Factory Cowboy Smokeless Loads are Full power!

ZVP

New member
I did some more reserch this time on the .45LC and I am glad to see reported ftlbs energy levels running from 200 to 300 ft lbs! This is the low for Magtech Cowboy and the High Winchester .45LC. Full weight bullets and powder charges.
So good to see that full power loads and bullets are being loaded even sold thru the big Chain Stores!
IMO loads should approximate oldtime power levels!
I use the Winchester .38 Special 158gr whuch shoots @ 250ftlbs. My everyday reloads approximate or slightly exceed this level so I am trying go keep the power up and away from pipsqueak loads. I mean a full power Winchester .38 Sp dosen't kick that hard at all,and is solidly within CAS limits!
Good to see isn't it?
We need to keep things as "real"as possible!
ZVP
 
My lightest 45 Colt load is a 250 RNFP at 825-850 fps. Me no habla feety-poundy things. Me habla 'big hole thru four feet of critter', fluently. Speak to me in weight/velocity.
 
I just thinkof Wes Harden and how he overcame the full power .45 Colt to become the man who'd killed the most men! No mousefart loads for Wes, he went for through and through shots, AND ACCURACY!!!
See, it can be done!
ZVP
 
original ballistics from the long 8 inch peacemaker barrels traditionally gives 4-450 foot pounds of energy for original 45 colt bp loads back when wesley hardin was killing people and critters. and for the same time elmer keith was carrying a 45 colt to school.

original ballistics data for 44-40 wcf gives a typical 320-350 foot pounds.
 
"...did some more research..." Keep researching. A Winchester 250 grain .45 Colt lead Super-X has the same ballistics as their Cowboy load. 5 whole grains different weight.
A Winchester Cowboy load .38 Special 158 grain bullet at 225 ft-lbs, not 250, at 800 fps MV isn't "full power". A cast 158 using HS-6 starting load is faster than that.
In any case, CAS shooting is a game that has nothing whatever to do with reality, any more than any of the shooting games.
 
Hardins career took place mostly before the 45colt was around, he was also in prison from i believe 1878 to 1894 and being murderd in 1895. I believe the pistol he was carrying the day he was shot was a DA S&W 44russian. This is all from memory but i wouldnt say he used the 45colt much if at all.
 
My lightest 45 Colt load is a 250 RNFP at 825-850 fps. Me no habla feety-poundy things. Me habla 'big hole thru four feet of critter', fluently. Speak to me in weight/velocity.

Lightest load? That is pretty impressive. Do you shoot them out of a levergun or a cap and ball conversion?

And do you use smokeless or black powder? If you use smokeless, how do you keep pressures at a minimum while still getting the most speed out of these things?
 
No black magic at work here, Rachen. Just your basic .45 Colt factory duplication load using a MO Bullet 250 GR. CAST LRNFP and 7.1 grains of W231 for (per Hodgdo's) 13,900 CUP.

I'm shooting them in an old heavy frame Vaquero and a Rossi 92 'trapper' carbine.
 
Well the Winchester .38 Cowboy Load isn't a slouch in anyones book, that's good to know!
My 4 5/8" New Model Vaquero loves them and they don't seem to leave much lead in the barrel. They're consistant and accurate loads!
ZVP
 
I heard don't know if it is true that Hardin obtained a law degree and was in a saloon standing at the bar and was shot in the back. The killer got off free since the judge or jury said that Hardin had the advantage by being able to see the man in the glass mirror behind the bar and since being a pro fast gun had the advantage.

WBH
 
I heard don't know if it is true that Hardin obtained a law degree and was in a saloon standing at the bar and was shot in the back. The killer got off free since the judge or jury said that Hardin had the advantage by being able to see the man in the glass mirror behind the bar and since being a pro fast gun had the advantage.
John Selman's (Hardin's killer) trial ended in a hung jury. While awaiting a retrial, Selman got into an altercation with a man named George Scarburough in a local saloon. They walked out into the ally to continue the argument in private. (Scarburough went out the door first) To make a short story shorter, as the door closed behind Selman, ol' George turned and put four .45 slugs into ol' John. Mr. Selman died in a few hours.
 
Hardin did not earn a law degree, He never went to law school. On July 21, 1894 he passed the Texas bar examination, obtaining his license to practice law.
 
He was playing dice in the Acme saloon in El Paso Texas. He was killed by a man he had hired to kill somebody else(Selman).
 
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It.s all ways been my under standing that john selman was a lawman. and on the day he killed Hardin. one of Hardin's friends had been drinking heavy that day and making trouble. selman was threatening to arrest him. Hardin found out about it and made a off hand comment that he would kill selman if he did. the rest is history....on a side note George Scarborough selmans killer. died of a gun shot to the leg. (it had to be amputated) that was April 6 1900. 4 years to the day he killed selman.
 
Selman may have been a "lawman" in El Paso, but in New Mexico in the 1870s and 80s he was a known murderer, rapist, and cattle/horse theif. He wasn't exactly an upstanding fellow. Some say Selman simply wanted to be the man that killed Hardin.
 
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