Quote:
Originally Posted by kingranch
May your Holidays be merry and bright, gun safe full of new toys and moisture free.
I’m trying to work out a load primarily for a pig hunt. I was thinking along the lines of 300gr XTP bullet backed by 22-23gr of H-110. If you do have your own recipe I’d greatly appreciate you sharing it with me. But my real hesitation here is this: how strong 25-5 really is? Can I push that bullet as fast as the Ruger guy would or I must stick to the Colt SAA loads?
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King,
Welcome to the forum!
This quest is one that I have been on for a little bit myself.
I have a Ruger 45 Colt convertible, Colt & ACP, and a Puma 45Colt rifle.
For the Ruger and the Puma, I have been following closely the "Linebaugh" loads although, not with that heavy of a bullet and not with a jacketed one either.
I cast. My loads for the Ruger are a Mihec copy of the RCBS 45-270-SAA HP version driven at 1400fps. From the rifle I am attaining right at 1800fps.
With all of that being said, I have yet to run them through the M25 -7. Many, including Brian Pearce, John Linebaugh and others say that my firearm will take those kinds of loads. I have yet to run them through it though as it is a "new to me" firearm.
This was covered in a thread that I started here:
With 45 Colt's like this, who needs a magnum anything?
It is a long thread but you should read it all.
Personally, I have shot 4 hogs with a 44Mag with a 240gr XTP @ 1800fps from a Marlin 1894 CS. I can tell you this, and I shot one right in the eye, there is little need for anything else.
One hog, I shot at a bad angle. Left front to right rear. @ 50 yards or so, the 240gr XTP went all the way through and broke the rear leg in two. It was a "smallish" pig @ 200# or so, but still.
In my M25 -7 I had to modify my rear sight just to be able to shoot a 240gr LSWC @ 1000fps so it would be POA/POI @ 25 yards. If you try that heavy of a bullet, with a ton of recoil, you may experience what John Linebaugh talks about, "Smith & Wesson doesn't put a tall enough front sight on their handguns!"
There is a good article in Handloader #246. It talks about 3 level of loads for the 45Colt. 14,000psi, 20,000psi and 30,000psi. The loads are available on LoadData.com too. A subscription is pretty reasonable. Check them out.