My pet load with 2400 is a 250 cast semiwadcutter, Winchester primer, and 14.5 grains of 2400. This load has been shooting into 7/8 inch at fifty yards for thirtythree years! I know someone who uses 17 grains of powder in his Blackhawk with this bullet, but I've never exceeeded this load in all this time. It just works!

My best results come with 18 grains of 2400 and a heavy cast bullet (240-260grns). I've also found 18 grains of 2400 hits the sweet spot in the ,41 and .44 magnums.

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Data for the 45 colt is one of the most unfriendly that you will find on gun forums.
Therefore I will refrain from posting loads that start a "dis-cussin" on metallurgy, pressures and physics with those who may not desire to hear it.

Hornady third edition has data in a Colt Buntline as follows.

250 grain JHP
2400 13.8 start -16.4 max grains for 950 fps
Win 296 19.5 start -21.6 max grains for 1000 fps

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My problem w/.45Colt has always been the "generous chamber specs" that do not support the brass. A .454 Casull chamber is something like .008" tighter than a Colt chamber - which supports "hot-rodded" Colt loads. I think tighter Colt chambers help tremendously in upping Colt loads....

My solution has been to fit Ruger cylinders to my Blackhawk .45s with the tighter tolerances of a Casull reamer. I took .357 and .44mag cylinders and reamed w/ a Casull cylinder reamer. I got rid of the unsightly bulge that hot loads left at the case head, and can reload 8-10 times before splits occur....

Yes, I use 2400 w/heavy bullets in my 'original' cylinders - and swell the fool out of the brass, resulting in reloading life of the cases to drop to 2-3 loadings. FWIW....

The 44 mag came about because Keith found that the 44 spl could be hotrodded because it had more metal in the cylinder walls than the 45 Colt. He fragged a few 45s before deciding there wasn't enough metal in the cylinder walls. He also got the brilliant idea of trying to fire a .458 45-70 bullet out of a .454 cal 45 Colt. I forget the wt of the 45-70 bullet but regardless he didn't size it down to .454 and KABOOM. The other thing is that Keith may have been using balloon head cases that have more capacity than modern solid head cases. Plus 2400 has changed over the years as already noted. You can work up to Keith's loads in a Ruger Blackhawk as his loads are not as heavy as "Ruger Only" loads. In a Colt, Colt Clone, New Vaquero or S&W double action I would work up a load with the Keith load as a goal but I would not start out with his load.

i have loaded 17gr of 2400 with a 340gr lfn no gas check it was very mild out of my m 94 ae did not have a chrnograph yet but guess it around 1000 fps

From what I've read 16.5gr of "new" 2400 is the equal to the "older" 2400 18.5gr load. That was in one of the Reloader magazines some time back. I have shot 18.5gr. loads in a couple of my Rugers, I didn't think they were that much fun to shoot. However, they were pretty accurate. I now load for three levels of 45 colt. Cast 260gr over 6gr. Trailboss, avg 766fps, very accurate and pleasant to shoot, a real can killer, should also work for deer sized game. 16gr 2400 for about 1,000fps. This load would be good for anything in my neck of the woods, and last would be 25gr. H110 (pretty darn close to max. in a blackhawk, not for colt or clones) for a 1600 + fps from my 24in Rossi and 1300+ from my Bisley Blackhawk. I know different folks have different recoil tolerences, but these will sting a little. I don't shoot many of these as there are no longer any Grizzly bears or Buffalo roaming the state of Washington. Well there are a few Grizz over on the East side of the state. But I ain't lost nothing over there.

It was an old Colt and he BLEW it up using BLACK POWDER ground up to almost the consistency of flour. He was using a 300gr bullet sized to .458...yes....458. Was to be used in his Winchester 45-90.

I use 17grs of 2400 with a CCI magnum pistol primer under a 250gr Hornady XTP. That load is safe in my old model Vaquero and Rossi 92 and shouldn't give any issues with similar guns.

Jacketed bullets work at higher presures so substituting a lead bullet would cause no issues.

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I probably should add that my favorite load of 18 grns 2400 in the .45 Colt is for use in RBHs only. Accurate in the extreme and powerful.

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