OL PUKs Making his own 45-40!!

[Paladin UK]

Ho Pards.

After readin an Awful lot from various pards regardin the old .45 `n the Holy Black and its do`s n donts, n its good n bads. I have decided to `Go for it`and have a bash at making rds fer my Bootiful 45 Rossi as it is the Only smokepole that I use that Does NOT have a steady diet of the only true powder

I took on board a lot of the info given out by pards and have gone with......

1.Case neck annealing
2.Case neck only sizing
3. DD`s ROA modified
4. The grace of God!!

Iffn ya click on the link theres a little slide show of what I`ve done, And, I gotta admit that the case does look a little like a bottle neck!!

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=12&uid=2878980&gid=19412679&



Unfortunatly, it will be about a week or so before I can get to the range ta try it out but I will report back on its performance as soon as I do.

Paladin (What lurvs `sperimentin with things that go BANG!!  ) UK

[Forty Rod]

They look like real ammo.  Let us know if they act like it, too.   

[Springfield Slim]

Looks like you need a PRS mould, or maybe a j/p 200, so ya wouldn't have to make flat noses out of round noses. You say you only sized the nose of the brass, I assume you ran them into an expander die also to get them to .454 from .429?

[Paladin UK]

Ho Slim.......

I use the Lee 45 Long Colt pistola die set, so the case neck is expanded then the powder is dumped!!

Iffn the tests are a success then I will definitely be lookin fer a mould, which would you think is my best bet?  

Paladin (What cant wait ta play with his test boolits ) UK

[Dick Dastardly]

Ho PUK,

Best depends on yer taste and mission.  I like the big PRS for anything needing thumping and when there might be some big stubborn KDs.  The J/P 45-200 does a nice job in both my short (C45Spl) brass and my 45 Colt brass.  The little EPP-UG is my pick if I'm plinking and there's nothing wrong with the DD 45-210 you already have.  It's my opinion that the round nose won't set off primers as long as the bullets are fairly soft.

I've got some more PRS and J/Ps coming.  They were ordered in January so LEE can't drag their heals much longer on them.

Get yer tests done on the DD/ROA 210 rounds and see how they hit for you.  I'll watch the wire.

DD-DLoS

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy, ya PUKer!    Sorry - not tryin' ta be rude'n crude. 


Looks like a good combination ya got there, pard!  With 40 (ish) grains of the good stuff, you'll be thinkin' yer in London wif all the fog!   You could even pretend to go to Piccadilly Circus and see how many critters you can bag!        It'll be glorious!!!



I know the lead ya shave off prob'ly goes back into the pot an isn't wasted, but if ya can, get the RNFP moulds - if nuttin' else, it'll save ya some time.  I use the PRS 250, but thanks to Driftwood's pard and collaborator Mr. Wild Bill Peterson, I've shot those J/P 200s, and they work great.  They oughta ziiiiiiiiiiing their way downrange right smartly, I'll wager.

Steeley

[Paladin UK]

Fer SHB....

Definitely NO offence taken here pard!!

I got ta tell ya I am itchin sometin CRAZY ta get to the range to try em! Unfortunately its gonna be Wednesday week!! before I can `let loose!!

Here in the UK you can only shoot at an authorized range!! Don't matter iffn ya got a farm with 3000 acres ya wouldn't be allowed ta shoot it!! Like I`ve said Soooooooooo many times this has turned into on hellofa sad country. In fact we got more stringent Firearm controls than Russia!!  Yep those commies got more freedom than we have!!  

Paladin (Whats gonna take his meds and sit quiet `till he calms down a tad  ) UK

[Springfield Slim]

PUK; I'd be glad to send you 25 each of the PRS and the J/P 200 so you can check them out to see what works better for you. Just need your address again. So did the lever wraps work out OK?

[Paladin UK]

Fer Slim......

That sure is kind of ya pard!!!

Yup I use the wraps all the time they are....Bloody Brill!!

Sending ya a PM with my addie

Paladin (What thinks his US of A pards are Great  ) UK

[w44wcf]

Paladin,

Great post!  Neat!  Your .45-40 cartridges bear a strong resemblance to mine.

What bullet are you using? It kind of looks like a "Big Lube" type with that wide band of lubricant.

Thank you,
w44wcf

[Paladin UK]

Fer w44wcf............

The boolit is none other than DDs Big lube fer the Rooger Old Army. I hope to try them next Wednesday, Springfield Slim is kindly sending me a couple of other flavours to try, Soooo  betwixt the three I should end up with a `belter` of a round 

Paladin (What cant wait ta make smoke ) UK

[w44wcf]

Paladin UK,

Thank you for the update.  I have no experience with that bullet, but the PRS 250 shoots well in my.45 Colts.
Looking forward to your range report.

Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam.........   In case you may not know...Johnny Western wrote and sang the "Ballad Of Paladin"  http://www.johnnywestern.com   
I have this CD. It's Great!  http://www.bear-family.de/tabel1/product/bcd15429_e.htm

Paladin, Paladin, far, far,  from home.....

w44wcf
 

[Wills Point Pete]

 I think the heavier bullets keep the innards of the action cleaner. Do try the 250 grain PRS. With that boolit and anything more than 30 grains of FFG my action stays pretty clean. After a sixty round match I patch out the bore with moose milk with the rifle upside down in the cleaning cradle. Then I squirt some moose milk into the action, get it dripping real good, run an old toothbrush around and then blow it out with the air compressor. If I'm traveling I use that canned air from the computer store. Then I dry it in the hot Texas sun. You Brit types should maybe use a heater vent or the door of the open oven, I hear y'all have some kind of a law about only thirty-two days of sunshine a year. Or is that a decade? Once a year I strip it down for a detail cleaning, whether it needs it or not. It usually doesn't.

If you can put your hands on some unplated Remington or Top Brass cartridge cases you may be able to avoid some of the extra work. When I first started loading BP .45s I went through all kinds of contortions to avoid that dreaded blowback. I went so far as to turn the "necks" of my cases to the same thickness as .44 WCF brass. All I really needed to do was to buy thinner brass. The thickest brass I know of is Federal and the Nosler made by Federal. If you get any of that, save it for the real hot smokeless loads like the handgun hunters use in those custom five shot revolvers. The next thickest is Star Line. It's good for those "Ruger only" loads. Winchester is good, all around brass, a little thinner than StarLine, a tad thicker than the Remington I have on hand.

Of course the next lot might change that around.

[Paladin UK]

Fer WPP........
Thanks for the info pard, much `preciated,   I will see iffn I can get my hands on some Remington or Top Brass, As I`m all for making life easier!!
Do you know what  the head stamp on Top Brass is ?   as one of our gunshops sells  loose bags of .45 and it would help iffn I knew that ta look fer.   
Regardin our weather.....Ya aint so far off pard!!

Paladin (Whats goin case huntin  ) UK

[Wills Point Pete]

PUK, the headstamp on Top Brass is TOP BRASS on the top, 45 COLT below. I forgot to mention Mag Tech brass is also pretty thin.
Do not buy Remington nickel plated brass, it splits way to early, like four or five loads. The Starline nickel is good, though. I like that when our grass turns yellow and brown. The shiny nickel shows, the unplated is well hidden. I'm not sure you would have that problem. Do they allow brown grass in Britain?
Truthfully, as long as you use a full powder charge and fairly heavy bullets the .45 Colt is fairly easy to load for. The problem is that some of the shootin' irons have oversized chambers.
I got the '92 clone, planning on just regular smokeless loads, then the soot bug bit me and I was all worried about the awful blowback that was supposed to do something awful, jam the gun, dissolve the bolt, I dunno, something.

So I annealed the cases and turned the "necks" and went through all those contortions. No crud on the outside of the cases, HA! I'm a handloading genius! So then I tried some without all that hoo-rah and still had  no problems. Could it be that I am not a handloading genius, that the problems have been exaggerated? I'm not positive, I haven't shot a carbine or rifle with an oversized chamber but I sure am leaning that way.

Still, anyone wishing t consider me a handloading genius is welcome.

[Paladin UK]

Ho  WPP.......
Thanks for that....I`m sending out riders to find sources here...

I`ve been shooting `Cowboy` for about 10 yrs It was a change over from Practical Pistol after the Handgun ban in the UK. I`ve shot a lot of rifle BUT this is my 1st bash at using black in one! My reasoning is that I wish to go `the whole hog` with black and up to now I`ve shy-ed away `cos of the blowback problem.. I LURV my .45 but didn't want the expense of changing calibre.

Oh yeah........Nope!! they don't allow brown grass in the UK  Gotta be be green or it don't get through HM Customs!!
Paladin (What lurvs the Dark Side) UK

[Steel Horse Bailey]

PUK, ol pard, the dreaded blowback in 45 Colt is somewhat overblown, IMHO.  I have GREAT luck with Winchester brass and 250 gr BigLube boolits.  As you're probably finding out, LOTS of Lube is VERY important in successful BP shooting!!  I called several factory powder reps and they ALL told me that Winchester is considered industry-wide to use the softest brass, with US Military surplus being the hardest and thickest - with Starline and Fed close behind, as far as thickness.


Brown grass ... green grass, no matter.  Just watch out fer yellow SNOW! 

[Paladin UK]

Ho SHB..........
I think I`m gonna go with Winchester as Remington seems hard ta find `bout these parts!!

Once I get some I`ll try em loading the normal way with a full case size and see what happens!! There is a big firearms show on at Bisley next month and I`m sure I`ll get cases there at a much better price than the local gun dealers 

Paladin ( The Demon Alchemist and Sorcerer of Portsmouth  ) UK

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Good Luck, Mate!

When I first got started reloading 45 Colt (1997-8) [- I BEGAN in SASS using 44Mag. a little before then -]  I bought 2,000 new Winchester cases, 500 Starline and 300 Remington Nickel.  The Remington and Starlines are on their 4-6th loadings, the Winchesters on their 9-10th.  (I also have at least 1,000 of other mixed stuff that has been loaded 3 or 4 times each that I use when I shoot somewhere that doesn't allow us to collect our own brass OR when I "experiment" or load for someone else)  I've lost more of the R-P Nickels to splitting than the others, perhaps 20 cases, and a few have begun flaking.   Maybe 5 of the Starlines have cracked.  I doubt I've lost 5 or 6 of the Winchesters to cracking!  (I've lost others: the Range Beast MUST be fed with a regular offering!  )  I haven't paid close attention to the miscellaneous stuff, but I've probably lost 10-12 of them to splitting.

As a note of interest, I bought 100 Magtech brass 12 ga hulls and have reloaded them 8-10 times each.  ONE split after the first firing - I don't resize them at all, and I had another split last summer.  The nice part about them is that I cut off about 1/4" (about 6-7 mm) with a tubing cutter and can still use them, since my loads have about 1/2" - 9/16" (13-15 mm) on the end of open space.  Just to keep things "neat, I use those "shorties" as shells for my shotgun blanks that I use when our club goes on the train robberies and re-enactments during the summer.  These Magtechs may be a bit on the brittle side compared to the pistol brass, but I don't know why - Magtech makes pistol brass and I have some in my "Mixed" bag.  Or ... they're not any more brittle, it just happened ...

[Paladin UK]

I decided that idle hands are the Devils work and turned down 10 cases to add to my `try out day` on Wednesday..



I dont know iffn they will be any better than the annealed and necked jobbies, But Boy is this `sperimentin fun!!

Paladin (Trust me I`m a preeefeshinal  ) UK