45 colt unique loads

[hammer1]

I tried 9 grs of unique in some 45 colt loads. The uberti 1873 sporting loved em , chronoed at 1298, the cattleman on the other hand, gave me 933 fps, but with flat primers and some serious recoil. I think ill drop down to 8.5 grs, it should still give me in the 800s, but take it easier on my cattleman

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Personally I use 6.0 and a 200 grain cast bullet for revolver and 7.0 for my '66 Yellow boy.
the .45 Colt is not a magnum cartridge. Bad things can happen if you try to make a magnum out of it..
Trail Boss is another good powder for an all around .45 colt load
If you want a safe full house load try a 250 grain bullet in front of a compressed load of FFFg HOLY BLACK[
Hold center
Bunk

[Sagebrush Burns]

In my 7 1/2" 45 Colt SAAs, 8.5 Unique and 260 gr RNFP give me 850 fps.  They do recoil some.  In my 5 1/2" New Frontiers, 9.0 and a 250 gr SWC come in at about 900 fps.  These are actually more or less standard level 45 Colt loads.  A lighter bullet is the first and easiest step to reduced recoil loads.

[patrick_ford]

My go-to load is 8.0 gr of unique with a 250 gr bullet. I don't know how fast it goes, but my Schofield is very accurate with them and my Ruger Blackhawk shoots them well too. If you want to shoot heavy stuff, get a ruger. If you want to shoot cowboy stuff, don't go crazy, it'll still give you plenty of punch.

[Curley Cole]

I shoot a pair of Taylor 5 1/2 saa (or GW2 same size) and an EMF 73 with 20" bbl. my go to powder has been the same for almost 30yrs. I use a BearCreek 205gr fprn and 8.1gr Unique. I have virtually no felt recoil and works in all my 45lc's. I can hit a 1/2 piece orange shotgun clay out to 80yrds  at point of aim.

your mileage may vary

curley

[Bunk Stagnerg]

My best advise to anyone who reloads smokeless powders is to get a reloading manual (manuals) and follow it as if your life depends on it, because it does. Any load recommended to me by a fellow shooter is checked against my library of reloading manuals. I believe "trust everyone, but always cut the cards".

Alliant (Hercules) Unique which was introduced in 1900 is a double base powder meaning it is made from a mixture of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin. So it is a very high energy powder and I personally approach double base powders with caution. I don't mean to be afraid of them but to treat those powders with respect.

With a 250 grain bullet (Lyman™ 454190) the minimum charge is 8.0 grains and a maximum of 9.0 grains. Book velocity from a Ruger Blackhawk is 595 to 875 ft/ sec.

The Laser Cast™ manual for standard and cowboy loads for the 250 grain bullet calls for from 6.7 grains to a maximum of 8.1 grains somewhat less than Lyman with a book velocity of 708 to 842 ft/sec. I am not sure why the differences but Laser Cast bullets are hard as a brick while the Lyman bullets were most likely cast from a somewhat softer alloy and that might make a difference.

Here is my philosophy in a nut shell. A .54 Colt IS NOT a magnum revolver. If you want high velocity get a revolver chambered in .454 Casull which will shoot .45 Colt loads nicely but can stand the big boomer loads.

I do not recommend any of these loads but they are what is recommended in The Complete Reloading Manual for the .45 Colt printed by Loadbooks USA and the Laser-Cast Reloading Manual printed by Oregon Trail Bullet Company.

Be safe and Hold Center
Bunk

[Bunk Stagnerg]

whoops my dyslexia strikes again. It is a .45 Colt not a .54 that is my Sharps
sometimes i type faster than I think
Bunk

[Good Troy]

sometimes i type faster than I think

I can hunt and peck and achieve this...especially without coffee.

[Ranch 13]

9 grs if unique has been the standard load ever since unique first came out. Like all things some guns in works well in some it doesn't.
Last I checked on Alliants web data, they listed a charge a bit heavier than the 9 grs , for the 45, and they don't list any "ruger" only loads.
The 45 colt when loaded as it was originally intended was the "magnum" of it's day. It does give considerable recoil when loaded as it was intended.

[QueensHorseman]

I have used Unique powder for many years and really like it.  There may be better powders for some things but I have obtained great results with 8.5 grains over a 260 cast in .45 Colt and 200 grain cast in the .44 WCF.  I keep one powder measure set to throw 8.5 grains most of the time.  I only change it when I need 6.0 grains for the .45 acp.  I'm just beginning to use Unique in practice level rifle loads using cast bullets and I can't believe how well it works in the larger cases so long as care is taken to not push for too much velocity and to ensure no double charges.  Just common sense and pay attention to what you are doing stuff.  I don't load for cowboy levels, just close to original levels and bullet weights for the cartridge.  In a Colt SAA or similar, those levels are plenty snappy! 

[Professor Marvel]

.... the cattleman on the other hand, gave me 933 fps, but with flat primers and some serious recoil. I think ill drop down to 8.5 grs, it should still give me in the 800s, but take it easier on my cattleman

Your cattleman has spoken to you weedhopper. You have heard it's message and are on the right path.

Here are a few bits of wisdom passed to me over the years :

- it never hurts to check the "latest" books from the powder makers. Unique had "some adjustments" since I started reloading some 9 Lustrum ago, and I was surprised that some of the olders loads have been adjusted "down a tish".

- Hard lead good is for rifles, semi-autos, and magnums. Soft Lead is good for BP, C&B and CAS

-Do not Pee into the wind, and do not eat the yellow snow.

yhs
prof marvel

[Delmonico]

-Do not Pee into the wind, and do not eat the yellow snow.

yhs
prof marvel

And when in doubt check with the powder maker via loading manual or internet, and if still not sure, check with the maker of the powder.

(Dang I have POed more people giving that basic sound advice.)

[Delmonico]

When the boss here told us he was going to open this board, I suggested he contact Birdshot and get permission to repost this which he did.  

If you have not read this you owe it to yourself to read this, if not for your safety, for the safety of others, and if you have read it, take a few minutes and read it again.    

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,40688.0.html

[Professor Marvel]

Why Del - that is a stunning hat!

(Dang I have POed more people giving that basic sound advice.)

No, I think it is the scary beard.

When the boss here told us he was going to open this board, I suggested he contact Birdshot and get permission to repost this which he did.   

If you have not read this you owe it to yourself to read this, if not for your safety, for the safety of others, and if you have read it, take a few minutes and read it again.     

the link did not make it .....

Happy New Year to All
yhs
prof marvel

[Delmonico]

Fixed it, the neighbor knocked on the door as I was doing this, something about a bat in her belfry or house, not sure which, let her use my phone to call animal control.

[Delmonico]

Why Del - that is a stunning hat!


prof marvel

My custom 100% Beaver from Rand in Billings, my Sunday go to meeting and funeral hat, was a Monday the day the picture was taken.

[Bibbyman]

I use to shoot heavy Keith loads in my Cattleman back when I thought I enjoyed pain.  I mellowed out and dropped back to 8 gr Unique 255 Keith cast.  I got into CAS in my old age but still shoot Cattleman 45s. But I load 200 gr SWC with 5 gr Unique in C45S cases.   The load shoots to point of aim and recoil is light compared to standard loads but still speaks with more authority than the mouse phart loads most others

[Cholla Hill Tirador]

I tried 9 grs of unique in some 45 colt loads. The uberti 1873 sporting loved em , chronoed at 1298, the cattleman on the other hand, gave me 933 fps, but with flat primers and some serious recoil. I think ill drop down to 8.5 grs, it should still give me in the 800s, but take it easier on my cattleman

You don't state what bullet, but let's assume 250 gr. Your load is max in some manuals, below max in other manuals and according to data developed by individuals. Of COURSE it recoils. You're firing a 250 gr. bullet at 933 fps out of a 37 oz. revolver. What'd you expect? But said recoil is not an indication of pressure, nor are flat primers, necessarily.

  My Alliant book from 2009 shows a max of 9.5 grs. of Unique with a 250 gr. SWC, .5 grs. below your load.

  Incidentally, the data quoted in a previous post from the Lyman 49th manual is regurgitated from the Lyman 2nd Edition Cast Bullet Handbook published in 1973. I have both and the loads tested/published in 1973 are grain for grain, fps for fps identical to those in the 49th.

  John Taffin lists 10.0 grs. of Unique under a 260 gr. cast SWC. This is the same load Elmer Keith used and is .3 grs. under the max load listed in my old (1959) Lyman cast manual.

   Running a 250 or so gr. bullet 900+ fps out of a 45 Colt using 14,000 psi data is not "making a magnum" out of this cartridge. I found it a little odd that the black powder guys think nothing of cramming a 45 Colt case full of FFFg and running a 250 gr. bullet 900+ fps, but jump up and down when someone does it with smokeless powder. You fellers need to think outside the CAS box and realize many of us, self included, use our CAS firearms for more than CAS.
 

[Bibbyman]

You don't state what bullet, but let's assume 250 gr. Your load is max in some manuals, below max in other manuals and according to data developed by individuals. Of COURSE it recoils. You're firing a 250 gr. bullet at 933 fps out of a 37 oz. revolver. What'd you expect? But said recoil is not an indication of pressure, nor are flat primers, necessarily.

  My Alliant book from 2009 shows a max of 9.5 grs. of Unique with a 250 gr. SWC, .5 grs. below your load.

  Incidentally, the data quoted in a previous post from the Lyman 49th manual is regurgitated from the Lyman 2nd Edition Cast Bullet Handbook published in 1973. I have both and the loads tested/published in 1973 are grain for grain, fps for fps identical to those in the 49th.

  John Taffin lists 10.0 grs. of Unique under a 260 gr. cast SWC. This is the same load Elmer Keith used and is .3 grs. under the max load listed in my old (1959) Lyman cast manual.

   Running a 250 or so gr. bullet 900+ fps out of a 45 Colt using 14,000 psi data is not "making a magnum" out of this cartridge. I found it a little odd that the black powder guys think nothing of cramming a 45 Colt case full of FFFg and running a 250 gr. bullet 900+ fps, but jump up and down when someone does it with smokeless powder. You fellers need to think outside the CAS box and realize many of us, self included, use our CAS firearms for more than CAS.
 

My Lyman Cast Bullet manual list pressure in CUP Copper Units Pressure not PSI. There is a considerable difference. 

[Cholla Hill Tirador]

My Lyman Cast Bullet manual list pressure in CUP Copper Units Pressure not PSI. There is a considerable difference. 

       Yes there is, but I'm not sure I understand your point. The 1973 manual doesn't list pressures at all for the 45 Colt.