longer barrel 45 colt; different powder than for short bbl

[kennisondan]

I have a ten inch forty five colt barrel coming (tc) and am not familiar enough with burning rates of powders and twists of rifling to decide intelligently what powder, bullet and velocity would optimize the weapon for deer hunting when scoped at longer ranges than my other pistols that are short barrelled.
any weight bullet, etc is acceptable to me... I would also wonder what kind of range I might be able to responsibly place my shots for deer sized targets... would an absolute maximum of 200 yards with an adjustable scope be reasonable ? how about 150 ? Will it rival the 35 rem. for long range trajectory and effectiveness.? heavy bullet for retained energy or lighter bullet for trajectory advantages - if any - ?
dk

[quickdtoo]

I'll give you a for instance of what the longer barrel does using Lil'gun anyway, I get a 400fps increase over Hodgdon's 7¼" barreled handgun data, in a 20" barreled 45 Colt H&R BC Carbine that will shoot 250gr jacketed bullets at over 1900fps using Ruger/TC load data for Lil'gun, did a little experimenting using the  Hornady 250gr SST muzzleloading bullet using the same data from Hodgdon for the 250gr XTP, accuracy is good at 100yds, here's the potential ballistics using Sierra Infinity software. They aren't cheap at $10-$12 for 20, but would make a nice 150yd deer round out of the 45Colt in a bit longer handgun barrel I would think if the trajectory is close to the prediction, 3" high at 100yds puts it dead on at 150yds and 3" low at 175yds. I get the same velocity with the 250gr Speer GDHP using the same data.

Tim

Trajectory for Custom .451 dia. (45 cal) 250 gr. SST at 1900 Feet per Second
At an Elevation Angle of: 0 degrees
Ballistic Coefficients of: 0.21   0.21   0.21   0.21   0.21
Velocity Boundaries (Feet per Second) of: 720   720   720   720
Wind Direction is: 0.0 o'clock and a Wind Velocity of: 0.0 Miles per hour
Wind Components are (Miles per Hour): DownRange: 0.0   Cross Range: 0.0   Vertical: 0.0
Altitude: 0 Feet with a Standard Atmospheric Model.
Temperature: 59 F
Data Printed in English Units
Range   Velocity   Energy   Momentum   Drop   Bullet Path   Wind Drift   Time of Flight
(Yards)   (Ft/Sec)   (Ft/Lbs)   (Lb-Sec)   (inches)   (inches)   (inches)   (Seconds)
0   1900.0   2003.6   2.11   0.0   -1.5   0.0   0.000000000
25   1813.0   1824.3   2.01   -0.31   0.64   0.0   0.040410915
50   1728.8   1658.9   1.92   -1.28   2.12   0.0   0.082775723
75   1647.7   1506.9   1.83   -2.98   2.88   0.0   0.127215091
100   1569.9   1367.9   1.74   -5.48   2.83   0.0   0.173850143
125   1495.7   1241.6   1.66   -8.86   1.9   0.0   0.222799891
150   1425.3   1127.5   1.58   -13.21   0.0   0.0   0.274174654
175   1359.1   1025.3   1.51   -18.64   -2.97   0.0   0.328070501
200   1297.5   934.4   1.44   -25.24   -7.12   0.0   0.384560653
225   1241.0   854.7   1.38   -33.13   -12.55   0.0   0.443683287
250   1189.8   785.7   1.32   -42.43   -19.4   0.0   0.505428702




Trajectory for Speer .451 dia. 250 gr. GDHP (45 Colt) at 1900 Feet per Second
At an Elevation Angle of: 0 degrees
Ballistic Coefficients of: 0.165   0.165   0.165   0.165   0.165
Velocity Boundaries (Feet per Second) of: 800   800   800   800
Wind Direction is: 0.0 o'clock and a Wind Velocity of: 0.0 Miles per hour
Wind Components are (Miles per Hour): DownRange: 0.0   Cross Range: 0.0   Vertical: 0.0
Altitude: 0 Feet with a Standard Atmospheric Model.
Temperature: 59 F
Data Printed in English Units
Range   Velocity   Energy   Momentum   Drop   Bullet Path   Wind Drift   Time of Flight
(Yards)   (Ft/Sec)   (Ft/Lbs)   (Lb-Sec)   (inches)   (inches)   (inches)   (Seconds)
0   1900.0   2003.6   2.11   0.0   -1.5   0.0   0.000000000
25   1789.8   1777.8   1.99   -0.31   0.77   0.0   0.040673404
50   1684.2   1574.3   1.87   -1.31   2.36   0.0   0.083875493
75   1583.8   1392.3   1.76   -3.06   3.19   0.0   0.129801991
100   1489.1   1230.7   1.65   -5.69   3.15   0.0   0.178646924
125   1400.7   1089.0   1.55   -9.3   2.13   0.0   0.230589297
150   1319.4   966.1   1.46   -14.01   0.0   0.0   0.285776436
175   1245.9   861.5   1.38   -19.97   -3.38   0.0   0.344299458
200   1181.1   774.2   1.31   -27.33   -8.16   0.0   0.406160863

[Lloyd Smale]

I like to keep my handgun hunting to a 100 yards scoped or not. Theres just to many vairables in the field. But then thats my opinion and lots of guys are capable of more. I know guys that shoot as well as i do at a 100 yards at 200. One thing a guy has to keep in mind is that if your going to shoot way out there you need to check your load way out there. Just because a handgun load shoots well at 50 or a 100 yards doesnt mean it still will at 150 or 200 yards. When you start talking 200 yards theres a whole lot of bullet drop you need to compensate for and wind conditions even with a heavy cast bullet come into play. In my opinion theres about a handful of handgunners in the US capable of actually shooting well enough to push a wheelgun past a 100 yards and make a killing shot EVERY TIME. Im just not one of them.

[Graybeard]

Shooting from the bench at 200 at targets is a totally different concept than shooting at game in the field at 200 yards. Unless you are in a rock solid position almost like a bench rest or prone game shooting at that range with a handgun even a TC is rather problematic. But a .45 Colt from a handgun is NOT a 200 yard round in my opinion. The trajectory just isn't flat enough to try it. Velocity isn't gonna be there to expand a jacketed bullet either. Unless you know precisely the range from a range finder and have shot enough to know precisely where your bullet hits at such ranges and unless the rest is rock solid it's just plain foolish in my opinion to shoot at unwounded game at such ranges with the old Colt round. The same powders best in long barrels are best in short barrels and vice versa. Choose powder by the round you're loading not the length of barrel.

[Questor]

There are plenty of good 200 yard handgun hunting cartridges out there. Start looking at the 6.5JDJ and 7mm Waters. They have the trajectory and proven effectiveness you need.

I shoot 44 magnum from a 10" Contender barrel and it's fine out to 100 yards, 125 is a bit of a stretch, but if you know the hold over it's OK. Beyond that, the bullets drop like an anvil in a vacuum.  If you decide to hunt with the 45, use the heavier bullets. 250 grain minimum.

[stimpylu32]

I have shot well over 20,000 rounds of 45LC in the last 20 years in everything from my 4" Tracker to a custom 8 3/8" S&W to a 10" Contender and at no point would i try a shot at over 100 yards in a handgun , there are just too many things that can and will go wrong , the idea is to get a clean kill and not leave a wounded animal to die a slow painful death .

At 100 or less you have a great round and gun but you MUST know its limits .

stimpy

[Lone Star]

After nearly 20 years shooting various .45LCs in IHMSA silhouette competition out to 220 yards, I know  that the cartridge is fully capable of killing a deer at that distance.  It is accurate enough with the right load, and can have plenty of killing power.

That said, it is a tough cartridge to shoot at that range.  The trajectory is looping so hitting past 125 yards is difficult.  Can you shoot well enough to kill a deer at 200 yards?  I practiced weekly for years and I could do it....but never did.  My 10" T/C is loaded with 240 XTPs at just under 1500 fps, and the load groups 2.5 moa at 100 yards.   I've killed deer with my T/C at that range and a bit more - but never at near 200 yards.  (The 240XTP MAG penetrates deeper than the 250XPT due to its stronger constriction.)   Enjoy the .45LC for what it is, an outstanding close to medium range handgun cartridge. 

Back to your original question - use powders like H110, Lil'Gun and AA-9.


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