Heavy .45 Colt loads (300 grain)

[Sonnytoo]

Remember, Winchester only makes the magnum large pistol primer, they do not have a low level primer like CCI and Federal do...

My box of Winchester WLP primers says:
LARGE PISTOL FOR STANDARD OR MAGNUM PISTOL LOADS

To me, that means they have enough power to be used in recipes calling for Magnum primers. Also, it means that the same charge of powder in grains can be used for either magnum or standard load recipes: in other words, the difference is not likely great.
As before mentioned, Hodgdon's Ruger-only .45 Colt recipes stipulate WLP primers on their loads.
I agree with Lloyd Smale that temperature differences can be important. There is web data (in match rifles) that shows that primers frozen overnight do result in lower velocities (2-4%) with no discernible difference in accuracy. Of course, the velocity reduction isn't nearly as important as making sure you ignite all of that slow-burning H110.
My experience with an insufficient crimp and two grains under recommended Hodgdon load showed that the WLP primer ignited and drove the 260gr hard-cast less than one inch into the barrel, and the recovered "wad" of H110 had NO burned granules that I could see. A visual of other bullets indicated that the bullet jumped the crimp, due to recoil, by no more than about 0.050". A well-crimped bullet, or a larger .453-.454" diameter bullet) might have been okay.
It didn't help that I was working with a Colt SAA New Frontier with .452 cast bullets, .457" throats and .487" chambers, a condition that John Linebaugh says: "(especially H-110 and WW 296) would not even begin to burn properly with the recommended charges the load manuals printed."
For loading this Colt SAA New Frontier, I am now using WLP primers, .454" cast bullets with a charge of 2400 powder (as per John Taffin) that gives me 1125 fps. I must have ignition of that powder...every time.
sonnytoo

 

[KWYJIBO]

Thanks for the many great replies, everyone. Lots of useful information. Especially on the Li'l Gun and barrel erosion. That post from the Graybeard forum sealed it for me. (Appreciate it, pvtschultz.) To me, the verdict from anyone at Freedom Arms is good enough, especially considering the research they did to arrive at a decision. I take this Bob Baker guy to be kind of like Linebaugh--as credible as they come. Therefore, I don't think I'll use the rest of this Li'l Gun. I have a 1 lb. can from which I've used about 250 grains total, in other words, about 3% of it. So what do I do with it? I don't load any .410 shotshells. I guess I'll just keep it around for bartering.

Time to find some H110, WW296, or maybe some 2400. It's really urgent for me to find a load that works well with these 300 GDHP bullets. :wink: Since I don't even have time to shoot all the standard pressure stuff that's already assembled, I'm not sure what I'd do with more than one cylinder of bear cartridges. We just need more bear attacks around here!