Victory?

T

Thumbcocker

Active Member
I have had a long and frustrating relationship with the .45 Colt cartridge. We have struggled and fought through multiple revolvers, chamber mouths, sizing diamaters, powders, and all the loading alchemy I could get my hands on. My conclusion was that the .45 Colt hated me. The .44 Special and magnum however, are my friends.

Then yesterday something happened. A box stock Uberti Frisco, Keith boolit sized .452 and 8.5 of Unique. The stars aligned and a good thing happened. Except for a flyer that I pulled. Then things got weird.

I went to the 100 yard range to try seated backrest at water bottles. Did pretty good but had a few shots go 5 or six FEET from point of aim. I am aware of the adage that "every gun ever made has one good group in it" so I guess I will continue. I have thought about trying 20.0 of 4227 but that seems a bit much for those thin cylinder walls.

I can't help but wonder if the .45 Colt is in cahoots with powder, primer, and mold providers to drive me bankrupt or insane.20230216_082549.jpg
 
Winelover

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
80's issue 45 LC Blackhawk 7 1/2" Barrel. Throats are uniformly large, straight from the factory. Slip fit .454 cast bullet.

45LC 270 SAA MP clone (2).JPG


RCBS 250 SWC PB sized .452 diameter. Ruger only load of 19.0 grains of 2400 @ 20 yards, off hand sitting.


45LC 270 SAA MP clone (1).JPG

MP clone of 270 SAA PB solid, sized .454 diameter. Load is 8.5 grins of Unique in new factory primed W-w brass. Again, 20 yards off hand sitting. Gun resting between knees.

Yes, it's a keeper. Factory stock revolver. Currently, wearing a Ultra-dot 1x red dot, for low light deer hunting.

DSCN1747.JPG

One of two SA revolvers we own. This was Cindy's primary hunting firearm, when she hunted. She has taken a buck and a doe with it., in Michigan. She hasn't hunted in at least ten years.

Other SA is a SS ROA. That I took a 7 point buck with, out of a tree stand.

I'm not a SA fan. Most all my handguns are DA or DAO.
 
B

BudHyett

Active Member
In my experience, the .45 Colt and Unique go together.

I load 6.5 grains and a 200 grain semi-wadcutter for light strength frames, 8.5 grains and the 235 grain SAECO 954 for medium strength frames, 9.5 grains Unique and the SAECO 954 for heavy strength frames.

I only shoot the heavy load at the Elmer Keith Memorial Match which is targets from 140 to 600 yards. I have yet to connect on the 600yard target, but it's fun trying.
 
P

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I’m probably going to regret writing this but…….

I know it is possible to get good results from the 45 Colt, but it was always a struggle for me. And a struggle I generally lost. I have found that it is much easier to get good results from 44 Special and 44 Magnum. I’m not saying good results from 45 Colt are impossible, just saying that I have found 44 Special/Magnum to be easier to get good results with. YMMV.
 
T

Thumbcocker

Active Member
Petrol & Powder said:
I’m probably going to regret writing this but…….

I know it is possible to get good results from the 45 Colt, but it was always a struggle for me. And a struggle I generally lost. I have found that it is much easier to get good results from 44 Special and 44 Magnum. I’m not saying good results from 45 Colt are impossible, just saying that I have found 44 Special/Magnum to be easier to get good results with. YMMV.
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Mirrors my results exactly.
 
358156 hp

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
For most uses the .41 mag is the best of the magnums. I think I'm ready to buy another one.

A Redhawk of course:)
 
Tomme boy

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
When the books say Ruger it means Blackhawk. Not the SAA clones. I would not want to load them at Ruger levels unless I did not want to have the gun much longer. Probably won't do anything but why risk it.
 
J

JustJim

Well-Known Member
Tomme boy said:
When the books say Ruger it means Blackhawk. Not the SAA clones. I would not want to load them at Ruger levels unless I did not want to have the gun much longer. Probably won't do anything but why risk it.
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I once bulged the locking notches of a .45 Colt SAA repro with black powder. I hate to think of what one of my hot loads for the five-shot .45 Colt conversion would have done to it. Now I'm watching for a .44 Special SAA as a dedicated BPC revolver.
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
JustJim said:
I once bulged the locking notches of a .45 Colt SAA repro with black powder. I hate to think of what one of my hot loads for the five-shot .45 Colt conversion would have done to it. Now I'm watching for a .44 Special SAA as a dedicated BPC revolver.
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Saint Elmer did the same thing if I recall correctly!
 
L Ross

L Ross

Well-Known Member
Petrol & Powder said:
View attachment 32658

Saint Elmer went a step further
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I was in a gun shop in Oshkosh, WI one time and the owner had a single action revolver on the top shelf of a glass case in his reloading section that had catastrophically disintegrated like that. It WAS a .45 Colt Ruger Black Hawk! I still wonder what the hell was fired in that revolver.

One of my rendezvous friends that no longer gets an invite to Thorn Hollow shooting events, (due to unsafe firearm handling practices), once touched off a .45 Colt Black Hawk with a thunderous crack. I had been standing next to him as we were shooting at bowling pins on a rail. He was shaking his hand as he said he must have double charged that one. He was shooting 8.5 grains of Unique and in the process of dumping and weighing a sample charge might have double charged one!

Several of us closely examined the Ruger and it appeared fine and my friend resumed shooting it. That and two or three other faux pas got him on the no longer notify for a shoot list.
 
J

JustJim

Well-Known Member
Petrol & Powder said:
View attachment 32658

Saint Elmer went a step further
Click to expand...
I encountered my problem using a book load. Sorta. I had old loading data that gave a charge of 40 g FFFg with a 250 grain bullet.

Part of the problem was that I was using solid-head cases rather than balloon-head cases. I suspect another part was that, after comparing several measures and seeing the volumes were different, I weighed my charges. And this was in '87, when knowledge of BPC loading wasn't as available as it is today.

When 40 grains didn't fit, I first used a drop tube: nope. Then I tried compressing the powder, as the Brits did with the .303, but that didn't work. Then I got the idea of loading and compressing in stages. I was able to get 40 grains of powder in and seat the nominally-250-grain bullet. But the darn fired cases didn't want to eject! Cleaning up the gun, I learned why.

The locking notches weren't much thicker in the 44-40 and 38-40 cylinders I've measured, so I figure eventually I'll get a 44 Special for BP games, and go back to 41 Mag for my smokeless handgunning. It seems easier to have separate cartridges for the two uses: no chance for mixed loads, etc.

This past weekend I saw (and tried to buy or trade into) a 41 Blackhawk that was less than 10 digits from my first 41, but despite the glovebox rash the owner thinks it is a collector's item.
 
KeithB

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
A .44 Special is never a mistake. Neither is a .41 Mag. But the most accurate S&W I own is a 625 .45ACP/5". Wow, hard to decide which is best, my brain hurts, guess I'll have to keep them all...
 
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