Loaded my first 45 LC!

[EdsPlace]

Well, I finally got set up to load for my Uberti 72 OT.

LEE-90358 mould, 0.062 vegetable wads, Lee carbide die set, and Lyman Lubrisizer with 0.452 sizing die and  top punch.

I have 4 flavours of brass:  Winchester, Top Brass, Magtech, and Starline.  I used the Magtech to start.  The load sequence is:  powder, waxed paper disc, 0.125" lube cookie, 0.062 vegetable wad, bullet.  I wanted 1/8" compression, so I made a brass plug for my bullet seating die.  It came out a little undersized, but seems to work OK if you compress slowly.  I also made a 24" brass drop tube for charging the cases.  After measuring all this business to get the right compression, I ended up with 28 grs. FFFg Goex as the charge (at least for the Magtech cases;  I might have to adjust for the others).  Seems a little on the light side, but what the heck, I'm shooting an OT and ain't looking for a 44 Magnum!

If I compressed the powder too aggressively with my home-made plug, some of the lube cookie would extrude around my plug.  When I slowed down, this wouldn't happen, but there's no way to know if it didn't extrude the other way around the wax paper into the powder.  Maybe the wax paper is unnecessary if we don't shoot in hot weather?

I thought this BP business would easy compared to smokeless.  I'm pleasantly surprised this ain't so!

[Paladin UK]

Looks ta me like yer havin fun pard!!

`sperimentashion!! Yessiree thats whut the Holy Black is `bout!!!

Paladin (Whut Lurvs the .45LC  ) UK

[EdsPlace]

I thought about keeping it simple, but I like the idea of the extra lube.  The Lee bullet grooves don't exactly hold a lot.  I shot a box of Goex Black Dawg cartridges and didn't like all the hard fouling I got.  Using the wad and cookie also cuts down on the case capacity, giving what I hope is a "moderate" load.  28 grs. FFG is also what I shoot in my '58 cap and ball.  I'm not looking to squeeze max velocity out of the load, nor am I interested in "powder puff" loads.  Guess I really won't know if it's worth it until I shoot a box or two.  I'll let ya'll know!

Ed

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Good for you!

Now if you go one step farther and get some Big Lube bullets, either the 250 grain PRS 45 or the 200 grain J/P 45-200 you can stop fooling around adding all those lube wads and cookies and all that other stuff. Just dump in your powder and seat the bullet. Much easier, trust me on this, I have been the whole lube cookie route. Plus, you will make room for more powder.

You don't really need the drop tube for CAS ammo either, one more step to make things easier. Just dump in the powder and seat a bullet to compress around 1/16" to 1/8".

Easy.

[Deadeye Dick]

Amen to what Driftwood said.

[Rebel Dave]

Driftwood
I,m just starting with a 45 open top and a 73 Pietta, both in .45 colt. So this is a good thread for me also.  I have been looking for loading info.
Where does on go about puchasing Big Lube Bullets. ?.

Rebel Dave

[Wills Point Pete]

 The best place to buy them is probably Springfield Slim.whyteleatherworks, for some reason the hyperlink isn't working, try googling Whyte Leather Works.

The good news about the grease cookie is it's running your powder charge down to the old Cavalry load. Any powder charge that beat Sitting Bull, Geronimo and half a dozen other Chiefs can't be all bad. As for the drop tube being a waste, it kind of depends on how much time you have. Using a drop tube makes the ammo a little more accurate. Now, it's true that most of our targets are big and close. Yet there are very few clean matches. I have yet to see a list of advantages that less accurate ammunition has. The reality is, if my ammo is more accurate than yours, I have a bigger target than you do. If your ammo is shooting a three inch group at the close range we shoot most of our targets and mine is shooting an inch and a half, I have a pretty big advantage.

Plus, that 28 grain load will recoil less, you will be able to shoot faster. So, you are really doing just fine. You can shoot the loads that are quicker to put together. Thing is, there are only sixty revolver rounds in most club's monthly match. So, even if you only load ten rounds a day, so what?

[litl rooster]

Looks like another satisfied customer........

[Noz]

An easy alternative would be your 28grs of black(since that's the load level you like) a dab of cornmeal or grits and a Big Lube. Save several steps and get the same results. I personally would use a little more black and eliminate the filler.

[Fiddler Green]

I just switched over to bullets from Springfield Slim and I have to say I'm quite happy with them. I'm 400 rounds into a 500 round order and they shoot well in both my pistols and rifle (20" Rossi). The price is right, quality is as good as I've seen from the "Big" bullet houses, I pass close to Slim's house on my way to and from work and Slim is a good guy. Well, he would be if he'd keep his dog off his neighbor's lawn!

I shot them at 100 yards and they hit where I wanted them too. Well, at least where the rifle was pointed when I pulled the trigger.  No, I'm not going to post my group sizes as the whole "mine's smaller" thing just seems counterintuitive to my machismo.

I load between 26-30 grains of Goex Cartridge (depends on the case) with no wads, fillers or anything. My bullets have his (Slim's) newer "pink lube" on them. They throw off lube when shooting paper. I find lube "worms" on the paper at 7 to 15 yards.  But, when compared to other bullets, it has no effect on accuracy. Hummmmm.... Maybe it'll trick someone into thinking a miss was a hit? I could lead the bottom third of the next match,  with a little help!


Bruce

[Springfield Slim]

Well first off, it's not MY dog, it's my wife's dog. I only take responsibility for the 4-6 cats I feed. My wife likes to let the dog lounge around the front yard, but sometimes she wanders off. What can I say, she's a friendly little beagle. But somebody complained and sent animal control over. This male and female pair of officers shows up at my door. While I am talking to them the beagle walks past me, and goes and sits on the sidewalk . I thought the female of officer was gonna have a conniption fit, she starts ranting about how my dog is no longer in my control and sitting on public property and how she could give me a ticket right now. So I call "Coco", and she gets up and moves about 3 feet and sits on the lawn. So being the wisea$$ that I am, I ask her "there, do you feel safer now?". She starts to get all puffed up again but the male officer sees where this is going and jumps in and says that they aren't here to harass anyone, just here to make sure unsafe dogs aren't left unattended and he sees how our dog seems perfectly safe. We both agree that she shouldn't be left by herself, and he was a very personable guy, so we part on friendly terms. I just feel sorry for him having to work with a partner that someday is going to get him in fight. I used to work with some guys like that way back when I was a Deputy Sheriff so I know what can happen. Anyway, back on topic. www.whyteleatherworks.com has pics and contact info for Big Lube(tm) bullets if anybody is interested. They are way easier than using grease cookies and all that related unneeded nonsense.

[Grapeshot]

Well, I finally got set up to load for my Uberti 72 OT.

LEE-90358 mould, 0.062 vegetable wads, Lee carbide die set, and Lyman Lubrisizer with 0.452 sizing die and  top punch.

I have 4 flavours of brass:  Winchester, Top Brass, Magtech, and Starline.  I used the Magtech to start.  The load sequence is:  powder, waxed paper disc, 0.125" lube cookie, 0.062 vegetable wad, bullet.  I wanted 1/8" compression, so I made a brass plug for my bullet seating die.  It came out a little undersized, but seems to work OK if you compress slowly.  I also made a 24" brass drop tube for charging the cases.  After measuring all this business to get the right compression, I ended up with 28 grs. FFFg Goex as the charge (at least for the Magtech cases;  I might have to adjust for the others).  Seems a little on the light side, but what the heck, I'm shooting an OT and ain't looking for a 44 Magnum!

If I compressed the powder too aggressively with my home-made plug, some of the lube cookie would extrude around my plug.  When I slowed down, this wouldn't happen, but there's no way to know if it didn't extrude the other way around the wax paper into the powder.  Maybe the wax paper is unnecessary if we don't shoot in hot weather?

I thought this BP business would easy compared to smokeless.  I'm pleasantly surprised this ain't so!


I would sugest that you try the EPP-UG Big Lube Boolits and swithch to .45 Cowboy Special Brass.  Recoil is mild and you don't have to worry about beating those open tops to death with the .45 Colt loads you are using now.

Not that you have a heavy charge, I use 35 to 40 grains of Goex 2Fg and compress the charge in a separate compression die before adding a PRS .45 Caliber Big Lube Boolit that I bought from Springfield Slim.  I went through 100 rounds of .45 Colt with the 40 grains of Goex in one sitting with only having to squirt some water/Ballistol on the cylinder face after 50 rounds because I felt a slight drag on the last round of the first fifty rounds I was shooting.

Anyway, Have fun and stay safe. 

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Glad you're having fun loading (and will be shooting) rounds using the one True powder!  This other stuff is just a passing fad.

I won't call it holy black, because I reserve the term "Holy" for God, Jesus and things of that import, but I begrudge NO-One for what they want to call Black Powder ... it's just me. 

You sound like you've got your procedures down pretty well and are making good, safe ammo.  You can add me to the list of fans of the BigLube (tm) family of fine BP projectiles.  I bought one of the moulds to make the PRS 250 gr. bullets I use in my 45 Colt bullet launchers and have successfully cast and shot over 3000 rounds.  (I WISH I could say every one hit its intended target where I intended to hit it, but alas ... even Black Powder and BigLube boolits aren't immune to the deadly "Stealth Bullet Virus."



Keep up the good work, Ed @ EdsPlace!

Here's the BigLube website if you decide to start casting the bullets: www.biglube.com

And if you want to know more about the dreaded "Stealth Bullets": http://mddall.com/sbss/SBSSmission.htm (I'm Life Member #770)

[Fiddler Green]

Well first off, it's not MY dog, it's my wife's dog. I only take responsibility for the 4-6 cats I feed.

Oh, sure, blame it on the little woman. I see how your are! And I was defending you (sort of). Oh, get the gun out of the stroller before you forget where you put it. 

Bruce

[EdsPlace]

Well, the results are in.  I couldn't ask for a better load.  Shot a fifty round string and felt I could go all day with it.  I had no hard fouling and little to clean up, for that matter.  My thanks go to Virgil Ray.  I borrowed this loading method from one of his posts I found here.  I did find out it's easier to compress the powder first before adding the lube oreo as Virgil suggested.

I wouldn't consider this a "light load" by any means.  There's smoke and recoil aplenty!

Ed

[Paladin UK]

from: Springfield Slim on 28 February 2009, 13:02:23
Well first off, it's not MY dog, it's my wife's dog. I only take responsibility for the 4-6 cats I feed.

Fiddler Green  says......

Oh, sure, blame it on the little woman. I see how your are! And I was defending you (sort of). Oh, get the gun out of the stroller before you forget where you put it. 

       Paladin( ) UK