Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 45 colt cast loads

Finally found a blackhawk 45colt/45acp convertible. So far my loads have been a 255 gr Meister SWC's over 9.2 grains of unique. curious if anyone has any other field loads they use. not looking for plinking or cowboy action loads but general field/hunting loads.

I have another 400 of the meister hard cast (BH15-16) and another 200 bear tooth 270gr hard cast.

powder wise i have unique, HS6 and true Blue on the bench.

Seems like most i loads are either reduced cowboy action stuff or for jacketed bullets-i'm planning on just sticking with cast bullets.

The RCBS 270 SAA over 13 grs of HS-6 goes a click over 1000 fps in my 5 1/2" Bisley. Bullets from Western bullet.

I use the same bullet (cast from WW) 8.0gr Unique and I have it at 1,100fps from a 20" barrel. It actually weighs in at 280gr.

12.9g Blue Dot

250g Rim Rock Premium Hard Cast (harder)

Starline brass

Fed LP Primers

Ruger BH

Snake

I've shot those Meister 255's with 13 grs' of HS6. They run around 1100 fps depending on bbl. length. I really like HS6 for medium loads, and have also used it with the 270 gr. SAA bullet at 1050 fps. For heavy loads I use H110.

i appreciate the information.

Anyone used true blue? i've always had great luck with ramshot powders but this is my first go round with their pistol powders.

I'm finding True Blue to be an excellent powder for "upper medium" loads in the .45 Colt as well as the .357 Magnum and .44 Special. Only have one velocity reading with it in the .45 Colt and that's out of a 16" barreled Marlin 1894. An RCBS 270 SAA got 1218 fps with 11.0 grains True Blue.

But I've used both 9.5 and 11.0 grains of True Blue with that 270 SAA and a Lee 255 RF out of the Marlin and a Ruger 5.5" Bisley with very good accuracy. Based on the velocity out of the Marlin and a couple of subjective factors I'll make a real WAG and say that 11.0 grains is getting around 1000 fps or a tad more from the Ruger.

I suspect ZIP may be better suited for more mid-range loads in the .45 Colt, like around 850-900 fps, but I haven't tried that combo yet. It works great in a .45 ACP and also for target loads in the .357.

FWIW, that 9.2 grain load of Unique is as good as anything in the .45. I use 9.0 in the Ruger and 10.0 in the Marlin. 9.0 Unique got 986 fps from the Ruger with a commercial cast 255 SWC.

Just as an interesting coincidence, the TB loads I've settled on are 2 grains apart - 7.0 in the .357 with a 158 grain cast SWC, 9.0 in the .44 Spl. with a Lee 200 RF and that 11.0 grain load with the Lee 255 in the .45 Colt.

Appreciate the information Jim-

going to try the true blue with the 270gr bear tooth bullet and see what it does accuracy wise. My blackhawk also has the 5.5 in barrel so your info really helps.

Thanks.

For a field load I use a Speer 250gr SWC sitting on top of 9.5gr of Unique in my Ruger New Vaquero. I always prefered 10gr of Unique but backed it off when I went from a Black Hawk to my smaller framed New Vaquero in .45 Colt.