Lee 300 gr 454 in Freedom 97 45 Colt

[Les Staley]

Just cast 100 or so of these beasts. Will size 452 and lube with 50/50 liquid alox and Johnson's liquid floor wax. Will need to crimp in the outer groove because of shortness of 97s cylinder. Would like to try some 2400, but no book shows this powder for cast in 45 Colt. Would try 12 gr of 2400 as a starting load, but would welcome some advice. Also have Unique and 4227 on hand plus Trailboss. Would like to keep a gun full of these for close range bear spray. Thanks, Les

 

[RBHarter]

My Speer # 12 shows a 300 gr Unicore in the Ruger /Contender section these loads go to 25,000 CUP . COL 1.600"
Unique 9.5 - 10.5
H 4227 18.5- 20.5
2400. 15.8 -17.5
H110. 21.1- 23.5
296. 20.7 -23.0
Also listed
HS-7. 14.0- 15.5
AA9. 15.0-15.5
SR 4759 20.3- 22.5

As always you know the drill. Do nothing stupid .
The above is for a jacketed 300 gr but is a place to start . It was pressure tested on copper crusher equipment. This does not exceed 25,000 CUP . It is over the 18,000 psi of 45 Colts .

 

[freebullet]

I've been playing w/srh454 since last summer. I've been using the mp308k hp. With 9gr of titegroup it works well at around 1100fps. I did some warmer work ups one using imr4227. I will check my notes on it & get back here later.

That was in casull cases though.

 

[Les Staley]

Thanks for the responses. I should have left out 454 in the title, as I was referring to the diameter of the as -cast boolets, not a Casull round. I've decided to start with 6.1 gr Unique from the new Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. I'll see where this goes. The Freedom 97 is a strong five shot pistol. Range report to follow.

 

[RBHarter]

FWIW my 7.5 in RBH handled 265 gr cast of several 255 gr designs with Unique. With the 452-252 swc @ 262 gr it gave 1050 fps ,with 19 gr of H110 it was clocking into the 1200s with the 452-255 RNFP @265 gr and more than I care to shoot .

The listed data above in my 1st post is for 45 Colts.

 

[Missionary]

Good morning
Freedoms are like a Cadilac. Strong and precision. But short on that one item.. cylinder length.
If you are going to shoot that FD with the 300 grainer a lot you might as well go ahead and trim some brass so you can use the crimp groove. Sure will eliminate one frustration. Did this same for a couple revolvers with heavy for caliber cast. Just keep it segregated. All my brass for a repro 1876 is cut short when I decided a Lyman 350 grain caliber 50 cast was the best in that rifle. No regrets.
I have 45 Colt Ruger BH's so I would use that loading data working up as normal. Made a Dan Wesson 45 Colt and used the Ruger info working up with no issues. Just have to keep adding slowly looking more for the accurate load. Your wrist will probably give out before the revolver. Muzzle blast will slap the snot right out if you "need" max loads. But I do think around 1100 fps you are gonna see where accuracy peaks. And there is no corn cruncher anywhere on our side of the world that can absorb well placed 300 grainers from any angle under 100 yards and walk home. Even a "rear grill door" shot is a no challenge for 300 grain caliber 45 cast slugs. I have never recovered one and happily so. I like those exits holes. They do tend to leak.
Mike in Peru