Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns brian pearce/bear/45colt

I for some reason always get handloader later than everybody else.
I am surprised nobody has commented on his son killing that bear with the .45 colt and the rcbs 270grain keith bullet. All rounds penetrated completely through the bear, with better performance than a factory 44magnum round. And tight groups too.
I have been running the same load at the same velocity although not a writer, and then work mighty fine.
I can think of several threads on here stating jacketed hollow points were the way to go, here comments locally on .45 being a tired ol caliber, and so on.
I have got to fire that combination in a marlin lever with the long tube.

JHP's work great, as JJHack has posted, but I don't believe anyone has said cast bullets don't work, too. Some folks' experience is that JHP's may cause faster incapacitation.

I don't recall anyone saying 45 Colt is a tired ol' caliber... I've been killing critters with it for the better part of the past couple decades.

I get the tired ol caliber mostly from pagans in the area locally
that know of my love for the ol calibers. I hear that alot about another caliber that i am rather fond of, the 45.70.

.45 Colt is the least tired revolver cartridge I can think of. It�s SUCH a versatile cartridge/gun. If you want light weight, accurate target loads, you can load up Schofield brass with bullets in the 200 grain range to make nice little cookie cutter holes in itty-bitty groups. If you want to hunt large critters, you can move up to a 5 shot revolver and jump your loads up to the equal of the .454 Casull. Of course, the most useful loads are found well into the middle of those two extremes. I used to carry that same bullet loaded on top of a charge of 2400 to push it to around 900fps out of a Colt SAA. The RCBS 270 Keith (which wasn�t an original Keith bullet, but was actually the idea of Dave Scovill IIRC) is probably the absolute best of all the Keith bullets. It easily has the widest meplat and best sectional density.

I love shooting my Ruger Bisley in 45 Colt. I have killed 3 black bears with it. First bear I used a 335 grain cast bullet and then I used a 345 grain cast bullet on the next two. Velocity was 1170 fps or so. I am now shooting a 290 Keith at 1100 or so. Great cartridge and gun.

I'd much rather a 45 Colt than a 44 mag.

Well... me too.

I have one 44 Mag revolver (a presentation-box ivory-handled M29-2) that I doubt I will part with before I cross the Rubicon, and I haven't bought another since I got this one.

On the other hand, I have a couple-several 45 Colt revolvers and leverguns. And I think they're havin' sex in my gunsafe because more an' more 45 Colt guns keep showing up in there...

I am another who thinks the .45 Colt is a shade above the .44 magnum. I would give an eyetooth for one of the 4 inch Redhawks in .45 Colt.

In that article, Pearce mentions that his son carrys his SBH in a pancake holster. Who make that holster? It sounds like the perfect carry setup for my single six! not sure any of the large outfits makes a holster like that.

Sorry for my last post guys, I just remebered that in an earlier article Pearce mentioned that he had the holster made by someone who lived nearby him. It my have been someone in the tac, horse business. The holster did not cost a $100.00. I will check my back issues and see if I can find the info. It was someone local to where he lives. Idaho?

That's what's on me even in town these days. I have a 1911 loaded similarly (only 900 fps wtih 255gr SWC) but I have been very conscious of my brass these days.

Sometimes I'll load two cylinders with .45 Cowboy Special brass loads that are 200gr doing a measly 525 fps when it is small game season. It has the same POI at 10y as the regular load

I may have the cylinder cut for 45 ACP with RimZ polymer full moon clips.

I believe he runs a ranch operation/setup in idaho

you might try this guy, his stuff is pretty well thought of:
http://www.simplyrugged.com/