Lee 160 grain RNFP .45

[Capt. Augustus]

Does anyone have experience with this bullet in a Vaquero, either BP or smokeless?

[Hemlock Mike]

Capt'n --

I shoot the LEE RNFP slug cast 255 grains.  Get good results in revolver and rifle to 200 yards. 
I then got their 200 gr mold and accuracy suffered - even at 50 yards.

The 160 gr slug must be almost a round ball with a flat side.  A light load of powder might work for close encounters of the CAS kind !! 

Guess I just kinda got used to "warthog" loading !!

Mike

[Capt. Augustus]

Mike,
I appreciate your info.  I have the New Vaquero's and they like the 200 grain fine.  I'm forced to use lighter loads due to my hand strength seems to be weakening.  I do shoot the 15 grain min for SASS with the 200 grain.  But I'm still having a problem with my hand.

[Hemlock Mike]

Cap'n --

I sure can't hurt to try them.  I never made reduced loads for the lighter slugs and that may have helped.  I use 7.5 gr of Unique and get about 850 F/S velocity.
I always thought BP kicked more.  The guys who use it sure smack the target with authority !!

I've also read about loads using round ball.  I never tried that.

Mike

[Lucky Irish Tom]

Capt. Augustus,

I have arthritis in my hands and had surgery on my left.  I have been shooting 160gr. or 165gr bullets in .45 by loading GOEX BP from a 1.3cc Lee Dipper and adding .7cc of grits on top with a vegetable fiber wad.  Makes a nice boom, a good cloud of smoke, some flame, and it doesn't kill your hand with the recoil.  Hope this helps.

[Max Morgan]

howdy,

for a really light smokeless load try this:  T Bone Dooley's load is 4 grains of Accurate Arms Nitro 100, 160 gr bullet.   it shoots like a noisy .22 rimfire.  i don't like it as it is too light.
to shoot this on a regular basis you might want to cut the front sight down by half or so to get the poa and poi coincident.

and for bp i load on a dillon 550, 17 gr by weight LIDU real black 2FG topped with grits and a PRS boolit.   no change of front sight necessary with this load, use em as the come from factory, Ruger or Uberti 45LC revolvers that is.

max morgan

[Arcey]

Lookin' at the profile of the thingys on Lee's site, all I'd worry about is whether or not the 160 would carry enough lube to keep the fouling soft towards the front end of the rifle's exit point.  Looks like it should cycle alright thru most rifles but ya never know until ya try it in yours.

I used a bullet I liked thru my rifle and the lube part was a problem.  Fiber wads between the bullet and the powder totally eliminated the hard fouling towards the muzzle.

A two cavity Lee mold isn't all that expensive.  I'd say give it a try.

[Capt. Augustus]

I'm still looking at it.  I have everything but the mould to cast, but am not to excited to cast bullets again. I've looked around and have found some 160 grainers around.  I am thinking of using these only in the pistols, the Henry likes the 250's fine and I've got quite a few of them.  The price of cst bullets has been climbing out of sight.  I'm going to try a round ball load and that'll give me an idea if it's the way to head.  I'm also going to try some APP, I know it's usually lower on the boom scale than 777 or BP

[Camille Eonich]

We use 160s with smokyless and a friend is loading us up some 160s with BP for the Black Powder championship at Mule Camp.  He shoots them all the time.  I'll get his load data from him.

Oh and the 160s feed through all of our rifles just fine.

[Capt. Augustus]

Well, today I tried APP with the 200 grain bullets I've been shooting.  It took the bite off the load with 777, so I'll try this for a while and order the 160 grain mould for future tries.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I use the Lyman 450229, 155grain hollow-point in .45 acp (Action Cowboy Pistol) and .455 Webley.  Boy is it ever accurate, even if the skirt is not perfectly formed, within reason.  21 grains of GOEX 3F works well in a remmie conversion.  See the PET LOADS chapter on .455 Colt-Eley for some suggestions.  Likely those loads would also work in the .45 Cowboy Special.
No experience at all with .45LC, except as feed stock for my Webley fodder.