Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading .45 Colt brass

I was digging around in the reloading room, looking for some .357 brass. I found a box with 450 decapped, sized and cleaned .45 Colt brass. Packed in 50 round boxes.
I believe they have not seen the light of day since about 2006. Looks like it's time to load some 250 grain LSWC. Gotta look for some 2400!

Have fun!

If you can't find 2400, the .45 Colt is an easy keeper--a ton of powders work well.

2400 has been available off and on at Powder Valley for a few months, I picked up a few pounds a couple of weeks ago.

I love it when that happens 😊 Christmas in September.

I am clean out of 2400 but I have enough H 110 and 4227 to keep me going. What load are you using and what velocity are you trying to get?

I use Unique in my 45 colt loads.

I like 2400 best, but have Blue Dot, Sr 4756, Unique, TightGroup, RL 7 and 9. Three pounds of H110 also. Lol, I am covered

I have a box of 500 LSWC, 250 grain. Usually load to get 1000 FPS. Kills big hogs quick.

Hell of a lick Sam, similar happened to me last week, was a local powder buds place getting some H-4831 SC, RCBS primer pocket cleaning brushes and a thousand 209 shotshell primers for a shotgun bud of mine, looked over to see neatly stacked small cardboard boxes, went over to see brand new Starline 45 Colt brass for 15 bucks a box of 50, seems some older guy in the area repackaged to sell as he is too old to load and shoot anymore, enough of those boxes left with me to take care of my 45 Colt brass needs for the time i have left on this spinning rock.

It is nice when things like that happen.

I load .45 Colt for a friend of mine. My recipe is a 250 gr coated lead RNFP over 7.8 gr of Universal. I've never chronoed it, as I personally don't have anything to shoot it in, but he is well pleased with them. DRT on hogs. This is very similar to my fav .44 Spl "+P" load of a 240 gr CLSWC over 7.7 gr of Universal that I get about 960 FPS from a 4.25" barrel. It works.

Universal is an outstanding powder in .45 Colt. As well as some other powders. Use it in .357 also.

For those shooting 4227, any preference between H and IMR in the 250-280 gr bullet range?

For the last several years they've been the same powder, Hodgdon bought IMR and that's the only version i've bought in 5 years or more, I run it under the 262gr bullet for the 455 Webley, it actually weighs 265 grains, mics .455" diam because of the oversize throats in my Colt 45 SAA, velocity runs around 950 fps, good accurate clean burning load.

You can get the coated bullets at Missouri Bullet Company, they use 12 BHN alloy, plenty hard enough for any hunting application at these modest velocities, they were in stock and shipped immediately on the order i placed a couple weeks ago.

I've settled on two loads for my new to me Ruger Bisley, Hornady 250 gr XTP at 1200 fps using 2400 powder and a 255 gr cast SWC at 1000 fps using N340.

I came up with a 7.2 grain charge of Universal under some RCBS 255-grain SWCs I cast. I think I found the best load (for a New Frontier which is an heirloom and I wanna be very nice to it), but I may have missed out due to being way out of practice. My handgun shooting has suffered terribly due to lack of practice over the last 15 years and deteriorating vision. In spite of that, I'm seeing some improvement and intend to keep working at it.

H4227 has been discontinued. It was one of their Extreme powders at its last inception, but in a word, no on the preference, at least where the 45 Colt is concerned.

That is my load also when using Universal. Fast becoming a favorite powder in .45 Colt and .357.

Which charge weight, rifletom? 7.8 or 7.2?

Sorry for the late replyRR. 7.2/250gr rnfp in .45 Colt.

No sweat, Tom.

I like knowing it when others arrive at the same conclusion through their own efforts. When the opposite situation exists, I'll question my own efforts and maybe walk back down that path to see if I took a wrong turn. Sometimes that is the case, sometimes not. It's just more effort I'd rather not have to undertake.

Before hitting "post reply," I found myself sitting here imagining what it would take to construct some kind of database for Campfire Pet Loads. I shouldn't have done that...we're fresh out of Advil.