45 colt problem

I've spent forty+ years loading with Unique in a variety of cartridges...yep, it's dirty...often called, "Flaming Dirt", but is a fine choice in most any revolver caliber. In .45 Colt; 8.0 to 8.5 grains has often been called the "Standard".with considerable justification...sooted cases or not, it's been accurate in the four .45 Colt revolvers I've owned: a Ruger, two Colts and a Smith. And at 800 to 900 fps, it's an authoritative load too. For my uses, the evidence of soot is a non-issue if the load is accurate and of usable velocity. YMMv, Rod
 
All 45 Colt shooters should try shooting it with real black powder at least once in their life. That's the original standard powder and it will give you a new perspective on Unique; how clean it really is!
 
Just be aware that you cannot duplicate the original black powder load (40gr) in modern solid head brass. It simply won't fit. But a modern case full of BP comes close enough to the original loading to give you a good idea of what it was.

I heard someone (no longer remember who) was making the old style balloon head brass again, just for BP shooters, so you might be able to find some, if you really look. If it matters. I don't shoot BP in my guns, so I won't be getting any balloon head brass, its all yours as far as I'm concerned. :D
 
On a practical note, it would be a good idea to accurately measure the cylinder throats and make sure that your bullets are not too small to get a good seal to contain the expanding gasses and thus expand the cases also. Oversize Chambers could be a contributing factor to the problem. A couple of pictures of the sooty cases might also help with the opinions being expressed. How bad is it really? I might say that you are obsessing about nothing or completely change my tune upon seeing the pictures and ask how you could possibly stand for such filth. Gun ownership does not require that your guns get dirty, but shooting them does.
 
Are you talking about bore diameter or throat diameter? If the bullet is soft enough it will slug up and work fine. Too hard and it may lead. Best to be equal to or greater than the throats.



.
 
Pathfinder, would that happen if your .45 Colt was .452 and you shot .451 bullets?
Click to expand...
If your cylinder throats were .001" larger than your bullets and you were shooting jacketed bullets you would probably not notice anything unusual except perhaps darkening of the cases from propellant gases as the case probably would not have expanded fully until the bullet entered the barrel. With a lubricated lead bullet it would probably be a bit messier. But you were only talking about .001" loose. Now suppose those cylinder throats are .454" or even .456" and it's not hard to imagine that a lot more hot gases are getting around that bullet before it gets to the barrel and it will do marvelous things to make your revolver shoot groups that resemble patterns printed by OO buckshot fired from a sawed-off shotgun.
But if you have nice minimum size chambers with .452" throats shooting .454" lead bullets and your barrels groove diameter is the same or perhaps slightly tighter diameter as the cylinder throats, say, .451", then everything is going to work out a lot better. Upon ignition, the bullet will move forward and squeeze into the throat before it fully leaves the case; the pressure will rise to rapidly expand the case since none of it can get past the bullet. with under-size bullets the gas not only gets past the bullet, it also flow backwards around the case until it expands enough to seal the chamber as the pressure rises higher when the bullet enters the barrel.
I prefer home-cast bullets and like them much better than jacketed. However, jacketed bullets are more forgiving of an undersized bullet.
I'm right now looking at a box of fired 45 Colt cases I shot last week using both 255 grain hand-cast & lubed, and 240 grain jacketed Sierra bullets; all with 9.0 grains of Unique, fired from a Ruger Vaquero...and they all look remarkably clean and shiny.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top