Somewhere in time, Mike Venturino announced that his favorite accuracy load for the .45 Colt used a 200-grain semi-wadcutter over Red Dot powder, crimped over the shoulder. This really worked well for me with a Ruger Black Hawk. I thought I would try it with the .45 Auto Rim because I had some 154-gr SWCs from Competition Specialties that had been around for years and I wanted to get rid of them. I think there is something to the idea of deep setting bullets in light loads and the 154 grainers allow that without decreasing the powder space in the AR too much. The first picture shows a 200-gr SWC set this way in a .45 Colt, then, a 200-gr SWC set just short of the shoulder in an AR case, and, finally, a 154-gr SWC crimped above the shoulder in an AR case. The second pic shows the light bullet load in more detail.
Velocities with various powder charges behind the 154-gr Comp Specialties bullet, fired with a Model 25-2 (6.5-in Bbl):
4.0 gr Red Dot. Ave 835 fps, SD 16 fps.
4.2 gr 700-X. Ave 841 fps, SD 15 fps.
4.0 gr Tite Group. Ave 793 fps, SD 34 fps.
The accuracy was OK. Smallest groups at 25 yds with the Red Dot were around 1.5” but 2.0 – 2.5-in groups were more numerous. I felt that loads using 700-X had a bit of an edge in accuracy. In general, my 25-2 does better with bullets heavier than this. For instance, with 180-grainers turned out as in the first pic, 3.7 gr Red Dot gives only 643 fps, but accuracy is superb. Groups of 1.0 – 1.5” are the rule. Increasing to 4.1 gr Red Dot gives 768 fps, but accuracy is not quite as good.
Not much reason to do this unless you have some light bullets to dispose of. I will say, however, that recoil is light, perhaps about like 148-gr wadcutter loads in a .38 Sp. It might be enjoyable for someone who wants to shoot big bore revolver without a lot of thump. Like all such bullets, the light SWCs cut a really clean hole in the paper. I get a kick out of trying NRA Bullseye timed and rapid fire with this kind of load. Not in a match, of course.
Velocities with various powder charges behind the 154-gr Comp Specialties bullet, fired with a Model 25-2 (6.5-in Bbl):
4.0 gr Red Dot. Ave 835 fps, SD 16 fps.
4.2 gr 700-X. Ave 841 fps, SD 15 fps.
4.0 gr Tite Group. Ave 793 fps, SD 34 fps.
The accuracy was OK. Smallest groups at 25 yds with the Red Dot were around 1.5” but 2.0 – 2.5-in groups were more numerous. I felt that loads using 700-X had a bit of an edge in accuracy. In general, my 25-2 does better with bullets heavier than this. For instance, with 180-grainers turned out as in the first pic, 3.7 gr Red Dot gives only 643 fps, but accuracy is superb. Groups of 1.0 – 1.5” are the rule. Increasing to 4.1 gr Red Dot gives 768 fps, but accuracy is not quite as good.
Not much reason to do this unless you have some light bullets to dispose of. I will say, however, that recoil is light, perhaps about like 148-gr wadcutter loads in a .38 Sp. It might be enjoyable for someone who wants to shoot big bore revolver without a lot of thump. Like all such bullets, the light SWCs cut a really clean hole in the paper. I get a kick out of trying NRA Bullseye timed and rapid fire with this kind of load. Not in a match, of course.
