Help with .45 Colt recipies

slushee

slushee

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
13   0   0
Location
Ontario
So i finally got around to getting my old Colt New Service revolver (1899 manuf.) to the gunsmith to get it into functional condition.

Now to find a recipe. I've settled on the Hornady 255 grain FP Cowboy (#12458) bullet. I was thinking about trying Unique but then I saw that it is a round/flat type powder. I am worried that it won't meter in my Lee Powder Measure very well.

I was wondering what you all suggest. Hornady's reloader book suggests Titegroup, Red Dot, Unique, Win 231 and Clays Univ among others. I read in the Lyman manual that Unique is a popular powder with this caliber, but again, I was wondering what you all think about metering it?

Thanks in advance for your input!
 
mudgunner49 said:
How about Trailboss??? Low pressures and difficult (perhaps impossible) to double charge...
Click to expand...

Actually was just reading up on Trailboss. My only concern with Trailboss is that Hornady's book suggests a max load of only 750 fps, whereas all the other powders go up to 850/900 fps.

I was wondering why that is.

But keep the opinions coming! Unfortunately I have not used Unique in my powder measure before, Im just worried about buying a pound of it only to find it unusable.
 
slushee said:
I was thinking about trying Unique but then I saw that it is a round/flat type powder. I am worried that it won't meter in my Lee Powder Measure very well.
Click to expand...



What powder measure do you have? Pro Auto-Disk Powder Measure or the Perfect Powder Measure?


I ask because I have the Pro Auto-disk measure and load hundreds of 44 Mag with unique and it meters fine and consistantly for me.

-CZ
 
Probably because trail boss is shaped like little donuts and twice as fluffy as most others. I've also read that it does not like to be compressed. I'm not looking in my book, so this is a guess, but I only put ~12-14gr in my 45-70 and it's pretty full.


slushee said:
Actually was just reading up on Trailboss. My only concern with Trailboss is that Hornady's book suggests a max load of only 750 fps, whereas all the other powders go up to 850/900 fps.

I was wondering why that is.

But keep the opinions coming! Unfortunately I have not used Unique in my powder measure before, Im just worried about buying a pound of it only to find it unusable.
Click to expand...
 
slushee said:
Actually was just reading up on Trailboss. My only concern with Trailboss is that Hornady's book suggests a max load of only 750 fps, whereas all the other powders go up to 850/900 fps.

I was wondering why that is.

But keep the opinions coming! Unfortunately I have not used Unique in my powder measure before, Im just worried about buying a pound of it only to find it unusable.
Click to expand...

My guess is that the data was developed primarily for cowboy action shooters, who generally aren't looking for high velocities. On the other hand, it looks like the published velocities may be on the conservative side:

http://www.handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=37

I like Titegroup for non-magnum handgun reloading. It's inexpensive and not sensitive to position. If you decide to use Unique, around 8.0-9.0 grains is a fairly typical charge weight for 250-255 grain bullets.
 
Thank you all for your suggestions.

Looks like I have a decision to make.

Ultimately I wanted to duplicate the 255g at 900 fps for use in my New Service. I am leaning towards Trailboss however only due to the safe nature of the powder. BUT, then there is Unique and Titegroup. Unique seems to be the most popular for this cartridge, but Titegroup seems to be less sensative to its position in the case (of which the 45 colt has a lot of case room).

Why does there have to be so many bloody powders :redface:

Unless someone can talk me out of it, I think I will give Trailboss a try maxing out at 750 fps. I will only be plinking with this round anyways so I suppose there isn't any reason to go for the higher velocities!
 
unique

slushee said:
Thank you all for your suggestions.

Looks like I have a decision to make.

Ultimately I wanted to duplicate the 255g at 900 fps for use in my New Service. I am leaning towards Trailboss however only due to the safe nature of the powder. BUT, then there is Unique and Titegroup. Unique seems to be the most popular for this cartridge, but Titegroup seems to be less sensative to its position in the case (of which the 45 colt has a lot of case room).

Why does there have to be so many bloody powders :redface:

Unless someone can talk me out of it, I think I will give Trailboss a try maxing out at 750 fps. I will only be plinking with this round anyways so I suppose there isn't any reason to go for the higher velocities!
Click to expand...

I have used unique for years 7.5 grs through my lee power measure gives 875-900 fps in 5.5" ruger with 255 r n f p. Trail boss I find tends to be slower fps than claimed and kinda smoky.
 
For target velocity ammo my choices are Titegroup, Trailboss and Unique, in that order... I have never run any of these loads over a chrono because accuracy is the main concern for me...
 
slushee said:
Actually was just reading up on Trailboss. My only concern with Trailboss is that Hornady's book suggests a max load of only 750 fps, whereas all the other powders go up to 850/900 fps.

I was wondering why that is.

But keep the opinions coming! Unfortunately I have not used Unique in my powder measure before, Im just worried about buying a pound of it only to find it unusable.
Click to expand...

Unique measures fine in my lee auto measure. Been using it for years in many different pistol cartridges. If you reload you need to have a pound of Unique on hand anyway, it is the most versatile pistol powder I know of. Blue dot is also good in the .45 colt, but tends to be too slow for the smaller pistol cartridges.
 
slushee said:
Thank you all for your suggestions.

Looks like I have a decision to make.

Ultimately I wanted to duplicate the 255g at 900 fps for use in my New Service. I am leaning towards Trailboss however only due to the safe nature of the powder. BUT, then there is Unique and Titegroup. Unique seems to be the most popular for this cartridge, but Titegroup seems to be less sensative to its position in the case (of which the 45 colt has a lot of case room).

Why does there have to be so many bloody powders :redface:

Unless someone can talk me out of it, I think I will give Trailboss a try maxing out at 750 fps. I will only be plinking with this round anyways so I suppose there isn't any reason to go for the higher velocities!
Click to expand...

you cold make things easy and use the good old stand by blackpowder

of corse you dont need 900fps for shooting at the range

and what with all this i need a cleaner burning powder f:P:2: just shoot and clean the dam gun lol
 
32 to 35 grains 3f under a 250 grain bullet lubed with SPG (or a similar black powder lube). Feels like you are shooting something...
 
I've loaded quite a bit of 45 colt over the years and my favorite load is 7.0 gr of RedDot over a 250 gr hardcast bullet & regular pistol primer.
I have found this load highly accurate, amazingly clean, easy on the wrist and gun.
This recipe works for me and all others who copy do so at their own risk, etc, etc.

Regards
Sam
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom