Shot the heavy loaded .45 LC yesterday

R

Redneck2

New member
NOTE: THIS IS OVER FACTORY LOADS..USE ONLY IN RUGERS...

Have 255 grain Shooters Choice Keith style over 24.0 of H-110. Looked in the bore and it's bright and shiny. No lead, no residue after 250 rounds. Takes a little getting used to but I wanna know...

What's the big deal about "recoil"? This load should give maybe 1400 fps (guessing at it, doesn't really matter). Shot 100 rounds, reloaded the cases and going to shoot 100 more today.

It's more the muzzle blast/concussion than recoil. I have a Bisley 7 1/2". NOTHING that resembles being painful. Now remember that I am a huge hunk of a man...5'7" and 165#. I have beautiful after-market rosewood grips that are checkered and easier to control than the fat factory walnut ones.

Oh, sure makes the dirt fly...looks like the field was plowed behind the target.
 
I shoot 26 grains of H110 under a 250 grain Hornady XTP through my 4 5/8" Blackhawk.

This load creates lots & lots of barrel "flip", but it's really not too unpleasant. My gun would be a few ounces lighter than your Bisley, too.

I do love the .45 Colt! I think the perceived recoil is lower than that from a .44, and the holes are bigger too.

I soon plan to try the LBT 325 grain bullets through my gun.
 
While I haven't shot these myself, John Linebaugh's website provides a theoretical reason they might feel more comfortable despite more muzzle energy than a .44Mag with heavier bullets:

Lower peak chamber pressure due to the larger case volume.

Goto www.sixgunner.com and Linebaugh's site is linked in there. He claims that a hot .44Mag with 40,000psi chamber pressure can be effectively duplicated with about 33,500psi in .45LC.

He's also getting there with slow-burning powder, so it's also possible the recoil effect is being stretched out over a longer period of time. That might lead to feeling a "big push" versus "an explosion".

(scratches head)

If case volume is such a big deal, why not use a bullet cast with a fatter nosecone section but hollow way up the base, to effectively increase case volume? There's got to be a good reason that hasn't been tried? Probably because you need a gas check at this kind of power level...
 
24.0 grains of H110 and a cast 262 Kieth SWC is what I settled on when experimenting with heavy loads a couple years ago. It went over my chrono at ~1400 fps from a 7 1/2" Blackhawk. Some clocked a little under and some a little over with a high vel of 1424 fps. (might have had a bubble in that bullet?)
 
Quite the opposite of the "Rambo" thing...

My whole point is that, at least in this combination, there is a very tolerable level of perceived recoil. Quite honestly, at first I just loaded a few rounds and wanted to see if it tried to kick the snot out of me.

If the bigger calibers (454, 475, etc) are as punishing as I have read, then I don't see the advantage. I can't imagine needing more than this gives. I let 3 other guys at the range shoot it and they felt the same. One guy was shooting it one-handed. No problems. Maybe shooting a lighter bullet like the 255 rather than a 300+ helps.
 
I agree with Jim March. The 45 colt pushes on you, the 44mag punches you. Just like a 10 gauge shotgun vs. a 300 win mag, both have substantial recoil, just a little different delivery.
 
I just bought a Ruger Old Army 45 and a friend was telling me someone is making a conversion kit to 45 LC for those. Anyone have the scoop on that. Sounds like fun to me.
 
I have no problems with the heavy .45 Colt loads in the recoil department, BUT, .454 is a whole different story. OUCH!

I agree with Redneck2 and Mr. Shepherd. The perceived recoil is much different with heavy .45 than say, .44 magnum. The .45 seems to be much more controllable, Like 10 gauge vs. 300 mag...

The uncanny thing is the accuracy of the 300+ gr. bullets... and the devastation they create.

Yes, they recoil more than 9mm, .357, .40, .45ACP, .41 mag, but they are not anywhere near .50AE, 454 Casull, 475 Linebaugh. These rounds are just too much IMO.

If the .45 rounds don't kill it, I have no business being anywhere in the area!
 
Redneck2, I suspect you'll find the heaver 300+ grain loads to have a lot more substantial recoil. But if you're used to shooting 44 magnums in a double action then the recoil in a SA Ruger is going to feel a lot less. SA's seem to spend a lot more of the recoil rolling the gun in your hand rather than sending it straight back into your hand/wrist like double actions.

Clint Tickler I don't think you'll be shooting the heavy 'Ruger only' loads in your Old Army. If memory serves me that revolver is quite a bit smaller than todays new model Blackhawks. I would make absolutly sure it can handle the loads before trying them.
 
Sample, if you want to get an idea of recoil for a pistol caliber, look at the maximun cpu for the cartridge listed in your reloading manual. The higher it is, the sharper(and usually harder) the recoil.
 
Brownell's has the cartridge conversion kits for Ruger Old Armies. But it's a complete replacement cylinder that's NOT a Ruger part, unlikely to be as strong, and there's no way in hell I'd load any sort of monster power level into it.

Besides, I think it's a .44Spl? Can't recall for sure.

Regardless of which caliber, in a conversion setup like that the hottest I'd go would be a Winchester Silvertip in either .44Spl or .45LC, and I'd do most of my practice with "Cowboy loads" or similar.
 
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