45 Colt - Laying out the New 45 Colt Roadmap for 2024

 I had previously said that I wanted to go back and investigate .45 Colt again but more in depth. This time, I'm looking at it from the handgun hunter's perspective. Recently, I found that I have a local source of powder that's well priced but is limited in options. I would have liked to find Unique or 2400 but they only have a few Hodgdon powders. Looking over the load data from Hodgdon's site, they have several recipes for .45 Colt using TiteGroup which is available at that location. I have another LGS source option has HS-6 and HP-38 which I have data for along with a possible option for CFE Pistol. 

While I have a good supply of HS-6, the powder is rumored to prefer the heavier bullets from what I've read on. One of my favorite makers of cast bullets does have a good SWC hollow point design in the 250 grain weight along with some lighter weights such as 225 gr and 185 gr. 

Based on the Hodgdon Reloading Center data, which I don't like the new page design by the way as the multiple selection system is clumsy, they list that HS-6 with a 250 gr cast lead bullet are the fastest of the available powders at 946 FPS with 10.5 grains of HS-6. 

I was thinking that I would order a 250 count of the 250 grain bullet as I think I like the heavier bullet design but the cast bullet website actually suggested the 225 grain pills. With that recommendation, I may start there with the 225 grain bullets sized to .452. The platform will be the Cabela's Special Pietta 1873SA with the 4 3/4 inch barrel. I'm hoping the bore needs a .452 diameter instead of a .454 like the older guns are but it's starting to look like it's something smaller when I miced the grooves. Also, the throats are micing around .45 with variation so I think a visit to Moss Pawn is in order to gauge and ream the throats. I'll have have them slug the barrel while it's there.

The Cabela's Special, the Pietta 1873SA in .45 Colt.

Let's start with the HS-6 data since that's what I have available. All the data comes from Hodgdon's Reloading Center page.

HS-6

The 225 gr data starts at 7.0 grains and moves up to 9.3 grains. The test barrel length used is a 7 1/4 inch length netting them around 919 FPS. Odd since a higher bullet weight at 250 grains with a 10.5 gr charge gets a higher velocity per their data. 

With that information, I will start with HS-6 since that's what I have. Everything below this is if the HS-6 loads aren't accurate. I'll go get a different powder and try again.

Titegroup

Titegroup seems to be more efficient as the recipes starts at 4.4 grains and move up to 6.0 grains for the 225 grain bullet. 

HP-38

Load data for HP-38 starts at 5.1 grains and goes to 6.9 grains for a pressure of 13,600 PSI. Since were using an SAA clone, it's probably best not to push beyond the 14,000 PSI max 

There is another option available using CFE Pistol. If I see the LGS has it, I may try to pick some up as the Hodgdon website shows it has the best performance. 

The end goal of this is simple, to find a good hand load that has enough power to take a deer that is accurate. I'll start working on this in early 2024 once life settles in. 

I will start a 45 Colt hand loads post like I did with the 357 Magnum with rolling updates.