BP loads for Ruger Vaquero 45 LC

[Major Tom]

Any load data such as powder charge, filler wads and boolit weights?

[44man]

I would just put enough powder in so when the boolit is almost fully seated it compressed the powder a little. Not enough to get boolit damage from the seating die. Use a BP lube on the boolits.

[pietro]

The only BP I shoot in my .45 Colt New Vaquero are the commercial/swedged Speer/Hornady .457 lead round balls over an Ox-yoke wad and as much Goex FFFg as fits under it - about 35gr, IIRC (I could be wrong), fired by regular primers.

I just apply a light crimp to the case mouth after loading, to keep the unfire RB's in their cases until their turn comes up.

I do run a tiny bead of Bore Butter around the RB, where the case mouth meets the RB edge, with the tip of a small screwdriver, after the ball's seated - to keep the fouling soft as long as possible.

It's a fairly cheap date, like me, and plenty enough fun, w/o much work.

.

[cajun shooter]

I shoot over 300 rounds of BP 45's a month in CAS matches. First forget about filler wads. The next thing is you didn't say what you were going to use the loads for so this will be a general answer as we all know in reloading there are several ways to reach the same point. BP is the easiest powder to reload. It is idiot proof for the most part; you don't have to worry about how many grains as you load by volume. Remember load by volume not grains. Each lot of powder has a different density. Take a 1/4 piece of wooden dowel rod or any thing you can mark. Lay it beside your bullet that is to be loaded even with the bottom base. Now mark the crimping groove or your seating depth on the dowel with red ink.n Fill your case with powder until you can see that mark over the top of the case. That sir is your load. It's that easy. Now if you want to shoot CAS use the 2F or if you want to shoot for speed of bullet use 3F. This will give you plenty of smoke and fire for the crowd. This works with all bullet weights from 160 to 255. The powder of old was a mix of 2F and 3F. The Goex Cowboy powder is a mix of these two powders with a few fines of 4F also. This is for the real BP and not for the fake powders. If you want to shoot them I can't help you. Clean with Ballistol and water or use Windex with Vinegar not ammonia! Hope this will help

[Don McDowell]

Winchester cases and cci lp primers
37 grs of Goex 3f
.030 fiber wad
Bullets either the rcbs 250 kt, lubed with Sagebrush alox, or the Remington bulk 250's with the "hollow" in the base wiped full of Sagebrush alox.
Velocity 875 fps from a 5.5 inch barrel.
usually somewhere around 25-35 rounds before the gun needs a squirt of water around the forcing cone, face of the cylinder to keep from binding.

[Dale53]

I have shot a bushel basket of black powder loads in silhouette AND score matches through my Vaqueros. Black powder varies in strength from brand to brand. The old Elephant is the "weakest", Goex next in strength, then Swiss. You can go from 750 fps to near 1000 fps by varying brand and granulation. Swiss 3F is the most powerful, giving the highest velocity. Elephant 2F gives the least velocity (AND the least recoil). Elephant black powder is no longer available but you might find some around.

My Vaqueros are .45 Colt and I use the Lyman 452664 bullet (255 grs) cast from lead/tin 1/25. I use Federal LP primers. I lube with Emmert's home mix for an excellent black powder lube. I fill the case with black powder until the powder is compressed 1/16" when the bullet is seated.

This load shoots to the sights at 25 yards in my guns.

Each different revolver will have a different point where it will start being hard to cock from fouling. My revolvers will allow 75 rounds before running into problems with fouling. It IS important to use a good lube for the cylinder pin (STP is good as is Mobile Synthetic Red Grease).

I won some Pyrodex in matches and Pistol "P" works quite well as loaded above, also.

Dale53

[lathesmith]

At the risk of offending a few purists here, I have had great success in using Pyrodex "RS" in my Ruger Vaquero. I love that big cloud of stinky smoke! cajun shooter's post above pretty much covers what you need to know; and Pyrodex works pretty much the same. The only thing I would add is that for best results, be sure and use a lube that is designed specifically for BP. And always clean both your cases and your shootin' iron right away. Have fun!
lathesmith