I read this entire thread thoroughly, especially Larry's general comment about just dumping .45 LC, above. Sounds good to me. Reason? I've been reloading for over 50 years, and have close to 40 die sets now. Of all those, my most frustrating experiences, greatest long running failure in general, is with .45 LC. I've been meaning to run up the distress flag and ask if anybody on this forum has a lead bullet load which will give half way decent accuracy. I'm about ready to give up. But here is the .45 LC brain trust.

I've gone to a lot of trouble to build up an "N" frame equivalent of the Model 25, with an LPA rear which I installed, barrel I fitted and gapped to .002", high front sight I hand made and fitted into a 1/8" groove I milled...on and on it goes. Never can I get down to 2" 50 foot groups...always flyers and erratic baloney, just when I think I'm almost there.

The cases are too thin in general, and capacity is too great. Bullseye, Unique, 2400, 231...nothing gives really good results. 175 gr., 185 gr., 255 gr. lead bullets, my own and commercial...nothing is much good.

In 1994 I special ordered from Colt's shop a nickel SAA in .45 LC with 4.75" bbl. This was to be my perfect fun gun. They did a bad job of finishing it, and it was grossly inaccurate, so back it went to Colt. They worked on the nickel, improved it, and sent it back with a beautiful test target...almost a single hole...fired with Magtech cowboy action ammo. Nobody would tell me what the load was, and I could never duplicate it. Nor could I even find the ammo for sale, so I could break it down and have a look.

I've tried sizing the bullets to .450, .451, .452, and I even made my own sizing die for .454". Last diameter sound ridiculous? Winchester Silvertips gave me phenomenal accuracy, just what I wanted, and I measured their bullets at .454. But I could find no load to make those bullets work like Winchester did.

I have not had the case splitting problem, but I have had the thin rims pull off in the sizing die, even when well lubed. And the thin walls crumple if I'm not extremely careful to flare enough. I'd like to throw up my hands and chuck it all, but this SAA and my hand built "Model 25" just look so nice, and I have that Colt test target, and I don't give up easily.

Is .45 LC simply a loser, for a host of reasons, and do I just wash my hands of it like Larry did? Is there a magical load combination, like those few super accurate Silvertips I shot? Am I just hexed, vis a vis this one caliber?

I've taken so many measurements on both guns, and there just isn't anything wrong. Barrels are good, gaps are minimal, chamber mouths are correct diameter and uniform from chamber to chamber, timing is right, forcing cones are fine... Trigger is O.K. on the Colt and of course wonderful on the Smith.

What is so ironic is that .44 Magnum is almost the same type of cartridge, yet my experience with it, over 51 years, is the exact opposite as with .45 LC. I almost can't make it be less than a tack driver, in any one of three guns, with any bullet weight, loaded up, down, or sideways with one of several powders.

In some ways, reloading does seem to be something of a black art, and I guess we all love it as much as shooting, or more so, but I'm up against a brick wall with .45 LC, and all your experiences with split cases and flaking nickel add to the psychic smell.

We agree on the Remington cases and other products. Forget them. I could go on about their bad primers. And their ammo in general. Awhile back, I ran into some dangerously defective Remington .22 ammo which could give stuck bullets. I thought it would be the "right thing" to alert them and send it back for testing. What a nightmare hassle. They wanted it, but they would not even reimburse me for the shipping. They did not offer replacement ammo. They did not thank me for trying to be helpful. They refused to admit there was any problem with the ammo. They refused to reveal the test results, when asked directly, and offered no reason or explanation. It is not the same Remington which built some of the rifles I love and collect. Nor is it the world of yesteryear, I guess.

But. Does anybody have some accurate Silvertip-equivalent loads I can try, or do you guys know what MagTech puts in those cowboy action loads which even Colt uses for accuracy testing? Nobody is talking there.

I'm not trying to hijack the thread, but here you are, all the .45 LC guys gathered together. If you don't know how to make it work, maybe it can't be done.

Or should we throw a big beer party, toss all our .45 LC handguns into a smelter, and sit around singing songs and just being happy...with our trusty and accurate S&W .44 Magnums?

Oops! Wrong. Cylinders and barrels can be replaced on those "N" frames.

Sorry to be so verbose, but .45 LC is just about driving me out of my gourd. Maybe this proves it's already happened. Nothing has been this much trouble.