Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Favorite .45 Colt Deer Load?

What's your favorite .45 Colt deer load? Didn't draw on elk, so a deer will be the biggest critter to get whacked with the revolver this year. I'm thinking Lil'gun or H110 for the powder but can't decide what to use for a bullet - cast or jacketed? What weight? The Hornady XTP 250gr and 24gr of Lil'gun should be in the 1200fps range from my 4 5/8" Blackhawk - or is the heavier 300gr bullet going slower a better choice? Maybe a Keith style bullet in the 270gr configuation? Thanks.

My big-bore revolver deer load is a 250-grain caset SWC at about 900 fps. You could do that easily with Unique or HS-6 in the 45 Colt. The loads you mention are more like what I'd use for elk, but I'm funny that way.


Okie John

Since the 'Single Six' is not chambered in .45LC I assume you mean a Blackhawk, which takes heavy loads. But then you are shooting deer with iron sights, so for most shooters that means 50 yards max range.

I have had poor luck with H110/W296 in the .45LC with bullets lighter than 260 grains, and like Okie said you do not need that kind of power. The last time I saw an armor-plated deer was over three decades ago back when I used to drink.....

My favorite load is the Hornady 250 XTP over 15.5 grains of BlueDot. That gives around 1050 fps in my short-barrreled BH. This gives reasonable recoil and blast (H110/W296 is terrible in the 4 5/8" barrel!) with great accuracy and excellent performance on deer.


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A 300 or 325 WFN LBT; have used H110, Lil' Gun, 2400 and Blue Dot from 1,000 to 1,300 fps muzzle speeds on deer.

I have shot two deer with the 270 SAA Keith style bullet too. For some reason all have worked. I've only used a few jacketed bullets on one deer and close range pigs; they work too, just use ones with the widest noses.

I've been dinking with some Alliant 410 and really like it. Need to chronograph them though.

The best advice is to use the load you shoot the best; most of the time the fire-breathers just make hitting more difficult. You hit the deer right, your tag is filled.

I really like Lil'gun and a 265LBT at about 1200fps but I think the softpoints would be better for deer. I think the best slug would be a LBT with the noise softened. I keep waiting for some partition handgun seconds but they are not available very often.

Unless you pick an extremely fragile bullet more speed just means a better trajectory. Anything approaching 300gr at 1000fps is going to be tough to keep inside a deer.

12.5gr of HS-6, a 255gr Hunter Supply LSWC ...the deer we shoot with them dont argue...much

For our smaller blacktails I like the Hornady 250gr XTP over H110; less recoil than the 300gr loads, a bit flatter and the expansion is, to my mind, better on thin animals than the complete penetration a Keith type bullet gives.

That said, you can't ever go wrong with a good cast bullet such as those already mentioned.

I used to shoot the RCBS 255 grain SWC. With my alloy, lubed and sized they came out at 270 grains. I used 25 grains of Win 296 and Winchester std large pistol primers. That's a real wide, flat nosed SWC, almost as wide as the LBT designs. That's way more "thump" than you need for deer, but I never was able to get good accuracy out of my particular Blackhawk with lighter loads.

Centershot, I've chrono'd a .45 Colt load that will shoot through a deer if I shoot accurately.

255 grains SWC gas checked Keith type bullet, 8.5 grains Unique, WW Large Pistol Primers. Starline brass = 955 F.P.S., from my Ruger Blackhawk, 4 5/8" barrel.

If I wanted a faster load, I'd kick the Unique up to 10.0 grains, which would chronograph at around 1050 F.P.S., but the load I listed is fine with me. Easy to shoot and not hard on the wrist so makes it pleasant to do a lot of practicing.

It'll handle what I need out in the field.

Good luck on your hunt.

L.W.

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=0000690228

21 grains of H110 under this bullet kills effectively in a 7.5" ruger 45 colt

10 grains of Blue Dot.. 255 grain Laser Cast FN...

10 grains Unique under a 255 hard cast semi-wadcutter. 1168 average in my 5.5" Bisley.

Dan

I'd go with a 255-260 cast SWC, also. The loads mentioned are good ones, but let me throw in yet another. This one's the favorite load of Hank Williams Jr (a noted single-action and 45 Colt expert): a magnum primer and 20-22 grains of 4227, held in with a firm crimp. There's no chance of a double charge, it doesn't have the ear-splitting blast of 296/110 and it launches at 950 to 1000 fps. Very nice load, although you may see some unburnt kernels.

Actually, now that you mention it Rocky...a case loaded with 777 to the point where the 255 grain bullet just touches the powder kernels or compresses them a millimeter will deliver that 1000fps as well and the blast is a comfortable "Boom!" It's one of my favorite loads in the SAA.

Dan

I've posted something about this before but IMR4227 is a rarely thought of powder for large pistol cases but has worked well for me in various applications since 1976. Have mostly used it for mid-level loads but you can crank it on up there if you feel like it.

It shares the quality of 2400 of maintaining good accuracy from "relatively" reduced charge weights on up to max, although as you mention one will get some unburned powder granules in the mid-range loads.

I shot a Lyman #429215 (215 gr. SWCGC) in my SBH .44 using 20 grains of IMR4227 for years and years. You'd get a small pile of those yellowed powder kernels when ejecting cases but very moderate recoil and just accurate as all get out.

Currently working up loads for my 5 1/2" Bisley Blackhawk .45 using 18 and 19 grains of 4227 with a 255 cast SWC. Once again, velocity in the 900 to low 1000 fps range, low recoil (I believe due to it being slow burning powder so the recoil impulse is spread out over a few more microseconds) and this is proving to be one of the more accurate loads for this revolver.

Thanks for the mention of the magnum primer, never really thought of that before. I'll have to try that to see if it burns the powder more completely.

That is just a little more then I get with my 45acp load. I think I am around 800-830fps with a 250gr truncated cone. I have been wanting to take a deer with it since I got it. Seems more then enough for close range and accurate shooting.

So pretty good luck with that load on deer? Plenty of penatration?

This is my favorite hunting load for my 45 Colt, a Bowen customized Ruger Bisley with a 5.5" barrel. I have not killed any deer with it, yet, but it works well on feral hogs. For hunting I favor hard cast bullets.

270 gr Leadheads Keith style Taylor KO 22.15
19.5 gr 2400
WLP primer
1270 fps

I'm going to have to try that load in my Bis.

Dan

Centershot - I think your original load using a Hornady 250 grain XTP is about ideal.

The gun magazines have printed so much about hard cast bullets for hunting in the past decade or more that one is left thinking it�s the only choice. The reality is, a hard cast solid is too much bullet for a deer and you will get less performance, not more. With a 1000fps + load and a 300 grain cast bullet, you will get through and through penetration, basically that .45 caliber bullet will just zip right through your deer. If your shot is placed well, it most certainly will kill the deer, but not nearly as well as a JHP bullet. If you�re worried about penetration, then go to a 300 grain JHP, but honestly, we�re not talking about Elk or Bear, we�re talking about Deer, and they�re not that hard to put down.

I�m a huge fan of cast bullets in revolvers, and I cast a lot of bullets every year. But even Elmer Keith would tell you that a hollow point will work better on a deer (Keith used hollow point versions of his cast bullets and raved about the performance). A modern JHP will give you good penetration and good expansion, resulting in a quick, clean kill.

It�s your call, but I think the JHP is the right tool for the job on Deer. When we talk larger than Deer, THAT�s when I start talking cast bullets.

That's a valid point, Kevin.

My first deer hunting with a handgun took place in Florida. The deer there are hardly larger than Lassie, and almost all hunting for them was from treestands due to the extremely heavy cover. One shoots essentially straight down from only a few feet away.

I used loads featuring the Speer 225 JHP over (if I recall) something like 18 grains of 2400. I didn't own a chronograph then, so I can only guess that they flew at 900 fps or so. Never lost a deer with it under those conditions, and you had to anchor one on the spot because if it made a few leaps it might not be found.