.45 Colt Black Powder Cartridges.

Skinny 1950

Skinny 1950

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I am now set up to reload .45 Colt with Goex FFFG and was wondering if anyone has used this powder under a 200 grain .452 flat nose bullet form a Lee mold or can share experiences with other loads??
The powder dispenser is limited to 23 grains at the moment so I loaded 40 rounds using this amount of powder and topped it with wads to eliminate the air space, I haven't tried shooting any yet but I imagine it will be similar to my trusty .44 cal. cap and ball using the same amount of powder.
A case full of FFFG with enough space to seat the bullet contains around 35 grains which is about what a .44 cal. Dragoon would shoot so it should be OK in a modern 1873 SAA clone.
 
Accuracy will be best if you use pure lead or 30-1 lead/tin mix with black powder, proper BP lube will also help accuracy and make cleanup easier. Fouling that dries in the barrel will cause great inaccuracy and proper lube keeps fouling soft and moist and alot of fouling is cleared out by subsequent firing.
 
Thanks Ben...I got two sticks of SPG Bullet Lube from Track of the Wolf,it sticks in the grooves nicely and is easy to work with. I use more or less pure lead..it is soft enough that it can be gouged out with a thumb nail.
 
Get a LEE Dipper set. My .45 Colt load is a 250 grain RNFP bullet, with 2.5 cc dipper (35 grains approx.). Works great! I use FFFg, and FFg when I can't get the former.
The dippers make it real easy...

Make your own lube. Much cheaper. I use bee's wax, and crisco 50/50. Works great, and costs very little compared to the store bought lubes.

Olof
 
Olof...do you fill the case with as much powder as it will take? If so how does this compare to factory smokeless loads in terms of power?
I have about two pounds of bee's wax so I will try the 50/50 mix but other lubes that I have made with bee's wax came out kind of stiff in cold weather.
 
If you are using a powder thrower to measure with, I would not. I have an RCBS thrower with a rotary piece in the center than measures the powder; I found with black powder, over time I got a build up of fine black powder dust on the perimeter of that drum or center piece which resulted in corrosion beginning on it.

I would use a conventional adjustable powder measure like the muzzle loader shooters use

cheers mooncoon
 
Skinny 1950 said:
Olof...do you fill the case with as much powder as it will take? If so how does this compare to factory smokeless loads in terms of power?
I have about two pounds of bee's wax so I will try the 50/50 mix but other lubes that I have made with bee's wax came out kind of stiff in cold weather.
Click to expand...

I fill it to about 1/8 inch from top of case, and compress it with a 250 grain bullet. As I said, I use a LEE dipper set. I use the 2.5 cc dipper (35 grains or so of black powder).
The lube mixture can be changed depending on outside temp. The mixture I mentioned is soft enough in summer not sure about winter... We don't really get much winter here on Vancouver Island...

Mooncoon mentioned using a drop tube for rifle cartridges. It helps to settle the powder for more consistent loads. Haven't heard whether it helps for pistol cartridges though... Mooncoon uses an adjustable black powder measure from to looks of it, and I use dippers. I think either way would work well for you.

I shoot Cowboy Action, so I load a lot of ammo. I'll be moving up to a progressive press (a Dillon 550 I think). Again I will be using dippers with the new press.

My black powder 12 ga. loads are a lot of fun to shoot as well!
 
Mike Venturino’s “ Shooting Lever Guns of the Old West “,
Gives the following, from a 24 inch barrel 1892 Winchester with a 260 grain bullet.

Goex FFg 33 grains 1,095 & 65 fps
Goex FFFG 34 grains 1,136 & 29 fps

I find using 33 grains of FFg in a .44-40, a 0.430 compression die makes bullet seating easier. The use of a Lee factory crimp die gives good powder burn, less residue.
 
A properly cast bullet(very soft) will deform if used to compress powder, it can deform enough in some cases that the round won't chamber, that is why compression dies or "plugs" are recommended. Dead soft bullets are recommended for use with BP as the ignition characteristics of BP are such that it will "bump" the bullet up in size to fit the bore best and be most accurate.
 
mooncoon said:
I am not sure how necessary a drop tube is in a short pistol cartridge as opposed to rifle cartridges. I suspect they don't make an awful lot of difference. They definitely do in rifle cartridges

cheers mooncoon
Click to expand...

It's not necessary...I have been reloading 45 Colt BP cartridges for nearly 20 years and a drop tube is a waste of time....I use FFg black,or substitute (FFFg gives a little more "snap" when firing, and I find FFg is more of a "push") and all I do is dump my BP into a BP measure set at about 33gr (Of course by vol), dump it into the case, tap on the table, put a cardboard wad over it and seat a bullet (250gr)....It slightly compresses the BP...

I have tried the carefully measure, "drop tube" routine and there is absolutely no difference in accuracy out to 25 m.....

And I know people that just scoop up a case of BP, left a little room at the top and crammed a bullet in, and they get good results (I've done the same thing and never had a problem).....

So, for pistol cartridges, go to town....BP is so easy to work with if you remember the a scared, cardinal, never break rule: "leave NO air space"....

And I love SPG BP lube...
 
Olof said:
I fill it to about 1/8 inch from top of case, and compress it with a 250 grain bullet. As I said, I use a LEE dipper set. I use the 2.5 cc dipper (35 grains or so of black powder).
The lube mixture can be changed depending on outside temp. The mixture I mentioned is soft enough in summer not sure about winter... We don't really get much winter here on Vancouver Island...

Mooncoon mentioned using a drop tube for rifle cartridges. It helps to settle the powder for more consistent loads. Haven't heard whether it helps for pistol cartridges though... Mooncoon uses an adjustable black powder measure from to looks of it, and I use dippers. I think either way would work well for you.

I shoot Cowboy Action, so I load a lot of ammo. I'll be moving up to a progressive press (a Dillon 550 I think). Again I will be using dippers with the new press.

My black powder 12 ga. loads are a lot of fun to shoot as well!
Click to expand...

Agreed.....And slightly compressing the BP gives consistent velocity and the BP burns a little cleaner...

I use a Dillon 550 for my BP loading and it's manual indexing is like having a single stage press as well as a progressive...

I also load my 12 ga with BP and use 12ga brass case's....It's so, cool looking..:D
 
Took the re-loads to the range today..what a blast:D
The 23 grain rounds with wads worked great but the cases that were filled with powder were spectacular..huge smoke and flames not to mention the boom,the guy next to me shooting 9mm commented on how loud it was.
When I ran out of ammo I finished up the day with a .31 1848 Baby Dragoon repro,in cold weather my hands don't work very well and putting the caps on that small gun was a challenge.

The .31 Baby Dragoon is at the bottom of the picture:

ThreePockets001.jpg
 
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