Best Powder for 45 colt

[Rooster59]

Ranch Dog's advice is spot on. My R92 Colt load isn't quite as hot as RD's but it has made the R92 (Puma) my favorite to shoot. A Lee C452-300 over about 20gr of Lil Gun pushes 1450fps @ 1400 ft lbs.

Keep in mind these are Encore/Ruger only loads. At dusk they offer a flash about as long as the 16" barrel.

[se3388]

Lee Precision also makes a pretty good boolit for the 45/.454 guns if you cast,

CA452-300-RF

Works pretty good for a lot of folks. It does for me.

Steve.........

[DennisH]

Well I went with W296 powder because it was a little less money . I did get my chronograph and got a box of Hornady XTP--Mag 300gr. Now I need some better weather. I don't know about the bullets but thought I would give them a try.

[Jaybm]

Nothing relevant to a .45 Colt R92 since I only have a .45 Sig but Rd's comment
" I went back through your posts and saw that it was 8-grains of the TiteGroup. The performance is not consistent because it is only filling up 45% of the available space in the case. Each time you pull the trigger that little amount of powder is spread out across the length of the case. It could never produce consistent performance unless you used a "filler" to hold the charge against the flash hole. There are safety consideration in using that filler that must be considered".

Might explain why I see inconsistent groups with the .357 carbine, makes sense ! Will pay more attention
to case capacity using different powders. Have to try some of my dwindling supply of Trail Boss.

Never too old to learn, thanks RD.

[Ranch Dog]

Might explain why I see inconsistent groups with the .357 carbine, makes sense ! Will pay more attention
to case capacity using different powders. Have to try some of my dwindling supply of Trail Boss.

Never too old to learn, thanks RD.

You're welcome. In all my shooting, rifle or handgun, I don't use anything that doesn't fill at least 90% of the case capacity.

[DennisH]

Well I tried 21gn of W296 with the 300gn Hornady xtp and I got no drop from 50 yards to 100 yards. I only tried 4 . 2 at each distance and it seemed good with a nice kick. The loading book called for 21.7 gn max.
There is about 3ft of snow so that was it for now. I have to wait to really do any testing with the chronograph. Don't want to drag that out in the snow. It was a job just getting back to the target . Of course once I got back there I wish I had brought more.
I don't know much about using filler but I will try the IMR4227 at a fuller charge and see how the 2 compare.

[Rooster59]

Just a note for reference. A few knowledgeable reloaders have told me they contacted Hodgdon about H110 and W296. They claim the tech rep at Hogdgon admitted the two powders are actually the same powder. Variations between them come only from different batches/lots. However, per RD's advice I tried Lil Gun for my Lee 452-300 loads and found they are a bit faster than 296/H110 and seem to have a bit less kick (pressure?). I've held mine to 20.5gr of Lil Gun in my Puma 92 and the Lee 300. They are accurate and hit like a mini 45-70. Out of a 16" barrel at dusk it does give off a bit of flamethrower effect.

[Ranch Dog]

…per RD's advice I tried Lil Gun for my Lee 452-300 loads and found they are a bit faster than 296/H110 and seem to have a bit less kick (pressure?). I've held mine to 20.5gr of Lil Gun in my Puma 92 and the Lee 300. They are accurate and hit like a mini 45-70. Out of a 16" barrel at dusk it does give off a bit of flamethrower effect.

I do like that Lil'Gun! I'm making myself go back and shoot up almost 4 lbs of H110 before I shoot any more Lil'Gun. The 110 has been sitting almost a decade since I first tried the Lil'Gun. In all of my max loads the H110 is about 5% slower (FPS).

[Rooster59]

Friday I went the other way RD. Was passing through a podunk little town in SW Missouri on my way home from a business trip. There was a slick new gun shop, owned by a retired teacher and her retired from railroad husband. I was amazed at the powder he had. No Unique of course or I would have emptied my wallet right there. He did have half a dozen 1lb jugs of some good pistol powder including W296. Since I have had a tough time scoring more than a pound of Lil Gun about every 6 months I grabbed one pound of W296 to try. So what if it is a little slower than Lil Gun. I can practice my boomer loads with it and save my Lil Gun for deer season.

[DennisH]

If it ever gets above 0 I will get back out.
I need to get primers. Any special primers to use. I have been using winchester standard. The guy at the gun shop said they were fine.
I guess I will get some Lil Gun to try out too. The weather should change soon I hope. I really want to try out the chronograph. Any advise on that. It is still in the box.
Another question. I have been using Starline brass and only reload twice for stronger loads. But they look fine still. How many reloads can you do if they still look good?
For regular loads I have reloaded over 5x my Magtech Cowboy Action Load brass I bought before I started reloading. They still look good. As long as no cracking or anything they should be good. I don't like that grove in the brass they have . It makes me think they could separate there eventually.
Thanks for all the advice. I really don't know anyone who reloads to get real world advice from.