45 Colt, case trim length,HP bullets, for BullDogXL

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Joined
Aug 29, 2005
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Barnstead, NH
I guess that I have been spoiled by the generous cylinders and chamber & throat lengths on my Ruger Blackhawks. In 45ACP or 45 Colt, there is almost no bullet style/size, weight that cannot be made to work - even those pointy rubber Hornady bullets.

I bought a Charter Arms Bulldog XL in 45 Colt for when I want to carry "light", and while it isn't a Ruger, it isn't a bad gun either. Anyway, I was eager to load some rounds for it - separate from my Ruger loads for obvious reasons, and ordered some 225 gn lead HP and some 255 gn lead HP and some 255 gn lead SWC from GT Bullets. The bullets seem pretty well made and the price was good, but my problem is loading them in the case so they don't protrude out the front of the cylinder and hit the forcing cone. The 225 gn HPs work fine, but leave only about .030" or maybe less clearance to the front face of the cylinder when I trim my cases to 1.275 (I usually do trim to this length).

The 255 gn bullets (SWC, and ESPECIALLY the HP) are too long by at least .015 - .020" out the front of the cylinder, so I would have to trim more than that MORE off the case length to get them to fit in the much shorter Bulldog cylinder. Question is - How short have you trimmed your 45 Colt brass to load bullets in a revolver - especially one with shorter cylinders than a blackhawk?? I know the FTX rubber tip bullets' cases are generally trimmed very short. Most other ammo is out at 1.280" case length. I think if I want to use a 255gn bullet in this Bulldog without going alot shorter in case length, I'll have to use WFN, maybe RN lead bullets without any hollowpoint, which is too bad as the GT Bullets have a great looking large cavity in the nose that should work great at lower, subsonic velocities where this Bulldog will be working.

Appreciate any feedback (but not "sell the gun") LOL
 

contender

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A common thing for some folks to test when using cast bullets,, is to seat the bullets a little deeper,, (using lower powder charges too,) over the olgive of the bullet.
So,, maybe try reducing the powder charge,, and seat a little deeper maybe?
 
Joined
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I think that on the 255 gn SWC ones I could do that just over the shoulder - that would make them seated about .070" deeper than they would be if crimped in the groove. For Unique or Green Dot, or CFE Pistol I'd have to guess at starting 0.5 grains lower than a "normal" 8.0 gn Unique load and trying that - or do you think I should go even less?

I am going to have to cut back on the powder some, but these HP all lead bullets with a crimp groove have no nice shoulder/place to crimp securely other than the groove. The shape is such that crimping on the ogive may not be too "grippy" to avoid setback. I do have a Lee Factory Crimp die that can crimp most anywhere, but this is a light revolver (22 oz empty) so a decent crimp is needed to keep things from moving. Probably easier to trim off .030-.040" more case than to seat these .125" deeper, but either way will have to be guess-timating how much less Unique or Green Dot to put in the first ones.
 

Jimbo357mag

Hawkeye
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Feb 22, 2007
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If you are wiling to keep the cases separate then you could trim them back and work your loads up to the same velocity that you want.

In most cases pressure = velocity.

If you don't have a chronograph another way to work up a load is to fire known loads alternating with loads you are working up until the recoil feels the same. This method will get you pretty close with low pressure loads but is not perfect and could have problems with higher pressure loads.
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2006
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Woodbury, Tn
I have the Bulldog in .44 spcl, and have no problems with 240 gr SWC. I didn't realize Charter had made it in .45 Colt. What ammo does Charter reccomend?
gramps
 

DGW1949

Hunter
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Just speaking from my own experience...I'd use a different bullet. My reasons for saying that are:
Not all 250-ish SWC bullets are the same shape. Some have a much shorter nose than others. And the shorter the nose, the less the COL.
Most commercially cast bullets are much harder than they need be. Normally, one can work around that and get fairly good results anyway. Thing is though, when you're playing with hard HP bullets...they either ain't going to expand much (or maybe not at all) at "standard" velocities, or the hollow nose might just break clean off upon impact. Controversy, I've had a proper soft-cast or swaged lead SWC expand a good bit, depending of course on what they hit.
As for cutting down the case length and using less powder...do understand that that big ole .45LC case needs a certain amount of pressure in order to expand enough upon ignition to fully seal the chamber. When using Unique powder under a 250-ish bullet, proper case expansion usually begins at about 7.8 grains, 8.0 is better, and 8.5 better yet. At any rate, somewhere between 8.0 and 8.5 you'll start seeing less and less evidence of blow-by on the fired cases.
Besides all that...you're dealing with a full weight .45 cal bullet which doesn't need to rely on expansion to be effective, so...why jump through a bunch of hoops just so's you can use a bullet that "looks cool"?

Hope this helps.

DGW
 
Joined
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Messages
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Barnstead, NH
Like any manufacturer, they just say SAAMI spec ammo. I have run 3-4 different brands, some lead, some jacketed, without any major issues. But, they all happened to be slightly shorter, 225gn bullets.

Charter started shipping these Bulldog XL guns in May. It uses same frame, cylinder size as the Pitbull in 45ACP they came out with 1-2Years ago. It is bigger in dimensions a bit more than the 44Special Bulldog. They also use same XL frame and cylinder size for their new 41Mag Magpug.
 
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Messages
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Barnstead, NH
I use a chronograph so I can check my loads as I develop them. This isn't as tough as a Blackhawk, though, so I have to pay a little extra attention, so to speak.

These SWC and HP bullets from GT Bullets seem to be not that hard. From dent testing them I would estimate they are around 12-14 BHN.
 

GasGuzzler

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Must be a pretty small cylinder. I have a Lee mold that drops at 262 or so and it's big and fat but not long. Loaded close to spec there's A LOT of room left in the front of the cylinder on my Uberti Cimarron Evil Roy.
 
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