"Cowboy" loads

Been shooting Unique and only Unique in .45 Colt for 37+ years. My guns are mostly Rugers and I load heavier than 8.5gr as my standard load. No issues with consistency, I don't worry about extreme spread, its a PISTOL...:rolleyes:

And, its a pistol I can ring the 200yd gong with, off hand, one handed, so I consider the consistency of my ammo sufficient. 250gr SWC at approx 1100fps from 7.5" barrel. have loaded heavier, choose not to.
 
44AMP, just to clarify what your .45 Colt looks like, is it a pistol or a revolver? I understand the term, "pistol" may just refer to "handgun" but I tend to view a "handgun" as either one of the two.
 
Y'all gonna have a tough time with that 45 rimmed case in an autoloader "pistol"
So it must be a revolver.
:rolleyes:


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How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
 
Originally Posted by 44 AMP
And, its a pistol I can ring the 200yd gong with, off hand, one handed,
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(sotto voce -- it's a big gong)
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Yes, its a big gong, the one the rifle shooters shoot at, and its a LONG way away, shooting one handed, standing up, but I can do it. Can't you?? :D:rolleyes:

44AMP, just to clarify what your .45 Colt looks like, is it a pistol or a revolver?
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My .45 Colts are mostly Ruger revolvers, Blackhawks and Vaqueros, though I do also have a T/C Contender. SO you could say "both".

Y'all gonna have a tough time with that 45 rimmed case in an autoloader "pistol"
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I don't have a tough time with the rimmed case .44 Mag and .357 Mag , I have 3 autoloader pistols in those calibers, why would I have a tough time with the .45 Colt??
 
I never shot my .44 Mag one-handed, but I did shoot it with a red dot sight at bowling pins at 200 yards, with 2 hands, standing.

Funny thing happened. Another guy at the range came by to see what I was using at that distance.(180gr JHP). I showed him the Ruger Super Redhawk. The next week I happened to go into the local gun shop and there he was, standing at the counter. He turned and saw me and said to staffer, "That's him.!!" He was buying a Ruger SRH.
 
As a witness, I can verify that I have seen 44AMP clobber the 200 yard gong at the local range repeatedly. With his favorite Ruger and most of his magnum semi autos.
The gong is about 18in tall by about 12in.
Irritatingly with my brand new .357 Sig 226, with about 10 out of 12 rounds the first time he fired it.
 
"44Mag/357Mag
I have 3 autoloader pistols in those calibers...
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You have autoloading pistols with those rimmed cartridges ?

I was unaware that LAR Grizzly & IMI Desert Eagle made such guns. :o
Now I have to get one.... ;)
 
You have autoloading pistols with those rimmed cartridges ?

I was unaware that LAR Grizzly & IMI Desert Eagle made such guns.
Now I have to get one....
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Yes I have autoloading pistols in those rimmed cartridges.
I have Desert Eagles in .44 & .357 Mag. My LAR is .45Win mag, but I did have one in .44 Mag some years back.

I also have a Coonan in .357 Mag.

LAR Grizzly is long out of production. Desert Eagles are still made, as of the last I knew. Magnum Research is the name, now..

Coonan was back in production year before last. No idea of their current status.
 
We're Drifting Off Course....

Back to the 45 Colt in a Single-Action revolver.....
8.5 grains of Unique is such a standard because it shoots so well across a broad selection of guns. It makes it a good load to compare anything else against, so it's a good starting point. Individual guns may shoot more accurately with, say, Green Dot, or HP-38, etc., or by simply increasing or decreasing the charge by half a grain or so.
 
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With all of the plugging for Unique, I will throw in a different viewpoint. Even though I have been using Unique for 35 years, I really see it having value more in its flexibility than in actual performance. When I have evaluated it side by side with other powders, it never seems to perform any better than something else.

For all my high volume "economy" loads I have moved to either Promo or Titegroup. Promo is a bulk version of Red Dot available only in 8lb jugs.

My 45 colt (TC Contender) allows use of really stout loads but I gave up pushing that gun a long time ago. Unique would allow for a little hotter "mid range" load than Promo, but the difference is too small to matter for me. The 2000 Alliant Booklet for a 250 gr lead bullet gave 6.0 gr of Red Dot for 830 fps and 8.0 gr of Unique for 850 fps.

Promo is very flexible in its own right. For loads in the 38 SP, 45 Colt, 45 ACP and my various magnum handguns (32, 35 & 44), Promo is nice and bulky and gives me plenty of bang for target loads. It is also famous for widespread rifle use as "The Load" made popular by Ed Harris (13 gr of Red Dot).

I have a big jug of Unique and keep trying it when I get a new gun. As previously stated, I have yet to find a real winner with Unique.

Having mentioned Titegroup, I understand why many choose not to use it. I reserve this for a few select applications where it works better for me than Promo. Mostly I use it for either small case rounds (32 ACP, 9mm) and/or loads where the equivalent charges of Promo are too small to meter well in my RCBS powder measure.

When you combine cost per pound of the powder and required charge per load, Promo and Titegroup are probably in the top 5 for economy. Of the two I consider Promo much more of a general purpose handgun powder. Of all the more economical powders, it has probably more published load data (use Red Dot listings) than any other.

Part of the reason for my post is the knowledge that running out an buying any specific powder will be hit or miss right now. Knowing that Promo / Red Dot are reasonable options can be a good thing if you run across some for sale. Promo was in stock last week (out of stock now) at Powder Valley and was priced at only $132 for the 8 lb jug ($16.50 per pound plus shipping and Hazmat).
 
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I've shot a lot of Titegroup and Red Dot in 45 Colt and I concur that both are excellent for target loads in the 850 fps range, +or-. I still have and use Titegroup. I've been out of Red Dot for a while and since Titegroup does the same job, I haven't felt compelled to replace it. They are both excellent. Someone laid a partial keg of Green Dot on me that is working out quite well also. These fast burning pistol powders will gain you just a little performance boost when fired from a rifle. Unique will gain you a little bit more. As you move into even slower burning propellants there is even more to be gained in the longer barrel. I consider Unique to be one of the best, "middle-of-the-road", powders for this cartridge.
 
8.5gr Unique is a good, solid load essentially duplicating full power factory ammo (NOT Cowboy Action shooting loads) giving between 800-900fps depending on barrel length.

Lots of other powders will work, I use Red Dot for 850fps loads in .38 Special and could do that in .45 Colt easily enough, if I loaded my .45 Colt to 850ish (I don't)

In your Colt SAA replica, 8.5 Unique would be a good load. You can also go a little heavier if that's your desire. The old loading books have data tested in Colt SA guns using Unique to drive the 250 to slightly over 1,000fps at max. If you had enough barrel...;)
 
Thank you Pathfinder 45[post #30] for getting us back on track. 8.0-8.5gr Unique/250gr rnfp bullet in my two Italian replica revolvers and Henry rifle work superbly. Sometimes Universal, 95%, its Unique.
 
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