45 LC question

Miracle Man · Sep 8, 2023

I've loaded 45 LC for a Ruger Blackhawk for awhile now. But the bulk of my loading was with JHP's and JSP's. Only dabbled in lead a tiny bit.

This forum has spurred my interest in crossing the Rubicon into lead, so I just bought some 255 gr. Keith style lead SWC's.

I'm not looking for a hotshot load, just a fun plinker. I used tight group a few years ago for lead but man it's like shooting black powder haha. Is 231 a good subsitute? I'm open to whatever have several powders. CFE pistol, W231, Tite group, unique, and others.

scattershot · Sep 8, 2023

9.0Unique is a classic load with that bullet. Personally, I use 6.0 Red Dot for a nice shooting general purpose load. Lead bullets need to be about .001 over bore diameter to avoid leading. Don’t over think this, just buy .454” bullets and load away.

Good luck!

RMFnLA · Sep 8, 2023

I used 231 for mild .44 Mag with various lead bullets for years with excellent results, so I can’t imagine you not getting the same for .45 Colt.

I’m not going to quote charges because you’re better served using published data rather than some guy on the internet (even me!

) but there’s plenty of data from the various component suppliers.

rockquarry · Sep 8, 2023

A Lyman book is the place to start.

470Evans · Sep 8, 2023

With that bullet style and weight I have had the best success in multiple 45 Colts with HS-6

mtgianni · Sep 8, 2023

6-6.5 gr Red Dot is an accurate load that does well in a Blackhawk.

Hair Trigger · Sep 8, 2023

I bought 1000 250 grain RNFP plated bullets from Everglades. Plating is way thinner than a copper jacket so expansion is much like lead, and they don't lead foul the barrels of my guns. I don't own .45 Colt revolvers that you can load hot for (M25-5 and Uberti SAA), so I keep my loads around 900 fps for them, and the same load gives me about 1175 in my Henry Big Boy. I get good results with AA#5 and Power Pistol, using Hornady load data.

Miracle Man · Sep 8, 2023

scattershot said:
9.0Unique is a classic load with that bullet. Personally, I use 6.0 Red Dot for a nice shooting general purpose load. Lead bullets need to be about .001 over bore diameter to avoid leading. Don’t over think this, just buy .454” bullets and load away.

Good luck!

I've got not quite a pound of unique left. May give that a shot.

Miracle Man · Sep 8, 2023

rockquarry said:
A Lyman book is the place to start.

I've got a couple of older (early 00's) Lyman manuals. Have to give them a look.

rockquarry · Sep 8, 2023

470Evans said:
With that bullet style and weight I have had the best success in multiple 45 Colts with HS-6

After many years of using the standard recommended Unique loads in a number of .45 Colts with the Lyman design #454424, 260 grain bullet, I've also found HS-6 provided slightly better accuracy than Unique. However, HS-6 is more of a specialized "niche" powder, not at all a versatile one.

I say that as I'm now down to the very bottom of an 8 lb. keg of HS-6. I no longer load .45 Colt, preferring the .44 Special.

Charlie Foxtrott · Sep 8, 2023

For a plinking load.

Unique will work just fine.

Miracle Man · Sep 8, 2023

I was just looking at Hodgdon's website on the Ruger T/C only data and it's talking about Accurate #7 & #9 pushing a 255 gr. lead bullet to 1,200 to 1,500 FPS range. WOW

Not that a 5.5 inch Blackhawk would reach those velocities anyways. But am I correct in thinking you don't want to push lead like that? To me that just seems awful hot. I have #7 and #9 by the way.

Grayfox · Sep 8, 2023

The classic .45 Colt load is a 250-255gr lead bullet over 8-9 grs of Unique. This load has served me quite well for about 30 years now.
I'm getting older and all I do is punch paper these days. So I've scaled back just a tad to 8.0 grs of Unique for my loads. Still works just fine and is pleasant to shoot.

Drm50 · Sep 8, 2023

Normally wold do the Unique load with cast 250RNFPs. Been loading with Win 630 because I picked up a lot of it cheap. Load to factory duplication for 250gr lead bullet.

Rule3 · Sep 8, 2023

All I ever use for 45 Colt is Unique or HP38/W231

STORMINORMAN · Sep 8, 2023

Uh, there's a reason there are separate listings under the "Ruger / TC ONLY" headings...

And although not a "Ruger / TC / Freedom Arms"-type revolver the M25-5 is no pantywaist, either. For plinking with lead in 45 Colt don't overlook the many 200 & 230gr bullets: they open up a lot of different powder opportunities. The target paper will never tell the difference.

For those heavier bullets, John Taffin's 2019 Guns & Ammo article is a good place to start.

Cheers!

Venom6 · Sep 8, 2023

Miracle Man said:
I was just looking at Hodgdon's website on the Ruger T/C only data and it's talking about Accurate #7 & #9 pushing a 255 gr. lead bullet to 1,200 to 1,500 FPS range. WOW

Not that a 5.5 inch Blackhawk would reach those velocities anyways. But am I correct in thinking you don't want to push lead like that? To me that just seems awful hot. I have #7 and #9 by the way.

Right. Plain base cast bullets are best at about 1,000 fps or lower, depending on alloy. Swaged bullets below 900. Gas check cast can go higher.

Would also suggest you load up two or three dummies before you load hundreds for real. Lotta older Blackhawks had very tight throats. Neither of mine would accept .454" bullets until I had the throats honed.

Pisgah · Sep 8, 2023

Miracle Man said:
I've got not quite a pound of unique left. May give that a shot.

Plenty of powders are out there; but, really, if you have 8 to 9-or-so grains of Unique and a 250-255 gr. SWC, you can pretty much cover all bases with the .45 Colt.

Mike SC Hunter · Sep 8, 2023

My standard load for all my LC's (rifles and handguns) is my cast 255 gr swc pushed by 8.5 grs. of Unique.......I have no need to change.
Be aware. Swaged lead bullets are soft and usually will lead up barrels even at moderate speeds.

max · Sep 8, 2023

I have used between 7-9 grains of Unique. 7 is a good plinking load. You can also use 7 grains of 231 for the same.

45 LC question

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