Home Forums Lever Action Central Cowboy Levers .45LC rifle velocities "?"

just wondering who is reloading for the .45LC for a rifle and what is/are the velocities you are getting... from lowest to highest and what type of accuracy are you achieving as well..

thanks in advance....


Ric

The article on the Rossi/Legacy .454 gives some load data and velocities on the .45LC in that rifle/carbine 20" barrel. The link to the article was posted on the thread about the Legacy .454 in general levers, but here it is again: Legacy .454 .

many thanks..

WyoWhisper
I own a Rossi 45 Colt with the 24 inch octagnal barrel. I don't own a chronograph.
The favorite load for my rifle, after lapping the barrel out, is 20 grains of H110, 300 grain Saeco gas checked bullet, sized .454, using Star brass and Winchester large pistol primers.
Jim

here's the deal...

I pack a .41 pistol in the hills during pack trips and all day rides.. there comes a time when you need to fire "warning" shots to give hints to 'ole grizz that he needs to move on ...

I don't want to be doing this with a 45-70 ...

However if there coes a time when the bear decides he isn't afraid and like the idea of having a fresh snack , I want to make sure there is enough power to stop....

I was wondering if I can get enough velocity to make power from a rifle...

Wyo,

If you can find one of the Rossi/Legacy .454 carbines, your question as to whether you'll generate enough power is answered. YES! Mine, with a 20" barrel, holds 10+1 .45LCs or 9+1 .454 Casulls. The .45LCs plink well and will do for deer for sure. The 300 gr. .454s generates as much pop out the muzzle as a factory 300 gr. .45-70, and with 9+1, that ought to get the attention and cease hostile operations for any griz.

Mr. WyoWhisper,
Just found our old notes. In my wife's old winchester 94 (16" barrel as I recall) using CCI#300 primers/300gr Hornady XTP/Win 296 powder:
21.0gr - excellent accuracy at 50yds
21.3gr - 1375fps at 15 ft fm muzzle
SAFE IN OUR RIFLE. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR ANYONE ELSE.
DO NOT USE IN SAA COLT (OR REPLICA) PISTOL

I have a load of h110 and a 255 gr cast swc, that clocks 1655 out of a trapper, the same load does 1355 from a 7.5 inch blackhawk.
4198 will also give good velocity and accuracy from the rifle.
What came as sort of a surprise, was that with powders like unique the velocity difference was around 100 fps, but when you got into the slower stuff it jumped to 300 +-.

I�m gonna be working up some loads next week for my Win 94 (45 LC) Trails End.. Hornady 300gr XTP/HP & some 250 lead (for plinking). W231, W296, Alliant 2400 powders.
All the loads I�ve found (so far) for 45 LC�s were �handgun�. There�s got to be some recipes to tweak it for a 20" barrel.

I�ll let you know how I made out.

Also, what is the �gas check� for. I tried some �Blue Dot� with 250 gr XTP�s and got a lot of carbon down one side of the cases. Will �gas checks� stop that.

Gas checks are to reduce leading in the barrel. You can run a warmer load with a gas check bullet and not run the risk of the hot gases melting the lead at the rear of the bullet.

If your worried about being Mr. Griz's next snack start 19gr H110 and a 325 gr RNGC cast. Out of a 20" barrel you'll get 1660fps and up! Ten of these babes should put a end to Mr.Griz's snack time!

try this www.sixgunner.com/linebaugh/dissolving.htm
some good information, also
www.sixgunner.com/paco/45coltrifles.htm
might have to play with these on google but this is the information you are looking for
Well they don't seem to be coming up. I've got both articles and that's what's at the bottom of the page. I will scan the information and get back when I can
Appears sixgunner is working on their site. Only the forum is working. Given a little time you should be able to go back to these. Well worth the read and worth keeping a copy.

I run 300 RCBS cast bullets (320 grains actual) through my 16" barreled Trapper with Blackhawk doses of W 296 and get vels in the 1500s. Mine is a "bear gun" too but I usually keep it charged with these cast bullets or the 300 grain jacketeds available from Speer or Sierra, both better bullets for this purpose than either of the 300 XTPs, the standard which is too soft, the Mag too hard and slippery.

I have 2 "standard" loads I use in both my Marlin /Winchester
.45 Colt rifles.

The 1st load is a general overall fun plinking type load that is
easy to shoot, mild recoil/report, also makes an excellent
target load and small game only for hunting (rabbit etc).

255 gr lead swc and 8 gr Unique powder w/filler. The filler is
of poly-plastic type or basic corn meal and fills the case space
between the powder and the bullet. It is slightly compressed.
It is not necessary to use it but does provide more uniform
ignition without any messy soot buildup or leftover residue.
Approx 850 fps with this load.

The 2nd load is the hunting load. It consists of a 300 gr hard
cast lead kswc with lbt lube and gas check with 20 gr of 2400
powder behind it. Recoil /report is stout for sure. Approx
1750 fps for this load. Excellent big game hunting load for
deer, black bear, etc. The hard cast bullet has a huge meplat
and just punches right through everything leaving a big ol'
hole in its wake. This one is a thumper!

I don't push the envelope but this is what I've been getting in mine.

In my 20" Marlin 1894 CB I average ~1100 fps using the Speer #13 Max load of SR 4756 for a 255gr SWC. Good accuracy, 50 yard target pic at http://www.grovestreet.com/jsp/onepic.jsp?id=1215523 and it burns clean with a little sooting at the case mouth. I've also had promising accuracy with a grain over max and averaged 1204 fps. I've incrementally gone to 2 grains over max but the accuracy degraded.

I have also had promising results with that bullet and SR 7625 and 2400.

With the Hornady 250gr XTP bullet I've had excellent accuracy at 1205 avg fps using the Lyman #48 max of 2400. Leaves the bore speckled.

These loads also shoot well in my Ruger Blackhawk ~100-200 fps slower though.

Since my last post I've experimented with a few more bullets and powders.

The Lee C452-300-RF (casts ~315 gr with 20/1 alloy) has given me outstanding accuracy with 2400 pushing it 1100-1200 fps. I've gotten better velocity but bigger groups (~2-4" @ 50 yards, open sights) with HS-7 (up to 1400 fps), IMR 4227 (up to 1400 fps) and SR 4759 (just over 1500 fps average).

I've settled (for now) on the IMR 4227 and found that ~1300 fps is a good compromise between velocity and precision. Leaves the bore speckled is the only real downside.

Been shooting 20 gr. of 296 and a 300 gr. Hornady XTP, out of a Navy Arms 92 with a 20" barrel. Don't remember where I got the load information. Anybody know what FPS I'm getting?
Thanks, Virgil B.

As a general rule of thumb, figure a 20% increase in velocity over the listed pistol velocities.

My cowboy action load for 45 Colt was 7.0 Grains of W231/250 Laser Cast rnfp, and chrono'd right around 800 fps. The same load in my Marlin Cowboy gave 1000fps +/-.

I'v found about the same boost with other loads too - hotter ones with 300 grain hardcast/gc bullets and H110/W296.

vbshootingrange - IIRC you're load is giving around 1450 fps. In a 4 3/4" revolver, that'd give about 1150 fps fyi.