45 colt load

Darkker said:

Not one to suggest you are doing it wrong Sub, but if running an enchilada takes you 26.5 hrs, you may want to consider driving instead

Your memory is good, 250gr XTP is 26.5 Grs. from a Ruger, currently on the Hodgy site.

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Linebaugh runs H110 up to 27gr with the data specifically mentioning safe for 250gr XTP with pressure still in 30,6000 range and velocity at 1459fps. Unique he runs max at 12.0gr with about the same pressure and velocity at 1199 fps.

He gives a good rundown of this stuff with maximum 100% safe pressures for the Blackhawks at 32,000 CUP with a measured factory destruction pressure around 60,000 CUP so the loads he is running are safe and 1/2 the destruction level.

I've tried it for fun with a couple of my Blackhawks and I can tell you near the top it's eye opening to say the least. However, although I had no signs of pressure at all i wouldn't care to subject my pistols to those loads on a daily basis, hunting only type stuff imh as the recoil will get your attention. I slipped one near max into one of my long barrel Blackhawks and had my daughter shoot some. I taught her how to ride recoil so when that Linebaugh load went off the gun rolled in her wrist then went way over her head in a picture perfect arc. She looked at me then started laughing wanting more of those.

Be very careful doing this type of stuff if you try it. Linebaugh only recommends Blackhawks, Bisleys and Super Blackhawks. Some say Dan Wesson's are in this category but since Linebaugh specifically says Blackhawks that would be a good indication to stay with them. Always start at book an work up very slowly using a chronograph to show signs of erratic velocities along with visual inspection of the cases and primers. Anything look odd then STOP.

Here is a the site with a good read on the subject https://www.johnlinebaughcustomsixguns.com/writings

Wow, you guys are a bunch of lunatics! The .45 Colt is NOT a .44 Mag, even in a Ruger Blackhawk, or a Redhawk.

The average full power .44 Mag is about 35k pressure for a 240 gr. XTP type bullet. The equivalent load in .45 Colt only runs about 28k pressure because the .45 is about 5% larger in diameter. Crank up the pressure to the same 35k and you're asking for trouble.

Remember that the original BP load was a 250 gr. at approx 875-900 fps depending on which factory was loading it and how long the barrel was. That is a very potent load, and is what established the .45 Colt as a man-stopper. That load runs about 14k pressure.

You can pump up the volume as the song goes, so you're at about 20k and you can a significant amount of power increase. A load of 13 gr. of Blue Dot under a 265 gr. WFN falls into that area. That load runs about 1150 in my Blackhawk and will perforate a 100 lb whitetail end to end with no problems at all at 75 yds. Its a pretty stiff load, and not a fun load for plinking. But its also a far, far cry from the loads y'all are talking about with H110, etc.

The Redhawk is about 30% stronger than the Blackhawk, and I would hesitate to run loads above 28-30k even in that. It would NOT be fun by any stretch of the imagination.

Freedom Arms told me over the phone, and now IIRC, has the published Plus P 45 Colt load, using their 300 gr. JSP bullets, over IMR 700. It's right at 20KCUP, or Plus P, and is really too much for the old Gen 2 Peacemaker, I was shooting a few in. They clock at around 650fps, out of the 4 & 3/4'rs inch barrels, and there's no expansion. Keeping things down to below 15KCUP, makes a whole lot more sense. Just look between your six shooter's chambers, at those paper thin walls. Want more? Then buy a Ruger Redhawk, in 454 Casull, or 480 Ruger. Last year's discounted price, locally, was a little over $700, plus tax. Curiously, the 454 Redhawk uses an extra slow, 1 in 24 rifling twist, instead of the 45 Colt, one in sixteen's. Do Ya think they're trying to serve, us hand loading's hot rodders??

There are better choices, all the way around! Even some diehards ordered 45 Colt cylinders in Freedom Arms 454 Casull frames, so they could seat their bullets out in properly chambered revolvers, without the extra jump in the longer chambers. The Redhawks finally solved this frame window problem. Per a phone call to F.A. I learned that they won't ever make an intermediate length frame window, for 2.25 inch C.O.A.L. ammo, like the 357 Maximum. You'd need to order a custom BFR for one of these two inch long cartridges.

[2400] is by FAR the most versatile powder for the "magnums" and colt. Paper punching loads, or grizzly thumpers are easily obtained with 2400.

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GIGANTO +1

Sorry to be a little late to the party, on this thread, but I FULLY endorse the use of 2400 in heavy-bullet .45 Colt Ruger-T/C only (there simply MUST be a more convenient acronym, somewhere) loads and their work-up. It is probably true that H110/W296 or IMR/H4227 will deliver a slight edge over 2400 in velocities, but I suspect the difference could not easily be detected without a chronograph. It is likely that neither the shooter nor their target would discern much of a difference.

Alliant 2400's behaviour at less-than-"+P" .45 Colt loads is also far less probematical than the Hodgdon/IMR powders I mention. Although I've neither experienced, observed, nor even HEARD of problems with the 4227s when used in loads well below max, treating H110/W296 like that has been an observable invitation to trouble. When the loading manuals recommend load reductions no greater than 3% of max and the use of magnum pistol primers for H110/w296, PLEASE DO take them seriously.

I also think 44GUY offers excellent advice about experimenting with Alliant Unique. You probably won't squeeze the very last micro-joule of muzzle energy available from the cartridge with it, but you'll end up with some very accurate, quite warm, quite capable loads, which should be somewhat less punishing than the max H110 or 4227 reloads. As big a fan as I am of Unique, I tend to think that its close relative Alliant Herco gives slightly better velocities and uniformity in the .45 Colt. I'm still experimenting with Alliant BE-86, which comes across as a slightly cleaner-burning, better-metering UNIQUE, allegedly formulated with flash suppressants. If you simply cannot tolerate the (minimal) disadvantages of flake powders like Unique & Herco, there's nothing much wrong with AA#5, which is in the same approximate burning-rate range as the aforementioned powders. It is probably the slowest-burning of the ones I mention, and works VERY well when pushed hard in .357 Magnum loads.