What was the original 45LC velocity?

[timothy75]

What was the original 45lc velocity with 40grs and ballon head brass? Also when they downloaded it later what was the charge and velocity? I've heard 35 and 25fff.

 

[Malamute]

I have an American Rifleman reloading manual from the early 1960's that has a chronographed load for 45 Colt, 38 grs FFg black powder, 255 gr bullet. The velocity shows 861 fps. They do not mention if the cases were baloon head or solid head.

I've heard of other people getting 900 to near 1000 fps velocity with black loads. They may have used different powder granulations, or just different brands. Black powder varies quite a bit in power when made by different manufacturers.

 

[mtnboomer]

Several gun writers have recreated the original loadings listed by Colt and Winchester for the .45, and using original components such as ballon-head cases, black powder and bullet molds, have clocked velocities around 1000 fps from 7 inch barreled 1873 SAA's. These velocities were noted in original documents from the Army and the manufacturers. The recoil, as you can imagine was stout, so it was throttled back to about 800 to 850 fps. Some say it was to improve shooter accuracy and others say it happened about the time the .45 Schofield was accepted as a secondary round and it could not be loaded to a higher velocity.