Help for the neophyte

[Dick Dastardly]

The 45 Colt is a very old cartridge.  Chambers vary widely.  Barrels have a lot of different sizes.  Nothing is really "standard".  The cartridge was developed before SAAMI existed.

So, companies making ammo and dies have to make them for worse case undersize chambers and bores.  In reality your gun may be quite different in chamber and bore size.  In fact, your chamber may not even match the bore.

Now, you want to put together some black powder ammo for SASS match shooting.  You underload the brass, seat a bullet of unknown size with inappropriate lube and are amazed by the amount of blowback.

This worked for me.  I bought an 1873 reproduction rifle and did a chamber casting and slugged the barrel.  I then fire formed five pieces of brass in said gun and sent the brass along with the chamber casting to Huntington Die Specialists and had a custom sizing die made.  I don't have any blowback problems.  My ammo and bullets fit the gun.  I have yet to do a teardown to clean the innards.

DD-MDA

[john boy]

I then fire formed five pieces of brass in said gun and sent the brass along with the chamber casting to Huntington Die Specialists and had a custom sizing die made.  I don't have any blowback problems.  My ammo and bullets fit the gun.  I have yet to do a teardown to clean the innards.

Now, here's a black powder shooter that knows what needs to be done and is doing it right.  Dick, your the first I've read that has taken the extra steps to do it as it should be done by all.
My OM Rugers and Uberti's were cylinder bored to 0.4545.  The forcing cones were chamfered 12 degrees.  With Starline brass, which are the only cases I use, 32 to 35grs of FFg that's crimped hard - no major issues with blowback.

[Dick Dastardly]

Thanks JB,

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the 45 Colt.  It's just that this old cartridge has not, till recently, ever settled down to one size.

FWIW, I also shoot Ruger Vaqueros, in 44 Extra Long Russian, that's 44 Magnum to those in Rio Linda.  Because this is a more recent cartridge development, the SAAMI standards have been followed from the git go and the dies, ammo and guns all fit better.  So, even though this is very stiff brass, I get very little blowback.  Same thing is possible with 45 RVs and good fitting ammo.

A good crimp, lots of lube and a bullet that fits the bore all make for good BP performance, regardless of caliber.

Keep on smokin'.

DD-MDA

[Four Eyes Henry]

Except for the chamber cast I followed the same road as Mr. Dastardly 
My chambers were reamed also (.4525) and the forcing cones were done too (Ruger Vaquero's)
But I have to say that with the stiffer brass, like starline, my rifle has blowback.
That's why I use starline in my Ruger's and CBC in my Rossi.
I make them exactly the same on my Piggyback and keep them in different boxes.

As for the cous cous, I've tried vanilla flavored grits  but everybody was getting hungry.

18 grains of the True Powder behind a 200 grains Big Lube does the job well, saves powder at the ridiculous prices we have here.
Measured 690 Ft/s with cheap powder and 790 with Swiss 2 (3F)
We don't have any warth hogs left and even the army thought it was a bit much to have full power loads.
Bullet lube is 50/50 beeswax / animalfat and I can shoot all day, cleanup is easy, I too use a spent case in the action.

All this was trail and error and a lot of searching on the Net, good thing a Forum as this is there for the inquisitive 

[fourfingersofdeath]

I like the warthog loads out of my 44/40 Pietta Colt Clones, but these sweet guns chop up my big hands badly, which becomes bothersome when I am away at the Nationals for a week of shooting and the little cuts get grubby from sand blown up from the range and around the campsite. By the time I get to the main event shooting ten scenarios on the last two days, my hands are sore, stiff and uncomfortable.

I think I will have to dust off the 45Colt NMVs or my ROAs for this week away.

I sure like the roar and bellow of the warthog loads,makes the gamers sit up and take notice, haha!