45lc for deer?

Any you fellers hot rod a ruger Blackhawk and kill a deer or two?
What distance?
About what was your load?

I have some 250 xtp mag bullets, and about 3 flavors of hard cast.. also have h110, imr 4227, and 2400 to play with.

Was thinking about 18 grains or so of 2400 with a hard cast 255 semi wad cutter..

Any starting point s y’all wanna share is appreciate it.

I use 300g hard cast and H110. It’s hard on them pigs out of the Marlin.

My bear load is a 300 gr bull-x cast in front of 21 gr of H-110,out of a ruger Bisley 7 1/2 in. Very accurate hard hitting load.never shot a bear but will knock the squeal right out of a rooter. 😁

Never shot them with the 45 colt but have killed a few with a 44 spcl an 44 mag. No reason a 45 colt will not do it. Was a close shot about 15 yards but killed one deer with the 45ACP with a 230gr PMC factory load, punched both lungs and it went about 50 yards and piled up. The bullet on that one was under the hide at the offside shoulder.

Max charge of h110 and that xtp ought to do real good

I loaded 7 cases up it’s all I could find that had been shot.. may pull some bullets, but I loaded 20.6 grains of H110 which is a ruger only load so I guess I’ll shoot these 7 and see how they group.. I’m glad my pistol is magna ported!

I use both single action and levergun in 45 Colt.
One WT buck at 51 yards, Ruger Bisley, 300 gr lead, H110
8 axis, 1wt 255RF lead. Unique. All 1 shot

If you don’t mind once fired, pm me your address and I will send you some brass. I have plenty.

I don’t mind 1x or 2x or even 3x fired, I’ll pay something for it and your trouble and sent you a pm..
Thank you I appreciate it!

Good to hear, how’s that recoil on 300gr h110 load? Is it snappier than a hot 44 mag?

Bisley recoil very manageable. Spent much time shooting at 50 yards to gain proficiency.

22.2g is within Ruger only data and is as snappy as I want. It can be unpleasant with the wrong grip. It’s a beast out of the Marlin.

https://www.johnlinebaughcustomsixguns.com/writings#:~:text=45%20Colt%20-%20Dissolving%20the%20Myth%2C%20Discovering%20the,little%20did%20they%20realize%20what%20they%20had%20created.

If you have not read the article by John Linebaugh I suggest you do so. He supplies information about the 45 Colt.

https://www.johnlinebaughcustomsixguns.com/writings

That was an excellent article, I’m gonna measure by cylinder bores and I may even slug my barrel.

Thanks!

I've taken deer with the XTP in a Blackhawk, and now use it in a new-to-me Marlin as well. You mentioned having XTP "mag" bullets... The regular XTPs I use are #45200; there's also a Mag version, #45220, that's intended for higher velocities such as from a Casull. I've loaded and shot the mags, but recovered slugs from the backstop showed little to no expansion.

I had a 460 smith back when, I had about 50 left over and I am concerned on expansion for that bullet as well.
After reading the linebaugh article I’m leaning hard toward a semi wad cutter as I would only be shooting 50 yards max.

I’m thinking I’ll shoot some soon and see what kinda accuracy I get.
If I can shoot a 4” group supported off sand bags at 50 yards I’ll be happy probably use some shooting sticks in a pop up blind.

My current and favorite load so far. 300g LFN GC over 22.2g of H110

There is a lot to be said about the effect on game of a heavy bullet with a large meplat, a hard bullet with that penetrates very well and rips through causing more damage than one might think.

Those are gorgeous!
Is that your own casting or did you buy them somewhere?
I’m not a casting person I just buy them, I don’t have anything to cast with..

I used to shoot 45/70 at deer and your absolutely right never had a deer or a pig take a single step with a big flat meplat of the 405gr bullet, I even shot some 550 gr for a while same thing..

Havent shot any deer with it, but load sierra 240 grain JHP's over i think 20+ grains of IMR 4227. Its a pretty stout load. Shot some hogs with it out to about 25 yards out of my blackhawk, it works. Of course i believe the cowboy load 250 grain lazercast round nose flat points i shoot at 800-900 FPS would have killed them just as dead.

I shot my 7 that I loaded yesterday with 24 gr of H110 and a 255 semi wad cutter hard cast.
I got to say it’s snappier than a 44 mag, but man it was accurate I managed to put 5 into about a 2” circle at 25 yards.

The last one got away a little because the 4th one drove the edge of the hammer into my hand and cut it a little (got to comfy and loosened my grip a little..

I wish, I have never done any casting either. Those are from Cast Performance. They are on the expensive side but I don’t exactly shoot a lot of those in a range session. They’re for testing then hunting. They can be abusive after a while.

I know it’s been said but when using H110 the better your crimp The more consistent it shoots. I use the Lee factory crimp die and it leaves a far better crimp than using the seater/crimp style. The Factory crimp die floats as well so if your brass is different lengths it still crimps the correct place

Begging your pardon, Sir, that is not correct.

Well elaborate, I’ve been wrong many times. The crimp is correct on the brass lip but I guess incorrect to the groove on the bullet

I did crimp these, actually pretty firm because of exactly what you said but I don’t want a bullet to come out and lock the gun up.. which happened to me with a factory loaded 454 casull in a redhawk back in the day.

Lee's Factory Crimp die is designed to crimp the mouth of the brass when it's trimmed to proper length. If it's too short (Hornady's LeveRevolution is notorious for this), it might crimp the very top if at all. If the brass is too long, it crimps a 'waist' in the brass below the case mouth. Doesn't matter what COL you choose, the die crimps when it's bottomed out in the press.

Interesting, that is not my understanding at all.

This what you're talking about?

https://leeprecision.com/carbide-factory-crimp-die-45-colt.html

Yep, that’s it. The crimper actually floats and seats on the lip of the case. Crimp tension can then be adjusted. It even says in that link “trim length is not critical”.

Hey, wp75169, thanks so much for the Colt brass! Got it in just this morning, will be loading some up today, and shooting it this weekend! I really appreciate it!

I bet he’s looking around like WTH! Lol. I mailed them both out Wednesday, that was for our post office lately. You’re welcome.

I haven’t made it past my mail box in a couple days..
I’ll check tonight on my way home, our neighborhood has community mail boxes it’s not convenient at all.

I ran out of boolets 4 shy of makin 50!

Thank you so much for the brass! 24 grains of H110 based on the linebaugh load data with a 255 semi wad cutter I loaded a few and shot them pretty snappy! Laid them in there tho very accurate

You’re welcome!

I actually shoot a lot of the 255 swc but mine are too soft for hot rod loads. At least I think they are. I’m always afraid of leading the barrel up. I’ve saw an individual load soft bullets fast enough before to start the bullets tumbling out of the barrel from lead build up after only 20 rounds or so. I need to get back to the bench. The last loaded 35 Remington in the house took a pig a few days ago, and I only have plinking loads left for 45 Colt. Two rifles to develop and load for, bla bla bla.

I think if I remember right these were Brinel hardness of 20-22 but I’ll say that the barrel is getting dirty quickly but these aren’t gonna be a steady diet just a hunting round I’m gonna shoot a few more just to have the confidence but I really like the load it shows some promise at 25 yards I would had a 1.5” group, the last shot kinda got me and I actually cut my hand the edge of my hammer is sorta sharp.. gonna stone that down some.