45 Colt Loads and Position Sensitivity
- Thread starter Barmcd
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Rimfire McNutjob
Member
Ah. Yes, the whole point of the test. I missed the comment somehow.
35 Whelen
Member
I guess I don't understand this. I've lost count of the times I've pulled a revolver out of a holster, raised it to level and shot something without a loss in velocity.
35W
Yes, I always pointed the barrel down when cocking the gun on the first shot and pointed the barrel up on the other five. That exaggerates position sensitivity, but it was the only way to measure it consistently load to load. Its no big deal as long as I shoot like Marshall Dillon and tilt the barrel up when I cock the gun.
I reload 9mm, 45 ACP, 38 Special, 357 Mag, 44 Special, 44 Mag and 45 Colt. 45 Colt is the only caliber that exhibits such a discrepancy between the slowest and fastest bullets. It's also the case with the most empty space by a large margin.
Rimfire McNutjob
Member
The 45 Colt is the poster child for Trail Boss ... which, itself, is now the Bitcoin of the smokeless powder world, trading at heretofore unimagined levels on GunBroker.
GeoDudeFlorida
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FFFg.
Charlie98
Member
It's interesting.
I've used Unique in .45 Colt, among other cartridges, for years and years. Given my usage case, I don't really care about position sensitivity... the bullets hit the target, more or less where I want them to. I've also used Unique in .45-70... talk about a cavernous case!!! ...the front and rear of the case have different zip codes...
I don't see anything in my notes about big velocity spreads, or crazy accuracy issues. Some of that, of course, might be because of the longer (32") rifle barrel, but if consistent ignition was a problem, I'm sure I would have seen it.I shoot the same 45 Colt loads out of a Rossi R92 and they don't exhibit that huge difference in velocity. I figure the barrel gives the powder a chance to burn completely. I think the difference between slowest and fastest is less in the Blackhawk with the 7 1/2 barrel too. I'd have to measure a lot more loads to prove that definitively though. I'm just happy I'm getting over 800 FPS out of the longer barrel.It's interesting.
I've used Unique in .45 Colt, among other cartridges, for years and years. Given my usage case, I don't really care about position sensitivity... the bullets hit the target, more or less where I want them to. I've also used Unique in .45-70... talk about a cavernous case!!! ...the front and rear of the case have different zip codes...
Charlie98
Member
That's my guess. I think the shorter the barrel, the more position sensitivity plays a role, however minor.
I had some leftover .45 Colt loads with TiteGroup... I shot them up in my H&R Classic Hunter (16" barrel?) Theoretically, with that fast powder in the longer barrel, I should have had SD's in the single digits... but I don't have any notes on those, either.
I'm very new to reloading .45 Colt but have loaded other calibers for 35+ years.
For my maiden voyage with the big Colt cartridge, I tried 231, Unique, Sport Pistol, Accurate #5, Universal and Titegroup all under a home cast Lee 255gr RNFP and PC'd.
Unique (at 7.5 gr) was my favorite load; very accurate and, surprisingly, the cleanest of the bunch.
Now, that doesn't much matter to me but it was noticeable given the fact that Unique has been referred to as "flammable dirt" for many years.
231 was a very close 2nd which is good because, while I have 4-5lbs of Unique, I have 12lbs of 231!
Titegroup was (as I expected) nasty/filthy and, having tried it in many different cartridges, I decided to dump the rest out in my yard.
No good qualities in my experience.
Too hot for rapid fire in hi-cap semi-auto calibers and too great of a chance for double charges in large revolver calibers.
Sport Pistol was a very nice powder to work with as well being very economical at 6gr.
Despite being referred to as an analog for Unique, I didn't care for Universal in the big Colt (found a very nice niche for it in .40S&W however)
Accurate #5 was also a good performer and, if I didn't have so much Unique and 231 I would probably go that route as Accurate powders are usually always available locally and they typically cost less than most others (especially Alliants offerings)
I have some test rounds loaded with Bullseye but haven't been able to try them yet.
Finally, I have discovered that BE-86 has worked very well in nearly every other cartridge I've loaded with it and I plan on doing some work ups with it in the Colt when I get a chance.
*ETA*
These were fired out of a Taylor's (Uberti) SAA clone.
Cases were all new Starline, primed with 15 year old (Russian) Wolf LPP, non magnum.
For my maiden voyage with the big Colt cartridge, I tried 231, Unique, Sport Pistol, Accurate #5, Universal and Titegroup all under a home cast Lee 255gr RNFP and PC'd.
Unique (at 7.5 gr) was my favorite load; very accurate and, surprisingly, the cleanest of the bunch.
Now, that doesn't much matter to me but it was noticeable given the fact that Unique has been referred to as "flammable dirt" for many years.
231 was a very close 2nd which is good because, while I have 4-5lbs of Unique, I have 12lbs of 231!
Titegroup was (as I expected) nasty/filthy and, having tried it in many different cartridges, I decided to dump the rest out in my yard.
No good qualities in my experience.
Too hot for rapid fire in hi-cap semi-auto calibers and too great of a chance for double charges in large revolver calibers.
Sport Pistol was a very nice powder to work with as well being very economical at 6gr.
Despite being referred to as an analog for Unique, I didn't care for Universal in the big Colt (found a very nice niche for it in .40S&W however)
Accurate #5 was also a good performer and, if I didn't have so much Unique and 231 I would probably go that route as Accurate powders are usually always available locally and they typically cost less than most others (especially Alliants offerings)
I have some test rounds loaded with Bullseye but haven't been able to try them yet.
Finally, I have discovered that BE-86 has worked very well in nearly every other cartridge I've loaded with it and I plan on doing some work ups with it in the Colt when I get a chance.
*ETA*
These were fired out of a Taylor's (Uberti) SAA clone.
Cases were all new Starline, primed with 15 year old (Russian) Wolf LPP, non magnum.
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