I got me a 1st Gen SAA with new ACP cylinder and barrel. I got some 230 grain WW FMJ's. What does everyone think of 9 grains of HS7 under that? I ask cause I have some HS7 and want more of a boom than a short crack, but will she blow?
Colt SAA 45 loads
- Thread starter rimfire458
- Start date
HOWDY; FIRST GENERATION! is that a pre 1900 black powder frame? sounds kinda scary to be messing around with the old frame ,new cylinder and barrel or not. A real gunsmith or ? would need to check this rig out in person.
I agree, if that is an authentic first gen Colt then I'd suggest you stick to black powder or black powder subs. Or lower power "cowboy action" loads.
For the .45ACP if it's a new modern cylinder from proper steel and properly heat treated it'll take the pressure. The question is about the older original cylinder.
Consider too that unless it looks like rabid gerbils have been gnawing on it that a proper 80 year or older first gen SAA is going to be worth enough money to buy a pair of modern Ruger Convertibles, New Vaqueros or a whole brace of Italian clones and still have some good coin left over. So it seems rather foolish to push an older original Colt collectable like this.
Looking at the burn rates chart for powders HS7 is a trifle slower on the chart than the HS6 suggested for use in .45Colt on the Hodgdon website. But it's still well into the range of powders often used for larger caliber handgun loads such as 4227, 2400 and H110. So it will still be a "CRACK!" and not a "BOOM!". For that sort of sound you need to force the powder to burn over a longer time.... which is what the full case of black powder accomplishes. Because we load the casing FULLY and put some compression on the powder it tends to burn a little more like a stick from back to front instead of going off all at once.
If you've never loaded black poweder or substitute blacks in cartridges keep in mind that you MUST NOT have an air gap. The powder MUST be loaded under compression. If you want to go with less than a full case charge then the trick to reducing the powder is to add a card stock separator and then fill the remainder of the case with a filler such as Cream of Wheat or corn meal. Then compress the charge and filler by the correct amount with the bullet seating. True black and Pyrodex require about 1/16 to 1/8 worth of compression. If running 777 the loading data calls for 10% less volume and little to no compression to get the same power as a full load of black. So with 777 a filler WILL be needed. In this case I'd go with felt wads that total about 3/16 to 1/4 inch and use enough powder so that the wads seated with mild hand pressure using a seating stick leave enough room for the bullet.
I looked for some sort of cartridge that listed HS7 and in the half dozen sizes I checked they all suggested HS6. So without something more or less comparable for bullet weight and case volume it's impossible to say if your idea of that amount of HS7 is dangerous or not.
You got my curiosity up so I did a search for HS7 since it's not even listed on the Hodgdon web site. Seems it's primarily a shotgun powder with some handgun applications. But all the applications I can find any reference for relates to the various magnum calibers and 10mm which is itself a sort of magnum caliber. This suggests to me that the powder is not going to be at its best used in small charges in big open volumes like you'll have in a soft recoiling .45Colt. Combine this with the idea that "slower" in this case compared to other handgun powders is a relative term and that it's still very much going to be a "CRACK!" and I think you're better off looking at proper black powder or Pyrodex P to get more of a softer "BOOM!".
For the .45ACP if it's a new modern cylinder from proper steel and properly heat treated it'll take the pressure. The question is about the older original cylinder.
Consider too that unless it looks like rabid gerbils have been gnawing on it that a proper 80 year or older first gen SAA is going to be worth enough money to buy a pair of modern Ruger Convertibles, New Vaqueros or a whole brace of Italian clones and still have some good coin left over. So it seems rather foolish to push an older original Colt collectable like this.
Looking at the burn rates chart for powders HS7 is a trifle slower on the chart than the HS6 suggested for use in .45Colt on the Hodgdon website. But it's still well into the range of powders often used for larger caliber handgun loads such as 4227, 2400 and H110. So it will still be a "CRACK!" and not a "BOOM!". For that sort of sound you need to force the powder to burn over a longer time.... which is what the full case of black powder accomplishes. Because we load the casing FULLY and put some compression on the powder it tends to burn a little more like a stick from back to front instead of going off all at once.
If you've never loaded black poweder or substitute blacks in cartridges keep in mind that you MUST NOT have an air gap. The powder MUST be loaded under compression. If you want to go with less than a full case charge then the trick to reducing the powder is to add a card stock separator and then fill the remainder of the case with a filler such as Cream of Wheat or corn meal. Then compress the charge and filler by the correct amount with the bullet seating. True black and Pyrodex require about 1/16 to 1/8 worth of compression. If running 777 the loading data calls for 10% less volume and little to no compression to get the same power as a full load of black. So with 777 a filler WILL be needed. In this case I'd go with felt wads that total about 3/16 to 1/4 inch and use enough powder so that the wads seated with mild hand pressure using a seating stick leave enough room for the bullet.
I looked for some sort of cartridge that listed HS7 and in the half dozen sizes I checked they all suggested HS6. So without something more or less comparable for bullet weight and case volume it's impossible to say if your idea of that amount of HS7 is dangerous or not.
You got my curiosity up so I did a search for HS7 since it's not even listed on the Hodgdon web site. Seems it's primarily a shotgun powder with some handgun applications. But all the applications I can find any reference for relates to the various magnum calibers and 10mm which is itself a sort of magnum caliber. This suggests to me that the powder is not going to be at its best used in small charges in big open volumes like you'll have in a soft recoiling .45Colt. Combine this with the idea that "slower" in this case compared to other handgun powders is a relative term and that it's still very much going to be a "CRACK!" and I think you're better off looking at proper black powder or Pyrodex P to get more of a softer "BOOM!".
