I have a Governor I carry when im hunting or hiking loaded mostly with 225 grain 45 colts for bears and mountain lions and 2 rounds of 6 shot .410 for snakes.

My question is, what is the max pressure or hottest load for the 45 colt out of the Governor? Both factory recommendations and hand loads would be helpful. I do not reload, but if need be my neighbor could work up some loads for me.

The reason i want to push the Governor to near its limit in 45 colt is i will be getting a henry 45 colt lever action and would like to shoot the same round out of both guns and ballistically get the most from each gun.

Any suggestions on the pressures/loads the Governor will handle in 45 colt would be appreciated.

SAAMI pressure spec for .45C is 14,000 PSI.

For Ruger firearms it is 25,000 PSI.

I don't think S&W subscribes to the Ruger spec for their .45C revolvers.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

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NRA Benefactor Member

The Governor supports 45ACP whose SAAMI spec is 21KPSI max. Not Ruger levels but I'd suggest that's a reasonable limit for your purposes.
If you and your neighbor are hand loading, I'd suggest Unique powder as the basis for your experiments. Three reasons, it's pressure characteristics are very well behaved, there are plenty of recipes in the loading books and its fairly bulky(45 Colt is a big case)
Good luck, have fun and be safe
Ira

I would suspect the Governor is rated for 45ACP +P ammo too (23K PSI), like most modern guns.

No reason your 45 Colt ammo couldn't be loaded to that safely, with modern cases.

Handloader #275 has some data for loads to 23K PSI in 45 Colt cases.

No idea what powder/bullet weight you would want.

Suggestion: 250gr Speer GD-HP, Power Pistol/11.0gr @ 1046mv from a 5-1/2" bbl. I shoot it in my M25-13.
(Unique @ 10.0gr would be similar)

Buffalo Bore manufactures some 45 Colt ammo you might want to look at.

.

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Waiting for the break of day

Most power is not nearly as important as most accurate. When pushing the pressure limits of a cartridge pistol combination more often than not performance becomes erratic and accuracy suffers. Careful work up of loads when near the top limit of pressure is essential.

Thank you for all your suggestions. I will do some more research on buffalo bore and see what we can work up in a colt load at around 21k. Thanks again.

Probably a dumb question, but I assume the Governor is rifled, so does the 6 shot hurt rifling at all?

Smith revolvers (modern day ) in 45 Colt are not the " weak sisters " some think they are. They will handle 25Kpsi . The round is " 45 Colt " not " 45 magnum " so there is no reason to try and make it one . It has taken a lot of game pushing a 255 gr cast bullet @ 900fps . Just ck out some of John Linebaughs articles on line . He quotes loads that his whole family uses.
I'm wondering how that real long cylinder on the " governor " causing the bullet to make a long jump from the case to the barrel will effect the accuracy ? I would think that a round nose flat point would be the best design to help keep the bullet aligned when it gets to the forcing cone . I don't own a " governor " so I can only speculate . Good luck ,

The barrel is made of steel, the shot is made of lead, it can't hurt it but it may leave small amounts of lead in the rifling that can affect accuracy as it builds up.Cleaning the lead out will prevent this.

My research on this topic:

45 COLT loads for S&W Governor

Mike

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NRA Certified Pistol Inst.

So I’ve read people have concern with the frame being scandium but I carry a S&W 340, which is also much smaller scandium, at 11 oz chambered in 357 Magnum. Now I know the pressure rating is somewhere in the ballpark of 40,000 psi for 357. I read 45LC +p tier 2 is in the 23000 range and the tier 3 is 32000. So anyone actually try a 45LC +p in their Governor yet?