.5gr Trail Boss, 180gr Slug

[Liberty1776]

If you're interested...

After trimming some oddball-length .45 Colt brass down to 1.1" (Schofield length) I loaded a few with 3.5 grains of Trail Boss (weighed individually, not a powder drop) under a 180 grain Lyman 452389 with conventional lube.

(I cast these things probably 38 years ago and they've been sitting ever since. Finally found a use for them.)

Shot them in a Pietta .45 Great Western II Colt clone, 4-3/4" barrel.

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I also loaded some of the same bullets in regular Long Colt brass, also with 3.5 gr Trail Boss.

Ballistics for the Long Colt (click to enlarge):

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Ballistics for the "Schofield" Colt brass.

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As you can see, the shorter case pushed the same bullet/powder combo to an average of 603.7 FPS.

The normal, longer case achieved an average velocity of only 462.2 FPS

For Cowboy Action loads, this tells me I can back off the Trail Boss with shorter cases. Maybe 3.0 grains?

More testing required.

[Walks]

The old Hodgdon Cowboy Load Data Handout will tell you the same thing.

.45S&W Schofield 200gr - 4.5grs TiteGroup = 715fps 6700cup
.45Colt 200gr - 5.0grs TiteGroup = 731fps 4700cup

I found when I dropped below recommended minimum charges with trail boss, that I got erratic ignition. And according to the books it increased almost exponentially in pressure.
I liked TiteGroup in pistol cases a whole lot better then trail boss. Titegroup is formulated to be NON Position Sensitive. And since I load 300-1,000rds at a time, it's propensity to Destroy plastic powder hoppers is not a problem. I empty all powder as soon as I finish loading.

[Liberty1776]

I found when I dropped below recommended minimum charges with trail boss, that I got erratic ignition. And according to the books it increased almost exponentially in pressure.
I liked TiteGroup in pistol cases a whole lot better then trail boss. Titegroup is formulated to be NON Position Sensitive. ... it's propensity to Destroy plastic powder hoppers is not a problem. I empty all powder as soon as I finish loading.

Good to know. I have some TiteGroup. I'll give it a try.

I load 2.7 Trail Boss under 100grain LRNFP in the .32 H&R Mag; and 3.0 Trail Boss under 125 grain LRNFP for .38 SPL with no problems. That big .45 case can present problems, apparently.

Also, whoathunk TiteGroup would corrode plastic powder hoppers? What do they put in the stuff? Acetone? Lacquer thinner? MEK?

[AntiqueSledMan]

Hello Liberty1776,

Curious what a filler would do in each case, I've been using Biodegradable Packaging Peanuts on top of my Black MZ loads.

AntiqueSledMan.