Reloading the 45 colt

[Zazing]

Gentlemen oh and possibly a lady or two,
I have just acquired a Ruger bisly chambered in 45 colt. Year of manufacture 1986.
I have only been reloading for the past 3 years, for obvious reasons, and have heard that with this frame I can load rounds with lower pressures but higher velocities than the 44 mag. I have a pound or two of 4227 that I want to put behind some 250 grain plated flat points and DAT shows close to1500 ft/sec! Anyone have any experience with this kind of load? Oh yeah 22.5 grains of the 4227. Any good advice?
Thank you.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

Plated lead bullets should NOT be pushed that hard. Normal cast bullet velocity's are suggested by all the makers of plated bullets I am aware of. I keep mine below 1,000 fps.

 

[contender]

As noted above, plated bullets should NOT be run too fast. You will have issues if you try the recipe you mentioned.

 

[Zazing]

Dagnabit,
OK cast gas check at the same powder level? 250 grain. I have those also.

 

[LaneP]

The plated bullets are very soft and if driven too fast will swage up in the barrel throat and spike pressure dramatically.

The gas check cast will work fine and can be driven at any speed that revolver is capable of handling.

Hodgdon has a Ruger only starting load of 4227 behind a 250 grain bullet of 20 grains (1150 fps) and a max of 24.6 grains giving 1343 fps at 30,300 CUP.

 

[dougader]

1500 fps is a bit optimistic, IME.

If you keep the velocity under 1300 fps, you should be fine with plated bullets. That, and don't crimp too heavy or you'll cut through the plating.

That said, you'll do better with the heavier loads with your gas checked and jacketed bullets.

 

[m657]

I had to abandon my enthusiasm for maxi loads when I tired of chronic heavy bore fouling with high pressures & flame temps even from the 'safe recipes'.

Backing down the loading scale just a bit, gave me more accurate loads at all ranges; more enjoyment in the actual shooting phase, and decidedly far less time trying to declog the barrels.

 

[DeletedMember275]

I recently finished shooting up a bunch of loads that I got the data from John Linebaugh's website. Wow! Powerful and accurate - for the first few rounds, until I started flinching. My wrist hurt after I finished, and I think I'll reserve those loads for stampeding grizzly bears, or elephants, or something. They were definitely NOT fun to shoot in my 4-5/8" Blackhawk!

You can find the data you desire at Hodgdon's Reloading Data Center:

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/

 

[Rclark]

I don't shoot plated bullets (nor jacketed for that matter), but I do understand that you should treat the plated like a lead bullet and not run them to fast. My recommendation with 4227 is load 20g or less under the bullet and leave it at that. 20g under a lead 255g SWC or 250g RNFP is an excellent load. My goto load when using 4227. Use a magnum primer of course with this powder. Safe in all my .45s too, even the Medium frame flattops. Oh yeah, I got 1030fps out of a 5 1/2" barreled BH over the chrono using 255g SWCs.

 

[CraigC]

IMHO, Hodgdon is the best place for heavy "Ruger only" .45Colt data. You'll get the highest velocities with H110/296 and Lil Gun, not 4227.

The plated bullets are very soft and if driven too fast will swage up in the barrel throat and spike pressure dramatically.

By the time the bullet is in the barrel, chamber pressure is gone.

The problem with plated bullets is not that they're soft. It's that the "jacket" is so thin and the bullet so structurally fragile (relatively speaking) that the lead core can squirt out leaving the copper jacket in the bore.

...I can load rounds with lower pressures but higher velocities than the 44 mag.

Lower pressures, yes (which means nothing) but not higher velocities. Similar velocity range but the .44 tends to retain a velocity advantage of 100-200fps.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

The .45 Colt,if loaded to the same velocity, using the same bullet weight, as the .44 mag. will have less chamber pressure than the .44mag. (normally) because of the .45`s larger diameter and larger case capacity.

 

[Zazing]

I have a couple of lbs of H110 that I didn't even think about. That looks promising too!
Cannot find any 2400. I only plan on maybe 20 round batches til I find what I like in fun and performance. I am also still playing with 357 loads for my ruger redhawk that's why the H110.
Thanks for the feedback! Plated rounds for the 45 around 1100 ft/sec should be a good plinking round. The gas check rounds should be fun at 1300. I respect that "save the hand"concept.

 

[protoolman]

I shoot a 320 gr hard cast that I cast myself with wheelweight alloy. I get no leading and run it all the way to 1340 fps (chronographed) with a stiff charge of 4227. 4227 is a great powder in 45 Colt. IMO better than 2400 or 110. In recent years I've backed that down a bit just because I 'm not needing that power. 1100 fps is plenty in my opinion.

 

[Jim Puke]

By the time the bullet is in the barrel, chamber pressure is gone.

Do a little research...the latest pressure equipment has shown that the swaging DOES increase pressure...just rarely causes a problem. If I am not mistaken, some of the later versions of Quickloads, warns of this. I had not heard of it until I had a guy on another forum run some loads in Quickloads for me and when he sent me the results, this warning was included in the info.