Ruger Forum banner

Reloading .45 Long Colt

44K views 84 replies 47 participants last post by  rclark 
#1 ·
Just picked up a Ruger New Model Blackhawk 45 Long Colt with 4 5/8" barrel. What type/brand of bullet, brass, powder do you recommend for target shooting/plinking. Friend recommended using "Mountain Gold" Bullets to prevent leading. New to this gun so any advice, recipes etc would be greatly appreciated. THanks in advance. Bob
 
#2 · (Edited)
I like 8.0 gr of Unique with about any ~250 gr bullet...for many using the old Colt cartridge, it's the "Standard" load. If you like Win 231, 7.5 gr will do as well with a chrono'd velocity of 823 fps for the same weight bullet. I've had good luck with Remington brass, Winchester seemed a little thinner. I also use Winchester Lg Pistol primers. The bullets were Magnus Bullet Company #902, .452 RNFP 250 gr hard cast.

You might want to check your cylinder throats, many of the Rugers coming off the productions line have undersize problems. Cylindersmith.com can cure them,,,cheaply and with a short turn around time in my experience. Mine were down around .450" and accuracy suffered as a result. He opened them up to a very uniform .4525" and my leading and grouping problems went away.

Hope your's doesn't need the fix. Rodfac
 
#63 ·
Thanks for that info Rodfac. I just bought a new Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt. I'll keep Cylindersmith.com in mind if I have any problems. I'll see if I can get the cylinder throats measured (I don't have a set of calipers) when I take posession of it. I had no idea this might be a problem.
 
#3 ·
I like Missouri Bullet's 250gr "Cowboy #1s" (12 brinnel) I use 5.5gr of IMR Trail Boss. Very pleasant to shoot out of my 5 1/2" Vaquero and accurate too.

+1 on the Unique load.

As far as brass goes I have quite a variety. Starline is supposed to be the best. I have 50 of them. Most of my brass is Winchester and some older Remington. Haven't had any problems with any of it.
 
#4 ·
I like Missouri Bullet 255 gn.swc. Very close to a Keith style bullet. 8 to 8.5 grains of Unique with Winchester primers into Starline brass. This load is safe in my guns. Please start lower and work up for yours.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Welcome to our forum. Enjoy!

Quality hand-cast bullets for reloaders, competitors, and recreational shooters

Mt. Baldy Bullets

Rintoul Enterprises Home Page

Western Bullet Co. - Cast bullets for rifle and pistol

Leadheads Bullets,Gas Checked and Plain Based Bullets

TrueShot Bullets

MASTERCAST BULLETS

BRP Cast Bullets
P.O. Box 70
Whitehall, MT
406-287-3120

I also use and like BeartoothBullets.com

For hard-cast bullets and my general plinking and target, I always use 240-260 grain bullets for general use.

And this link, Moyer's, gives you twice as many good bullets for the same price as other manufacturers. His bullets are bevel-based, but I use thousands of them. Link:
Moyer's Cast Bullets Pricelist, cast lead handgun bullets, cast lead rifle bullets, lead roundballs, lead maxi balls, lead minie balls


Here's a good link on primers. I always use Winchester Large Pistol for all my .44's and .45's. Good standard primer. Don't use magnum primers for what you're doing. Follow the recipes for their recommendation on primers.
http://rugerforum.net/reloading/17864-quick-question-mag-primers.html

Almost all cases are fine for you. In order of my preference: Federal, Starline, Hornady, Winchester, Remington.

There are many good powders available. One pound of Unique will give you about 850 loaded rounds to play with. This is my personal preference for your use level; a good mid-range powder. Note that, especially for a beginning reloader, a double-charge of powder is one of the most common mistakes. Please be very careful. Once you fill 5 or 10 cases with powder, always examine them with a flashlight or penlight to see that the powder levels in the case look the same. A double-charge could ruin both you and your gun.

You should pick up a good book on reloading as found in that primer link I gave you above. Also Alliant.com and Hodgdon.com have good sections on recipes for you to follow. Read any post you find that is written by IOWEGAN. He's a retired gunsmith on this forum and has more knowledge than you can imagine. He's a nice guy besides.

Stay safe. Don't do any superman heavy loads. For your target and plinking, you'll be happy with 750-900 feet per second loads. Pleasant recoil, accurate, plenty heavy for small game.

Happy loading.

Sonnytoo
 
#7 · (Edited)
.45 Colt

I like 6.0 of Trail Boss pushing RNFP 250 bullets. Easy shooting. A bit hotter load is 8.5g of Unique pushing RNFP 250 bullets. I like both and both loads are within .45 Colt constraints (ie. not Ruger only loads) for shooting lead bullets.

BRP Cast Bullets.... Never realized there was a casting outfit just over the hill. I've been using RimRock bullets and Penn Bullets.... Been trying some Oregon Trail too.

Oh, yeah, I use Starline brass... just because it works and was available :) . Need to order up another 500.....

Really any large pistol primer will do. I've used CCI (both regular and magnum) and WLP. Can't be to picky these days!
 
#38 ·
I like 6.0 of Trail Boss pushing RNFP 250 bullets.
Oh, yeah, I use Starline brass... just because it works and was available :) . Need to order up another 500.....


If you keep your velocity under 1000 FPS, you will not have a problem with leading. Like rclark, I load 6 grains of Trail Boss under a 255 grain RFN bullet, cast out of wheel weights. This is a mild load, that is a pleasure to shoot. It will kill just about anything that walks in North America.....Robin
 
#8 · (Edited)
You can use H-110/W-296,2400,Unique,Bullseye,Red Dot,Green Dot,Herco,Blue .I signed up for www.loaddata.com for reloads for 45colt,454casull,sw460mag,45-70.Other sites I've used is www.Handloads.com found 11 pages of 45 +p Colt loads & Reloading Pages of M.D. Smith plus I have hodgdon,nosler,speer ,lyman,sierra,hornaday,cast performance data.I use the Nosler Load Manuals a lot because their reloading data has been very accurate in my Sako rifles.
 
#9 ·
8 gr Unique fan here too. Leading is a directly related and is preventable by using the proper size bullet in relation to throat size. Hard cast lead is not the answer. Wheel weight hardness (BNH of roughly 10-12) is just fine and works throughout the velocities that I care push (unchecked). Brass, I use what I can pickup or buy (used) and shoot it. I cast straight WW's for most everything that I shoot.

Congrats on the new toy.
 
#14 ·
For plinking, I cast my own from wheel weights using a lee 230 grn rn mold.
Contrary to wht you might think this is easy and fun.
I use Bullseye for practice loads started around 6 and worked my way up to 9. Any hotter and I start getting too much lead.

For hunting/other I have a 260 grn mold for a lyman Keith bullet over a case full of H110
The sites mentioned by Scr83jp are great sources for loads.

When I started out a few years ago I thought factory remington soft round nose ammo was hot but the more I shoot the hotter I like it and of course the better I can control it.
Now those Remmy's feel bout like a 22

have fun
fred
 
#16 ·
So far I've found 9g of Unique under a 255 lswc (BN10) bullet with a cci300 or wlp primer. It averaged 998 at 15' and grouped better at 25yds. than 16g of 2400 with the same bullet/primer combo.
This combo has accounted for a couple of nice bucks in Ohio in the 35 to 45 yd range.
This load also shoot best out of my 51/2 inch vaquero.
Next is to find an accurate load in my Smith 25-13 somewhere around 850 to 900fps.
 
#20 ·
boblenaere, Yes, the Hornady bullets have a dry powder lube and you don't have to add any more lube. My suggestion .... handle the bullets by the nose so you don't pull the lube out of the checkered body. I've had very good luck with these bullets with 8~8.5 gr of Unique. Very accurate and no lead fouling. Of course my throats have been reamed to .4525".
 
#21 ·
Thanks Gary. I called Hornady earlier today before reading your post and they provided same advice. Have everything I need now to load my own this weekend. Now I just need to get my cylinder back from being reamed. I may even look into a lever gun in 45 colt to go along with the blackhawk. Bob
 
#22 ·
Great Info!

Despite being a bit dated, I Just received my New Model 45 Convertible and wanted to thank all for the information in this thread--lot of good ideas, tips, reloading info/recipes and sage advice!

I have Starline Colt, CCI pr and Unique pwdr with a variety of Hornaday, Speer and Rainier 45 Cal collected over the past year or so ready to load once the shell cartridge plate and locator gets here from Dillon.

Amazing how many links there are for resources that don't seem to pop up in spite of all the Bing and Google search tools available. Great info! MC
 
#23 ·
I use a lot of Red Dot, primarily because a friend just gave me 8 pounds of it. 6.5 grains inder the Hornady 255 grain bullet gives around 825 fps, with no leading and superb accuracy.

I was playing around the other day and loaded 4 grains of Red Dot under a 190 grain SWC bullet, and got one hole for 5 shots at 7 yards. This is a very light load, probably under 600 FPS, but it gets to the target and punches very satisfying groups.

If you're just starting out, though, Unique is about as good as it gets.

Good luck!
 
#24 ·
I decided to try some 300 gr. RNFPs cast from a Lee mold. I got them for the 454 but I keep reading about people shooting these heavies in 45 colt so....

Started out with 20 gr. of H110 and mag primers(Win). I love them. I seem to be much more accurate with them and the recoil is more toward push and away from snap.
Now I have to shoot up my stockpile so I can switch them all over. What a hardship. ;o)

Second the Starline brass rec. Good price, nice brass and very consistent. I haven't split any yet.

fred
MOLON LABE
 
#25 ·
rclark; Really any large pistol primer will do. I've used CCI (both regular and magnum) and WLP. Can't be to picky these days![/QUOTE said:
Try Big R stores, i get mine by the thousand for $29.99 or sometimes 10% off that during a bag sale, not sure whre would be the closest one to you as i don't think there's one in Butte? I get them from the Great Falls store when i go through there, they always have plenty in stock, i like CCI but can't really tell a difference.
I like Winchester or Starline brass, worst batch of pistol brass i ever had was RP stamped but i've had good life with Remington in my rifle reloads. Unique is my favorite powder for all around use in .45 and .44 loads, any critter that gets hit with 240-250 grains of swc shaped lead at 850-900fps is gonna be mighty confused for a bit! I also like the fact that a double charge would be hard in the large cases with Unique. Best of luck to you, happy shootin'!
 
#26 ·
Big R.... I get mine by the thousand for $29.99...
Nope, no Big R here. Never heard of them actually. That's a good price as around here it is 35.99 and 38.99 for regular and magnum CCI primers :( . I like Unique too for my .44s. When shooting ~240 bullets in my .44s its 7.5g in the Specials and 8.5g in the mag. .45 Colt it's 8.5g pushing ~250g bullet.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top