What's Your Favorite Powder for .45 Colt?

[NKBJ]

It is sir, designed to be a bore rider bullet and trying to keep as much of the lead as practical out of the powder space.

 

[Leadeye]

Not to derail, but if you were going to load for Heavy 45LC (300+grn bullet, 1000+ fps) which would be the go to powder?

Lil gun FTW, but make sure you have a gas check if you are shooting cast as it will eat out the base. I shoot a 325 grain Lyman cast gas check out of a Henry. Put one through a whitetail doe at 35 yards lengthwise a few years back, at short range that load wold probably drop any animal on the continent.

 

[Leadeye]

Yep to AA#5 and Unique. Loved Red Dot and AL-5. But, as always, it depends upon what the shooter, the piece and the projectiles like best.

Madcap experiments with heavies in a single shot rifle... slower powders are good but as always nobody's data is everyone's data, your mileage may vary, don't try this at home while smoking or watching reruns of any show with Julie Newmar.

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Julie Newmar

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[rekaddab]

My wyoming Bear loads are 240 gr hornady XTP with 21.4 Gr AA no. 9 Chrono at 1,162 out of my RUGER black hawk, - 8.1 gr of Red Dot produces a velocity of 934 and is a little more comfortable to shoot - these both work well in my back packing 45 colt Henry lever gun.

 

[bstewrat3]

I like W296 in my 45 Colt loads using a Hornady 240gr XTP-Mag. I can push them at 1550fps out of my 12" Contender. I've wanted a Bowen 5-shot conversion on a Ruger Bisley since the early 90's, but still can't justify the cost.

 

[Beowulf]

Some serious loads in this thread.

I've just been loading 255gr flatpoint cast bullets (powder coated) on top of 5.0grs of Green Dot or IMR Green. Seems to work just fine to knock down plates with my six guns.

 

[Dinny]

My favorite is H110 followed closely by Unique. FWIW, I've never been able to get any of the XTP-MAG bullets to expand. Not even in a 45 Colt rifle with 20" barrel.

My favorite jacketed bullets are the 300gr Speer Deep Curl, 300gr XTP-STD, and the 300gr Sierra JFP.

My favorite cast bullets are the Lyman 454425, RCBS 45-270-SAA, and the Lyman Gould 457122 HP (resized to .454")

Thanks, Dinny

 

[Anonym]

I load Unique, ETR-7, H110, and Red Dot in my 45 Colt rounds for everything from 200gr - 280gr cast boolits.

 

[kennedy759]

I like universal, burn rate is next to unique in the charts. but then I also use universal for ,40 .38 and 16 ga, next I am going to use it for 44 special

 

[Slow Hand]

For ‘standard’ loads, I usually shoot a 454424 over unique or red dot, sometimes bullseye. Actually most of the 45’s I’ve loaded for pst several years have been over Promo, but my 8lb just is nearly empty. It’s a bulk shotgun powder that is described as red dot without the dots, but I found it to be 8-10% warmer than red dot grain for grain when shot over a chrono. I just picked up a mountain gun so I’ll be loading up some more later today!

 

[Slow Hand]

Not to derail, but if you were going to load for Heavy 45LC (300+grn bullet, 1000+ fps) which would be the go to powder?

Lil Gun, H110 or 2400. probably 4227 as well but I ve never worked with it.

 

[DadSmith]

I've loaded 6.5gr of HP 38 under 250gr Hardcast FN bullets for my son's Vaquero. He likes them. I'm going to try CFEPistol next time.

 

[boatswainsmate]

I use H-110 for heavy loads and HS-6 for everything else. All but the last bullet is for .452 loading. Happy Shooting. Boats