winchester silvertip 45 LC

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btmj

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My Dad is in the process of buying a Ruger Blackhawk in 45 long colt. It is a long barrel, 6 or 7 inches.

Although primarily a range piece, he is going to keep it in a drawer at his nightstand. He asked me what load he should keep in it for self defense.

My first thought was that it really didn't make much difference... a 250 grain 45 slug at 850 fps.... just about anything would probably be effective.

But I looked around, and the Winchester silvertip 225 grain JHP seemed like a reasonable choice. I can't find any ballistic gelatin tests for the 45 LC. Any recommendations?
 
The 225JHP would be my choice if they shoot well in his gun since I suspect that they were loaded for Judge style revolvers. Otherwise I'd look for something with a 250 Hard Cast lead bullet. If you handload it opens up a whole other option as you could load any bullet you like. I have a batch of 300gr Hornady XTPs loaded up as well as the 250gr XTPs, both shoot great out of my S&W. My S&W isn't doing defensive duty though due to the 8 3/8" barrel, that's a bit long for my liking in a defensive pistol.

Stu
 
I hand load for mine using gold dot deep curl bullets. I think you can buy them in loaded ammunition also.
 
I can't answer your question about the .45 Colt, but I have two loads for my .45 ACP, and the indoor load is 185 Winchester Silvertips. They don't penetrate as much, so the chance of shooting through an intruder, an interior wall and a family member on the opposite side is reduced.

I would bet the same of the .45 Colt as well.
 
Anything that is a flat point, hollow point, or semiwadcutter should be more than enough to do the job in .45 Colt.

I have used the Silver Tip JHP on hogs in East Texas with very good results in my .41 Mag Blackhawk.
 
I've shot WT Deer with .45 Colt ST ammo using both revolvers and rifles. If the bullet hits heavy bone it stops there. If it doesn't hit bone it pretty much punches a .45 caliber hole clean through. I have never recovered an expanded bullet unless it hit bone. I used to have ST ammo in my carry guns but now carry a 200 gr RNFP at 950 fps. I am messing around with the Gold Dot 200 gr bullet. It's accurate but I haven't shot anyone or any game with it yet, if I do I'll post the results here some place.
BTW, I use 200 gr bullets because they hit close to my point of aim. I have taken Deer with this load and it worked just fine.
 
We were issued the .45 Colt Silvertip for duty 25-5s back in the early 1980s. The bullet's been improved since then. Typically the handgun Silvertips are loaded slightly light, and my experience with them over the years is that they're usually pretty accurate.

Make sure the gun's sighted in for them.
Denis
 
Buffalo Bore has an interesting load in 45 Colt, a 225 grain flat wadcutter at around 1050 fps. BIG flat front end that should work pretty well. I've got a Ruger Blackhawk in 45, and I'm leaning more and more towards this load.

My concern with a lot of hollowpoints in 45 Colt is whether the hollowpoint will open at the lower velocities. I read somewhere that Speer's 250 grain Gold Dot in 45 Colt performs well in gelatin, but the gelatin test was bare gelatin and I don't know how it would do if it had to go through a denim/leather jacket, etc.
 
Consider something with a Gold Dot 200gr slug. That's gonna hurt. The slowest speed variant is the one in the Blazer boxes, aluminum cases. DoubleTap and Buffalo Bore load it much hotter.

Cor-Bon also has a high-speed 200gr JHP. It's not as advanced a slug but it works very well regardless. But the Gold Dot is just awesome.
 
Although I do carry Silver tips in my Smith 25 I have no test data.
What I do have is some photos of 44 special silver tips fired from a Charter arms bulldog with a 3 inch barrel. (see thread below)
These were tested back in the early 80’s by a friend that was the ballistic technician for the IN state police. He wanted to try my bulldog with some of the factory ammo that was available at the time.
These were fired through heavy cloth in to a water tank.
Weight retention was very good and as you can tell expansion was very impressive for a Bulldog.
There might be better rounds out there today but silver tips are all I carry in my large caliber revolvers.




http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233532
 
Memory tells me that Speer also makes a 45 Colt Gold Dot which is a 250 grain bullet @ 860 fps from a 4 inch barrel. That ought to work.

Edited to add: my mistake - it's listed as 750 fps from a 5.5 inch barrel. Still would work but big difference from what I said before.
 
The .45 Colt Gold Dot Speer round is loaded on the mild side, if recoil's an issue either it or the Silvertip would be good choices. The Silvertip has evolved since the early 80s.
Denis
 
I don't understand why there isn't a load available for 45 colt that has 170 or so grain bullets at 1k fps or so for home defense. No, it's not a hunting load, but it's something that would really beat the heck out of any 9 mm or 38 round, and could potentially be more deadly than a .357 load, with reasonable recoil, noise, and muzzle flash.

I'd say that a .44 special in that range would be great, but may allow too much penetration.
 
You could easily get about 1k fps with a 160-180 grain bullet at reasonable pressures.

HS6 can be used to get 1,100 fps with a 200 grain jacketed bullet, and still be safe for old revolvers.


Top end loads in 357 with 158 grain bullets reach 14-1,500 fps; I feel pretty certain that 160 grain jacketed bullets could be pushed above 1,200 fps quite safely in even an old colt.

That should be a very good combat round, IMO.
 
Because some moron would put it in an old blackpowder 45 Colt and blow it up.
Click to expand...

Stupid should hurt.

A 1000fps with a 250 gr lead bullet isn't too much for a blackpowder Colt, but it is the upper end. That's about what the original load ran at. It was backed off for military use.

The Speer or Silvertip should work just fine for SD.
 
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