First time firing a 45 Colt carbine

[chris in va]

I have a lot of fun with my Henry 22. A friend of mine let me try his Puma 45 and frankly I'm shocked and pleasantly surprised.

My first shot at 20 yards hit a tiny 1" red dot on paper. Not a long distance but frankly this is how my 'need' for a gun begins. If I can naturally an easily peg what I aim at, my wallet gets a review.

Second thing that produced a grin was the lack of recoil. He was using a hefty charge of Trail Boss under a 255 grainer and I swear it had no more recoil than the 9mm carbine I had. I left my chrono at home but we figured it was booking out the muzzle around 1100fps.

I want one now.

 

[AK103K]

I was just shooting my .45 Winchester Trapper today. Fun little rifles. Ive had a couple each in both .44 and .45.

I prefer shooting light, lead loads, as they are a lot more pleasant to shoot, especially if youre shooting a bunch. A good bit cheaper too.

 

[ball3006]

They are fun. I have a Ruger Bisley to go with mine.....chris3

 

[Squeaky Wheel]

I have a Winchester Trapper 94 AE in 45 Colt and it is a lot of fun to shoot. The 45 Colt is also easy and pleasant to reload.

 

[CSG]

I've got both an 1866 carbine and an 1873 rifle (Uberti replicas) that I bought when I got into the CAS scene some years back. Loads of fun to shoot but I haven't put any rounds through them in some time (nor my SAA revolvers or Sharps .45-70!). I must have 600-700 rounds of reloaded .45 Colt still sitting in the safe.

 

[osteodoc08]

I've got a Marlin cowboy carbine limited in 45LC and 41 mag. They are 2 of my favorite lever actions to shoot. Love the octagon barrels. Classic design and enjoyable. I think if you pick up any of the carbines mentioned, you'll be grinning from ear to ear.

 

[BCRider]

You're guess of up around 1100 fps is quite optimistic. The Hodgdon reloading data sadly doesn't give loads for .45Colt for rifle but the max load for Trail Boss in a handgun load is only 730 fps. The rifle barrel may see that go up to maybe a touch over 800 fps.

There are a number of other powder recipes with the same peak pressure of around 13,000 PSI that push the bullets at the lower 900's. In a rifle it would not be unreasonable to see such loads at or near 1000FPS with a 250'ish gn bullet.

In any event any of the handgun caliber lever rifles are great fun to shoot. My .357 chambered Rossi sees mostly mid power .38Spl like loads but in magnum casings to better work with the action. But for some longer distance plinking I don't mind loading full power .357Mag loads. With those it hits the shoulder with more punch but it's still MUCH less than a Win 94 shooting .30-30 ammo. Yet it sends a 158gn bullet out to 200 yards without too much of a drop if I get the load shooting at around 1400 to 1500 fps.

 

[Crunchy Frog]

The pistol caliber lever rifles are lots of fun and practical for lots of different uses.

 

[Water-Man]

I've had a Puma 92 in 38/357 since 2008.

Accurate, smooth action and trouble-free since day one.

 

[bannockburn]

They are loads of fun! I have a Rossi M92 .45 Colt carbine with a 16" barrel and the large loop lever. The gun feels like it is an extension of my arm when I'm shooting it and is extremely quick and easy to get it on target. Great companion to my Beretta Stampede and Ruger Vaquero.

 

[Kruff]

Here is some data that I chronographed using a Marlin w/ 20" barrel.

45 Colt Loads—Marlin M1894 20” barrel

Hornady 230 gr FMJ
8 gr Unique
765—805—905—787—786—808—804—806

Cast 250 gr FP
9 gr Unique
1208—1159—1201—1140—1163—1167—1193—1180—1181—1175—1108—1083—1096—1109—1111

Hornady 230 gr FMJ
21 gr H4227
1281—1228—1180—1276—1211—1215—1228—1252—1326—1303

Cast 195 gr SWC
11 gr Unique
1257—1325—1286—1304—1459


Cast 250 gr FP
10 gr Unique
1338—1275—1291—1294—1282—1291—1293

Sierra 260 gr JHP
10 gr Unique
1126—1160—1145—1142—1186—1154—1183—1196

Nosler 185 gr JHP
11.5 gr Unique
1472—1353—1418—1373—1352—1487—1429—1400—1351—1318

Nosler 185 gr JHP
21 gr 2400
1521—1374—1396—1299—1325—1353—1370—1370—1372—1390

Cast 250 gr FP
8 gr Unique
1098—1084—1096—1073—1119—1086—1102—1098—1125

Sierra 240 gr JHP
20 gr H4227
1289—1303—1309—1312—1298

Most accurate of the bunch was the 250gr cast w/ 9gr Unique. Least accurate was the 195gr cast w/ 11gr Unique. It didn't care much for the Nosler 185gr JHP either.

 

[BCRider]

Kruff, thanks for that info. Clearly I was quite a bit off on my extimate of gaining only around 100 fps.

 

[Ed Ames]

I have the 20” .454cas M92, mostly because I wanted to be able to get out of the zone Kruff mentioned and into the 1800-2200 fps range when needed...which of course I don't need but whatever. It seemed important when I was shopping.

Mine feeds .45c just fine but I usually run light loads in .454 brass. Makes for a very pleasant range day, as the OP said. I can have a fun day at the range with just that one gun.

 

[joecil]

I have a Rossi 92 in 45 Colt and really not much with black powder or smokeless such as Unique, HP-38, Universal or clays under 250-255 gr bullets. Now when I load using Ranch Dog 290 gr or Lee 300 gr both gas checked with Lil'Gun it is a different gun in recoil and closer to a 45-70 or 454 Casull.

 

[Dr. A]

The great thing about the Rossi is that you have the option to shoot those plinking loads, or load for a "trapdoor" like power of a 45-70. I have a 24 inch Octagon, and though I love it, I think I'd get a 20 inch if I had to do it over again. I just like my 20 inch marlin quite a bit more. The 20 inch gun does get greater velocity out of the same load.

Paco gets the most out of his 45's!

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/45coltlevergun.htm