.45 Winchester Magnum Contender

VonFatman · Nov 10, 2009

Any of you seasoned, well groomed, dashing young men (and darling women) ever reload for .45 Win. Mag?

I just picked up a barrel and of the barrels I purchased, this one seems to call to me...

I have everything but the brass. Grafs has the brass in stock.

I know...I need another caliber like a hole in the head but this one is kinda interesting.

So, who has experience with .45 Win Mag??

Bob

625smith · Nov 10, 2009

I reloaded for a Wildey in 45 win mag. I used a 230 grain tmj Hornady bullet with 21grains of blue dot. I might have some once fired brass in the reloading room.

Nygma · Nov 10, 2009

One of the finest (luckiest) shots I've ever made was with an LAR Grizzly in 45 Win Mag. The load was a Speer 260 grain JHP over 17.5 grains of Blue Dirt.

In my Freedom Arms 83, I use the Hornady 300 seated over H110.

The 45 Win Mag, along with the 357 Maximum are both tremendous cartridges that should be far more popular than they are.

VonFatman · Nov 10, 2009

625smith,
A Wildey huh? I do not think I have ever seen one in person. Do you still shoot the gun?

Nygma,
I did not know Freedom chambered for the 45 Win Mag. So you have two guns in the caliber?!

Bob

Andy Griffith · Nov 10, 2009

I believe it is possible to convert a Ruger Blackhawk to this cartridge. The problem is finding a .45ACP cylinder to convert for your Blackhawk if it didn't come with one as Ruger will not fit one to it otherwise.

David Sinko · Nov 11, 2009

I once played around with this cartridge and reduced loads in a moonclipped S&W 25-7. I wanted to see how well the concept worked. It was a failure in the 25-7 because the chambers were originally cut so sloppy. This cartridge would really shine in a Redhawk, since they could be loaded into common .45 ACP moonclips. I asked Hamilton Bowen if he could make me a spare cylinder properly chambered for this cartridge and he scoffed at the idea. He said the .45 Winchester Magnum is ballistically inferior to the .45 Colt (it is, but that's not the point) and had no interest in the cartridge. He was probably busy with his .25 ACP moonclip J Frame at the time anyway.

All my experience was with reduced loads. Regular .45 ACP dies worked just fine. This cartridge just doesn't make sense to me in a single shot or single action. I always wanted to see Ruger chamber it in their Redhawk, but this is just wishful thinking. They seem to have a severe aversion to moonclip guns.

Dave Sinko

Nygma · Nov 13, 2009

VonFatman said:
625smith,
Nygma,
I did not know Freedom chambered for the 45 Win Mag. So you have two guns in the caliber?!

Bob

Yes, I have two, my Freedom Arms 83 has 454, 45 LC, and 45 Win Mag cylinders. Looking at FA's web site, it seems that they don't offer the 45 Win Mag cylinder any more. The gun says 454 Casull on the barrel, but FA did sell the 45 Win Mag as an auxiliary cylinder when I bought my gun. The 45 Win Mag cylinder sees more use than either of the other two. I don't like to load hot 45 Long Colts for fear of one getting into a gun that it shouldn't (I follow this rule with all calibers I load for). Why bother souping up the 45 Colt to 44 Mag level when it just becomes the ballistic equivalent of the 45 Win Mag?

RCBS 45 ACP carbide dies work fine for everything except roll crimping for the revolver. To get a roll crimp I shortened up an old 45 Colt seater die that I had left from before I upgraded to a carbide set. Anyone with a decent lathe and carbide tooling can do the job in five minutes.

625smith · Nov 16, 2009

VonFatman said:
625smith,
A Wildey huh? I do not think I have ever seen one in person. Do you still shoot the gun?

No I traded the Wildey some time ago. The pistol was very well made very nice looking. It shot ok but not as well as some of my other pistols. Just not my thing so I traded it off.

.45 Winchester Magnum Contender

VonFatman

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625smith

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Nygma

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VonFatman

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Andy Griffith

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David Sinko

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Nygma

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625smith

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