Dingoboyx
Senior Member
Join Date: 2009-03-07
Location: Canberra, Australia
Posts: 1,080
I guess you meant to load up the cylinder (less ball depth) but, for me, personally, I think this would be impressive (sound & smoke) but wasteful and perhaps less accurate?
nope, I meant cylinder filled to top, and "struck"- i.e. level with rim- then pack in ball. Shooting the Walker this way, it appeared to shoot as good as I could hold it- and put a "minute of man" pattern on an old car hood 25 yards away. I'd wager next time it'll do even better, when with a rest.
a cylinder full of black behind a round ball in a BP CB gun, is basically the ballistic equivalent of the 44-40 or 45 Colt blackpowder cartridge c. 1870's era- only hand loaded loose in the chamber, rather than in a cartridge. They typically used approx. 40 grains blackpowder- this is not overloading the gun in any way. See links below for load info. When cartridges first came out, they used the same steels as the blackpowder c/b guns used, in the cartridge guns. It was only when smokeless powder came out in the 1890's, that the steels had to be improved once again, to take the increased pressure of the smokeless powder. The result was, a big case that was meant for blackpowder, like the 45 Colt, with just a dribble of smokeless powder in it. I've loaded a ton of cowboy ammo w/smokeless, 44 Colt and 38 Special, and the case if mostly empty w/smokeless powder used. Yet you can fill it right up to the top, when loading blackpowder cartridges. This is what led to the 45 Colt being replaced by the 45 ACP, they had no use for all that case capacity, once the smokeless powders came out. Using the same approach, you can basically load a 38 Short Colt to the same velocity as a 38 Special cowboy cartridge load, the short will hold the 5 grains of powder just fine, with less open space to cause problems with the load.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.45_Colt
The 45 Colt originally was a blackpowder cartridge, but modern loadings use smokeless powder. The original blackpowder loads called for 28 to 40 grains (2.6 g) of blackpowder behind a 255-grain (16.5 g) lead bullet. These loads developed muzzle velocities of up to 1000 feet per second (305 m/s), for a muzzle energy of 566 ft·lbf (766 J.).[2] Because of this power and its excellent accuracy the .45 Colt was the most-used cartridge of its time, succeeding the .44 WCF (also known as the .44-40 Winchester)
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_174_29/ai_n8968390/
In its day the .45 Colt was a humdinger, pure and simple. It was designed for black powder, and those old factory loads with 35 to 40 grains were powerful by any standard. They had to be. In developing the .45 Colt cartridge, the U.S. Army intended it for the cavalry. Cavalry combat in those days meant horses, and they are both easier to hit and harder to knock down than people. So the Army's cartridge developers wanted a handgun cartridge with power beyond what was needed for people.
They got it too. The .45 Colt, with black powder loads, was rated at about 900 fps with 250 grain bullets from the 7.5" barrel of a Colt SAA. In the black powder era no other handgun cartridge was close, except the .44 WCF (.44-40). Others, such as .45 S&W (Schofield) .44 Russian, .44 Colt, .44 American and so forth all did good to break 750 fps, and with lighter bullets at that. In my personal experience a case-full of black powder in the .45 Colt often exceeds 900 fps and sometimes breaks 1,000 fps, depending on the exact type and amount of powder used. So the .45 Colt's case was made 1.285" long to hold all that black powder. Incidentally that length is the same as for .357, .41 and .44 Magnums.
Now fast forward to the smokeless powder era. To equal black powder ballistics and pressures in the .45 Colt requires tiny little charges of most smokeless propellants. Lyman's newest RELOADING HANDBOOK #48 lists MAX loads with 250 grain bullets as being 9 grains of Unique, 7.4 grains of W231, or 6.2 grains of Titegroup. I swear, when one of those charges is dropped into a .45 Colt case I hear an echo! And what sort of velocities do they get with those MAX charges? The most is with the W231 load and it's a "blistering" 894 fps from a 7.5" barrel.
And those tiny little charges in great big cases can lead to all sorts of problems. The least of which is gas blow-by. That is caused when the cartridge case walls don't obdurate to seal the chamber and gas leaks back along the case. It's harmless, but is the reason behind your .45 Colt cases being burnt black along one side after firing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.44-40_Winchester
The initial standard load for the cartridge was 40 grains (2.6 g) of blackpowder propelling a 200-grain (13 g) bullet at approximately 1,245 f.p.s (feet per second), but in 1886 U.M.C. also began offering a slightly heavier 217-grain (14.1 g) bullet at 1,190 ft/s (360 m/s), also with 40 grains (2.6 g) of blackpowder.
I'm droolin', thats for sure. Talk about 'old meets new' tho.... I'll bet its pretty darn accurate tho 
