.45 Colt help.

S

Secondgunman

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
Edmonton
I have a .45 Colt Rossi Ranch Hand and want to start hand loading I know the rifle is all the same as the one Chambered in .44 mag other then the barrel. so what I want is some very hard hitting rounds I am talking crazy rifle loads... but not stupid run the risk of making the gun a hand grenade but about the pressure that a .44 mag would have. I want to do two loads one light and fast like a 225 gr and a real hard hitting 320 gr.

So any tips on these loads powders amounts and all that would be great.
 
What Freddy just said with the caveat that the 320 gr may or may not cause feeding problems. Experiment before you load up a whole bunch of them :)
 
I have a lot of lead for you, PM me if you're interested. I sold my 45LC but still have a lot of projectiles. Was going to put them on the EE but only want to sell them in the Edmonton area so I don't need to ship them.


Edit: Sorry guys they all sold.
I bought these at P&D in Edmonton and from what I've seen they usually have them in stock.
 
Last edited:
If you do some internet research on google or something under "heavy 45 colt loads", you'll find quite a bit, and lots of interesting reading.

You'll never be able to handle full power 45 colt loads in a ranch hand, I think, but that's just me.

I personally use H110, topped off with cream of wheat (H110 burns way more consistently when compressed), and a Lee 300 grain gas checked, medium hard cast bullet, with a good crimp. This combination can be loaded to exceed any factory 44 magnum ammo I've ever seen.
 
cr5 said:
I have a lot of lead for you, PM me if you're interested. I sold my 45LC but still have a lot of projectiles. Was going to put them on the EE but only want to sell them in the Edmonton area so I don't need to ship them.
Click to expand...

Its going to be a few weeks yet but I would be will to do that if you still have them...

Yah I am looking for a ramp up of a .44 mag.

Either way thanks for the info so far.
 
Last edited:
I agree with northman999 & kferguson . I have just started to do the same for my son's Rossi .
note..The Barnes XPB 225 is just a hair too long to feed reliably EVERY time.
( It is designed for the 454 Casul ) But it is fine in my Old Vaquaro.
keep us posted as you progress.
 
Northman999 said:
If you do some internet research on google or something under "heavy 45 colt loads", you'll find quite a bit, and lots of interesting reading.

You'll never be able to handle full power 45 colt loads in a ranch hand, I think, but that's just me.

I personally use H110, topped off with cream of wheat (H110 burns way more consistently when compressed), and a Lee 300 grain gas checked, medium hard cast bullet, with a good crimp. This combination can be loaded to exceed any factory 44 magnum ammo I've ever seen.
Click to expand...


I have never tried cream of wheat in my 45 reloads. I am going to have to try that on a few see how she goes.

Also are you buying or casting your own 300GC?
 
For now it will be store bought...

I know of two people have told me about cream of wheat, I was told cotton makes the barrel dirty.
 
Last edited:
I use 20gr Lil Gun and a 300gr HOrnady XTP bullet in my Win 94 Trapper. I get about 1600fps in it's 16" barrel. I expect that the Rossi should get 1400 fps or so.
 
I've found H110 to be wildly inconsistent on loads that don't develop near maximum pressure. I was using the 44-40, but with cast loads, I had real trouble with it until things got really hot. Close to 44 mag velocities it leveled out nicely. Be wary of pressure, these cartridges seem to be harder to read than rifle.
BTW I found for hunting purposes I didn't need the hot loads. In fact the first deer I shot with it was at about 950fps. 50 feet, but full broadside penetration. Double exit, as it took out a chunk of rib.
 
Secondgunman said:
I have a .45 Colt Rossi Ranch Hand and want to start hand loading I know the rifle is all the same as the one Chambered in .44 mag other then the barrel. so what I want is some very hard hitting rounds I am talking crazy rifle loads... but not stupid run the risk of making the gun a hand grenade but about the pressure that a .44 mag would have. I want to do two loads one light and fast like a 225 gr and a real hard hitting 320 gr.

So any tips on these loads powders amounts and all that would be great.
Click to expand...

rossi uses the exact same action that the ranch hand uses in their full sized 1892 based rifles , and they chamber it in 454 casull , which runs significantly higher pressures than 44 mag .
so it would seem that there is a fairly large margin for error if you stick to 44 mag pressure levels .
 
freddyfour said:
I have never tried cream of wheat in my 45 reloads. I am going to have to try that on a few see how she goes.

Also are you buying or casting your own 300GC?
Click to expand...

Before I was using cream of wheat to significantly compress my loads I had significant variations in velocity with H110, a 300 grain max load could vary from 1850 - 1950 fps out of my .454 carbine, an honest 100 fps spread. With COW filler, this literally dropped to 9 fps extreme spread over 10 rds. The difference was night and day. Obviously, accuracy improved too.

I'm casting my own 300 grain bullets using Lee 6 cavity mold (love those...), with straight wheel weights, water dropped, gas checked and alox lubed. . They'll go as fast as you can push them with a 45 colt and still be accurate.

300 grain Hornady XTP mag is also a very good bullet, if a guy likes factory bullets.

You can also size down 45-70 cast bullets to .454 or .453 and shoot them in 45 cal pistol. There are some nice 340 - 360 grain 45-70 bullets out there. I've got some .454 casull rounds loaded with 360 grain Ranch Dog bullets sized to .454, but haven't tried them yet. I'm hoping to get very good results from them...
 
Stole this from Gunblast.com's article. You may not need to upload for more 'punch'.
"...the twelve-inch barrel does have its rewards, and that is in more velocity when compared to a revolver. With light loads, there is not much difference, but with powerful hunting loads, the difference is substantial. For example, the Buffalo Bore 300 grain jacketed flat nose load that clocks 1104 fps ten feet in front of my four-inch Redhawk, registers 1400 at the same distance from the Rossi Ranch hard..."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom