Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Need Input for my 45 Colt

I have a Ruger Hunter 45 which has a 7.5" barrel. My current load is 24.5 gr Imr 4227 which clocks 1200 fps+ with 250 XTP's. I would like to get some more velocity out of it. What is the highest dose of Imr 4227 you guys use safely? I have a lot of Power Pistol that I feed my 45 Super in doses of 10.5 grains with 200 gr RNFP's. I get 1285 fps with that. I have not tried Power Pistolin the 45 Colt yet so I am curious if any of you have?

I am not looking to redline my loads to the ragged edge but I am convinced I could safely get 'em up another 100 fps or so. Opinions?

My opinion is that 1200 fps with a 250 grainer is already a helluva load. Not trying to be a smart aleck but what exactly could 1300 fps do that 1200 would not? One of your loads would probably blow my Schofield in two.

If you want more, move up to the 454 Casull, you are at the upper reaches in my opinion for the .45 Colt, even in a Ruger. I use H-110 under the Speer 260 JHP and am getting 1180 out of it, without signs of presure and good accuracy. I am comfortable right there. Just my thoughts.

I put a 250 grain hard cast SWC end to end through a 300# hog, and that was using Blue Dot powder at around 950 fps.
That was just one of several hogs that the load has handled.

1200 fps is MORE than enough

Can't see how a 250 gr. .45" slug at 1200+ is going to bounce off much.

FWIW, I'm running 10 gr. of Unique under a 280 gr. WFN in a 5.5" Ruger SS Bisley Blackhawk (AccuSport version), for about 1050ish. EASY to shoot, more accurate than I am, and I doubt seriously whether it won't go through anything I hit with it.

Very true what the fellas said, you just do not need to shoot faster.
The thing I question is the use of 4227? I did extensive tests with the stuff when I shot IHMSA using the .44 and .45. It goes crazy when the gun warms and gets worse and worse the hotter the gun gets. Velocity and pressure continue to rise at a rapid rate. It was very accurate from a cold gun only but shots are limited before the POI starts to go lower and lower.
The powder does not show this with other calibers like the .357 max, etc.
I think for the heavy loads you want, 296 and H110 would be a better choice. Even then the most accurate loads will be just under max. Never reduce loads with these powders below book minimum charges.
Whatever powder you choose, look for accuracy, not velocity, the .45 is a fantastic round without going crazy. The gun will actually kill lighter game like deer better then the .454 but I won't get into reasons now.

here

http://www.customsixguns.com/writings/dissolving_the_myth.htm

Hmmm. Well, My gun likes that load. It'll put three in one ragged hole at 50 yds off the sand bags. It has digested many of them too. With the Leupold M8-4X atop it recoils very gently.

I'll be happy with what I have, leave it alone & go hunting. Have yet to take a critter with it but I am going to remedy that soon. Thank you all for the input.

Don't want a Cassull. I am a believer in the 45 Colt to the 'enth degree.

I agree with you on the rounds' capabilities. I simply chose the Imr 4227 load arbitrarily when I began loading for this round. It turned in great accuracy & velocity with the first load I tried listed in Nosler's #4(?). They now show 25 gr max for the 250's. I have not experienced the disparities you speak of but I only fire this gun about 25 rounds annually.

With such wonderful results on my first trip to the range I was good. I am so enamored with my 45 Colt Ruger Hunter that I plan to hunt with it exclusively this season.

I admit that the powder was accurate and I shot one of my smallest groups at 200 meters with it. It only gives trouble with a hot gun in the .44 and .45, although it was not as bad in the .45. It was so bad in the .44 that shooting at the last 200 meter ram I had 16 clicks more elevation then the first ram and still hit the ground 50 meters short.
296 cured it right now and I won Ohio state with 79 out of 80 with my SBH.
Many, many shooters were using 4227 at the time but their scores were zip, some with only 5 out of 40. None would listen that it was not them, it was the powder.
If you shoot a cold gun for a few shots or one shot at a deer, it is OK but be aware if you are working loads or shooting in hot weather, you might never find a sweet spot. What happens with your gun between -20* and over 100* in the summer?
When you keep looking your gun over to see what broke or if the barrel bent, might not a better powder cure it? Why do so many ignore experience?
Same as Lil'Gun. I tried it in a Freedom .357 and after 12 shots the barrel was a soldering iron. I set the gun on the bench and touched a piece of plastic by accident and it MELTED! Who in the world would want that heat in a fine barrel? Shall we talk about erosion? I don't like to put a welding torch down my barrels.

Partner, at 24.5 grains, you are already 4.5 grains over what I consider to be about maximum - and you're using a jacketed bullet to my easy-sliding lead ones on top of that!

Not so, 25.5 to 26 is max with 4227 depending on whether it is IMR or Hodgdon. But even 21 gr will flatten primers when the gun is warm. To defend a poor powder for the application only shows you are happy with the "bang" the gun makes and not if a target is hit.
All of the fellas here need proof from you. Take a large cardboard target to 100 yd and shoot 40 rounds at a small target on it. Then post us a picture.

H110/296 is crap when temps get colder, a poor powder only IMO for the application (hunting in cold weather)....and is even less stable at high temps in long narrow cases (22 Hornet especially), when you are looking for MAX speed. You can espouse the caveats, but yes, mag caps, chronographed, shot at paper with dead game....

Lil'Gun is actually BETTER at low temps (it can easily be below zero here) as it ignites easier, less a magnum cap, with far better ES, per Hodgdon 45 Colt data. If loading it to the gills, yes, it is slightly hotter, in hot weather, but I have seen no glowing red or branding irons.

Guess all magnum powders suck? To say powders do weird things when everything is hotter than hell is no revelation. It just means loads were not worked up as hot as you were going to get everything, which is folly if you like to shoot a lot.

I said [bleep] it and use a moderate 20 grs of Lil Gun with a 325 LBT WFN GC; all work from now on will be done with 13 grs. Blue Dot and a 300 WFN, niether will give me surprises. Both for 45 Colt....



FWIW, a friend of mine uses 20 grs. IMR 4227 with 250 XTP's or my 260 LFN's, shoots fist sized groups at 50 yds, and deer much closer....he does not and will not shoot seriously heavy loads.

Rocky has nothing to prove; we find him a valuable source of info, a careful reloader(maybe to save his aging face (grins), and he is not a braggart....he does know more than many about powders. He even has a personality when outside the reloading forums.

It sounds like you read more then you shoot! I never use a mag primer in the .44 or .45, only a Federal 150. Mag primers triple groups. I also hunt in very cold below zero weather all the way to very hot summer heat without a problem with 296. I just don't know where this problem came from except from not knowing how to load to start with.
Fist size groups at 50??? That would piss me off at 200 yards! My revolvers shoot around and under 1/2" at 50 yards. Most will hold 1" to 1-1/4" at 100 yards.
I have nothing to prove either, I pass along information gleaned from experience to make a revolver shoot as good as most rifles.
However I can prove what I have learned and I don't need a keyboard. I will post some pictures.

Five shots at 50 yards with my .45 Vaquero.

Five shots at 50 yards from the .44. I shot the can at 100 yards and was hitting low so I aimed higher for the last shot.

well, any one can post pictures.....................

I was wondering why you have to appear so argumentative about all this.

There is something about a new member with a big [bleep] attitude that frankly turns folks off. Just saying....................

Oh yeah, Rocky has forgotten more about loading than you have ever read.

Three shot drop test at 200 yards with .44 SBH.

How about 50 yard groups with the 45-70. Notice the sighter target on the left for deer hunting. First five in 3/4" and next five in 7/16".
Yeah sure, forgot more then me. 56 years of working with guns makes me a beginner.
Get off the pot and show me just how good you load your ammo! Show me how much you know about powder!
Nothing worse then a keyboard bragger. How many hundreds more pictures would I need to post before any of you dared post ONE?
As usual, my pictures will end a thread.

.475 boolit tests at 50 yards. Large center target 200 yards and two right targets shot at 100. Can shot twice at 100. Strange 296 works so good!
A new guy asks a question and all he gets is misleading information from experts that can't show a thing. I can continue posting pictures for days and the keyboard shooters will call me all kinds of names but are afraid to show anything.
If anybody can show pictures how about putting your money where your mouth is?
Oh yeah, I forgot, one guy forgot more then I ever learned!