I have a Ruger Bisley BH with 5.5" barrel in .45 Colt. I also have a Marlin 1894 carbine in .45 Colt. Both are carried in the woods for self-defense against predators.
Looking for a load that will shoot well in both. Needs to have enough oomph to be effective against critters and be accurate in both.
I have Blue Dot, Unique, Lil' Gun, H110, 231, and Tite Group.
Last week I loaded up 250gr Hornady XTPs and 250gr cast boolits from a Lee mold. Used 10.5 gr of Unique with both bullet types and 26gr of H110 with the cast 250gr.
Both guns preferred the 250gr cast boolits and the 10.5gr of Unique. But, rifle accuracy fell off sharply after 55yds. And the pistol accuracy wasn't all that great at 25yds.
Pistol did 2" at 25yds and rifle did 1" at 55yds. XTP bullets are at .451 and lead boolits sized to .452.
Going to load up some 300gr Lee boolit loads and going to try 9.5gr of Unique and 18.0gr of Lil' Gun. Also going to try un-sized boolits since my mold drops them at .4525 and see if that helps.
Looking for hotter loads that do well in both firearms. Any suggestions would be appreciated using the powders and boolits listed.