45 Colt

[shoots_5]

Ok, I'm new to pistol reloading but have extensive experience in rifle precision reloading. I recently bought a Citadel Levtac 92 chambered in 45 colt. I've always liked lever guns but have never owned one until now. I have a Texas Hog hunt coming up this summer and that was the push I needed to get this gun. I have a holosun red dot mounted on it and a Silencer Co Octane 45 suppressor mounted on it. I've been working up some loads but I'm having trouble with very large extreme spreads on the velocity. I'm hoping someone here can help me trouble shoot. I just tested a load using Oregon Trail laser cast 250gr hard cast bullets, starline new brass, Federal large pistol primer and Winchester 231 powder with a 7.0 grain charge. OAL is 1.570". Average velocity on my Garmin Xero C1 is 922fps, spread is 115.8, standard deviation of 30.5 over 25 rounds measured. Accuracy is about an 1.25" at 50 yards.

Photo of loaded round and bullet attached. I have very little experience with having to crimp a round so if you have any advice on how I can tighten this load up I'm all ears! My target velocity is 1000fps so I upped the charge to 7.3gr and we'll see where that lands.

**edit**

I should also mention that I'm weighing each charge thrown on an RCBS chargemaster digital scale.

Thanks for any help you might have!

Tim

 

[michsteve]

Here is a website with lots of cast bullet info.

crimp and cast bullets

While pulling off all my Lee carbide taper crimp dies and replacing with factory type, it dawned on me: I don't have a clue what is enuff or too much of a crimp. I got calipers so is there a general rule of how much I should measure to see if enuff crimp is being applied to pistol ammo : 9mm...

castboolits.gunloads.com

When I do my crimping on rifle and pistol I tend to just snug them, I like Redding taper crimp die and do it as a completely sperate step.

 

[Guy Miner]

Re the crimp, I like using the inexpensive Lee Factory Crimp Die for revolver type rounds. A roll crimp is a good option too, but with either, I get my best results by seating in one step and crimping in the next.

Re the reduced loads... Typically I get tighter ES and SD numbers by pushing the pressure/velocity up a bit. I know you're trying to keep it subsonic... And honestly I don't have a lot of experience with that. Some, but not a lot.

Guy

 

[Guy Miner]

I did get some reasonably tight ES & SD figures with Hodgdon TiteGroup and the 45 Colt. I'd anticipate that from a rifle barrel, you'd see at least a couple of hundred fps more, but likely still under the speed of sound.

Regards, Guy

 

[SJB358]

Re the crimp, I like using the inexpensive Lee Factory Crimp Die for revolver type rounds. A roll crimp is a good option too, but with either, I get my best results by seating in one step and crimping in the next.

Re the reduced loads... Typically I get tighter ES and SD numbers by pushing the pressure/velocity up a bit. I know you're trying to keep it subsonic... And honestly I don't have a lot of experience with that. Some, but not a lot.

Guy

The Lee FCD is an awesome piece of kit for levers, revolvers and some other stuff.

 

[salmonchaser]

Im interested in results. The only loading for the 45 colt I had done is a full house load with blue dot, comes in a little over 1100fps With a 300 gr bullet. Saved those for Alaska.
Im now loading cowboy action loads for my 73 winchester as I was warned not to test the action. Don’t recall the numbers but it showed wide swing in velocity As well.

 

[Guy Miner]

Im interested in results. The only loading for the 45 colt I had done is a full house load with blue dot, comes in a little over 1100fps With a 300 gr bullet. Saved those for Alaska.
Im now loading cowboy action loads for my 73 winchester as I was warned not to test the action. Don’t recall the numbers but it showed wide swing in velocity As well.

Take a look at Titegroup powder. Cowboy type velocity and real tight extreme spread & SD figures with the 255 gr lead bullet.

Guy

 

[shoots_5]

Tried 7.3gr of Winchester 231 today. Chrono results attached. Slightly better but still not great and accuracy was about 2.5" at 25 yards. I'm also getting black residue on one side of the case....not sure what that's about. Going to try some full power loads with a jacketed bullet and see what happens.

 

[salmonchaser]

I also get the residue with 231!

 

[truck driver]

Check the Hodgon web site for their reloading section which has a load development section and chose a powder that gives the best results with the velocity you are looking for. Not all powders are created equal when it comes to down loading pistol cartridges.

 

[shoots_5]

Pics of the residue on the case.

 

[KinleyWater]

Pics of the residue on the case.

When I have that happen, I believe it is due to low pressure. My understanding is that normally, pressure expands the case to the chamber, but with low pressure scenarios, burning gas "leaks" around the case mouth. I've also read that generously cut chambers can cause the same sort of "leak".

 

[shoots_5]

I went with a little less crimp and saw the velocity spread cut in half. Making progress!

Also tried some full power loads using a 250gr XTP over 25gr of Lil gun. That's a stiff load but should be devastating on hogs! The higher velocity chrono data is the XTP.

I did finally find some tight group powder today locally so I'll test that out as well with the cast bullets and see if I can tighten it up some more.

 

[JD338]

The XTP load looks really good. Nice speed with low extreme spread and deviation.
Definitely a load that will crush a big hog.

JD338