sourdough44
Single-Sixer
I tested a few loads today. Since I went through the chronograph setup & all I thought I would post my findings. This is what I got, as usual, your experience may vary.
The gun was a Ruger Redhawk, 45 Colt with a 4.2" barrel. The temp was about 80, though the ammo was mostly at basement temps since it was shot in the back yard soon after coming out.
The 1st load was the 45 Schofield, 200 grn home cast .452(45 acp) bullet. This is the Lee TL mold. The powder was 5.8 grains of H Titegroup. The fps average was 733. As expected a very mild load.
The next 2 loads used a 265 grain Cast Performance Hardcast GC'ed .452 bullet. These are also in the mid & upper 'Ruger Only' range. I researched from several articles in Handloader magazine & several reloading manuals. Both were right near 1.60" COL.
10 grains of Unique(20,000 psi range, from HL mag) gave 968 fps average. The recoil was full but quite controllable.
23.5 grains of win-296(H-110) gave 1096 fps average. The blast was a fair amount more than the Unique, but still nothing uncontrollable. There was also more blast blowing the grass around near the chrony.
Looking at some charges listed and fps achieved I believe there is still some safety margin on the upside, with the Redhawk. I also realize my 4.2" barrel is shorter than used with most/all of the test data listed. After this test I plan to go with the win-296 loading. The use is for backup on a B bear hunt and maybe use in AK when the bear spray isn't enough.
The gun was a Ruger Redhawk, 45 Colt with a 4.2" barrel. The temp was about 80, though the ammo was mostly at basement temps since it was shot in the back yard soon after coming out.
The 1st load was the 45 Schofield, 200 grn home cast .452(45 acp) bullet. This is the Lee TL mold. The powder was 5.8 grains of H Titegroup. The fps average was 733. As expected a very mild load.
The next 2 loads used a 265 grain Cast Performance Hardcast GC'ed .452 bullet. These are also in the mid & upper 'Ruger Only' range. I researched from several articles in Handloader magazine & several reloading manuals. Both were right near 1.60" COL.
10 grains of Unique(20,000 psi range, from HL mag) gave 968 fps average. The recoil was full but quite controllable.
23.5 grains of win-296(H-110) gave 1096 fps average. The blast was a fair amount more than the Unique, but still nothing uncontrollable. There was also more blast blowing the grass around near the chrony.
Looking at some charges listed and fps achieved I believe there is still some safety margin on the upside, with the Redhawk. I also realize my 4.2" barrel is shorter than used with most/all of the test data listed. After this test I plan to go with the win-296 loading. The use is for backup on a B bear hunt and maybe use in AK when the bear spray isn't enough.
