Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Win 94 Trails End

I have a Mod. 94, Trails End in .45 LC that I bought for Cowboy shooting. A few weeks ago, I tried some hunting handloads I have worked up for my Ruger Vaqueros. This load uses .45 cal. 260 gr. JFPs, ahead of 22 gr. of 296. This is a handful in the sixguns, but completely manageable in the Trails End. After sighting in (with hammer and punch on the fixed sights), I got this load to print to point of aim at 100 yards. I gotta believe this would be a terrific deer combo at relatively short range. Has anyone used this rifle/load on deer? Think I'll try it next fall. Probably useful on hogs as well.

Yep I got one but it's broken -back at Winchester for repairs, hopefully I'll get it back here in a few weeks. The ejector broke while I was out shooting some paper. Funny I was shooting lite loads at the time after all those heavy loads I put through it when it broke. mine really likes 300 gr WFN over 23 gr W296. Real thumper- as I hunt muley's with this gun-now it's my daughter deer rifle. She was quite mad that I broke her rifle!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I run a load similar to yours in a trapper. I use a 250 gr cast swc. It goes across the chronograph at 1650. That's getting into 45-70 territory. Havent used it on much bigger than coyotes but I did smack one at about 250 yds, it just folded him up right then and there.

Bighorn, I would keep it very short range for deer. I think it is a little low powered for our big bodied mule deer. In a handgun I don't think the 45 LC even meets the legal requirements for hunting big game in Colorado. Also just an FYI on hogs the last one I shot in Texas I shot at 25 yards with a 30-06 180 grain corelock thru the lungs and it still ran 150 yards before expiring.
tom

pumpgun,
If I use it for deer, it will be for whitetails along the Arkansas River in E. Colorado, probably from a tree stand. As for hogs- they can be tough! A friend of mine, and I, used to have a lease in the hill country of Texas, and hunted hogs a lot. Our favorite weaponry for this activity was the .454 Casull, using 300 gr. FP bullets. They penetrate like crazy, and we never lost a hog hit well with the Casulls. I haven't chrono'ed the .45 loads, but I expect their velocity out of the longer barrel might come close to the .454 loads out of handguns. Lots of great bullets available for .45 cal.

Bighorn:

The .45 Long Colt Makes a mighty fine deer gun. For your entertainment go to Paco Kelly's web page and click on 'Articles' Paco has an article with handloads on the .45 Colt. His results/findings may surprise you.

http://www.leverguns.com/

I have a lot of respect for Paco's opinions and observations. He obviously is a fan of the .45 Colt in lever actions. Thanks.

My load of H110 in my Trapper sends a 260gr cast bullet out a close to 1800 fps. I shot an 8 pt buck this year with this load and he was able to stumble 10 yds before expiring. Don't listen to anyone that says this cartridge is not suitable for deer, or only "short range" deer. Out of a rifle, the .45 Colt will do what a .454 Casull does out of a handgun. Ask them if they think the .454 is enough for deer, then do some research and find out what types of game the .454 has taken around the world.