Who shoots New Vaquero .45LC with 180g & Unique?

[Steel Striker]

Greetings;

This is my introduction to CAS & CASCITY.  I have 2 new 5.5" New Vaquero's in .45LC.  I reload, but this cartridge is new to me.  I like Unique powder [for various reasons] & 600 cases.  I purchased 1000 rnds of 180g hardcast lead boolits from a 'local' CAS supplier based upon local preference for this small boolit; cheaper than 200+g and good enough to knock down what's needed.  Comments?

I loaded some eval rounds with new Dillon dies in my Dillon 550B.  Lack of perfect registration or small mouth in the resize die is crushing a few rounds.  That's a new issue for me.  I'm finding reloading these cartridges quite slow indeed.  Comments?

How much Unique have you standardized on for CAS using a 180g lead pill?  5g, 5.5g, 6g?

Thanks much & hope I can begin to contribute soon to your knowledge base!

Wally

[PJ Hardtack]

Sounds like you'd be more comfortable with a lesser calibre.

I shoot 230 RN and 200 RNFP's in my .45 Colts.

It becomes problematic when shooting small powder charges out of large capacity cases. Most folks tend to avoid it.

[Steel Striker]

PJ:  I'm committed to the .45LC.  I've found Unique to perform safe & predicable, so I have no worries there.

I just returned from the indoor range & 5g & 5.5g provide too low of a pressure to adequately seal the chamber from 'blowback'.  6g was a noticeable improvement.

I'm going to experiment with 'shorter' resizing to see what still chambers smoothly & seals the chamber well.

SLUGGING THE BARRELJust prior to leaving, I lit off a 2g load to stick a round in the barrel for slugging when i got home.  Even a 2g load pooped out a 180g boolit.  I brought two 1g loads & that finally worked in both new guns.  Now it's an easier matter to push'em back to the receiver for measuring the groove dia.

[Mustang Gregg]

I won't recommend Unique with a "big" case like .44 mag or .45 C with them light bullets and light charges.
You will possibly have erratic loads and definitely dirty barrels and cylinders.

Unless you have a lot of Unique to burn up, I'd find a little faster powder.

My results only...Your mileage may vary.

MG

[Sleepy Floyd]

I'll be using 255g with Trail Boss.  Trail Boss tends to fill the large 45LC case quite nicely.

[rickk]

While I only load 45 LC with BP, I do love Unique and use it for most of my other calibers in pistol (at least for the lighter to moderate loads). 

I use unique in 44 Mag with no issues. Unique does tend to be a bit dirty, but I have never had a problem with the dirt affecting operation of the gun. When I was heavy into pin shooting, I would put maybe 500 rounds thru a Ruger Redhawk every Friday night without any cleaning during the 500 rounds.  While my pin loads are more in the "moderate" range, my practice loads were quite light.

There is a minimum amount for each case for which, if you drop below it, you will start to get erratic ignition. If you switch from standard to magnum primers you can drop the charge a little bit more before the erratic ignition happens.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Make sure you get a crimp with those lighter pills. You're still going to get some blowback with'em, but the tighter crimp does help some. Just be careful not to over do it,though.

I have two NV's, a 5 1/2" and a 4 5/8"( 4 3/4?) in .45. I'm using Trail Boss at 5.8g with 200g pills at .452. Seems to work good in the guns,plus in my Marlin CB. It's a comfortable load for my semi-arthritic hand( shoot Duelist). At least with TB, I can't double charge them without having spill over. I'm not a big fan of Dillon's crimp die for the SDB, can be kinda touchy setting a good crimp.

I went to Wolff hammer springs in both of mine, plus I unhooked one side of the trigger spring to lighten the pull some. My NV's replaced the first set I had which was a 7 1/2" EAA Bounty Hunter and a 5 1/2" OMV. I found the NRV's to be a better fit for me