45 colt carbine????

[adirondacker]

hey folks,i was wonderin' if any of you have one of the 45 colt carbines.i am thinking of buying a couple for my sons.i thought they would have fun with them if they will accept cast bullets.cheap to shoot but should do ok for rattling steel.will they shoot cast bullets,i don't even know how they rifle them.thanks,adker

[Wolfgang]

adirondacker,

I don't have the whole carbine but I did pick up a barrel from one of the members here on GBO.  I snapped it on one of my frames and we were off to the races.  The one I got ended up needing a little bit of work in the extractor as the cases were hanging up on it when fired but after that it worked out well.  It shoots great and all of the cast stuff and jackteted stuff that I have put through it has been accurate.  I haven't really had much time to work up a really good load for it but I suspect it will easily keep them within 2" at 100 yards if I would scope it.  I'm not willing to sell mine if that gives you an idea!

Best,
Wolfgang

[LaOtto222]

I do not have one, but several here do, including Quick (Tim). He will be by shortly. From what I read they do just fine with cast, shoot very well. I think you will be happy with them. They could also be loaded up to be more powerful than a 44 Mag. This would make them a great woods rifle for deer too.

[quickdtoo]

Yupper, I do indeed have one, the only cast bullet I've tried is a 230gr gas checked, sized to .454", the few loads I shot didn't do well, but it could have been the scope cuz the groups opened up real bad as I progressed up in powder, so I put a different scope on it and need to shoot the rest of the cast bullet loads. But the 250gr Speer GDHP and 250gr Hornady SST shoot real good with max loads of Lil'gun at a little over 1900fps.

Tim

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,118881.msg1098392036.html#msg1098392036

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,124487.msg1098436387.html#msg1098436387

[whiteoper]

 I bought a 45 carbine here last month and have only shot cast boolits in it.  It really seems to like the same load ( trail boss with 250 gr wheel weight out of lee tumble lube mold) as I have been shooting in my ruger single action.  I have also shot the same boolit with 36 gr of Goex BP with some good results out to fifty yards. I haven't tried any 200g or 230g boolits yet.  The trail boss load gives me about 920 fps out of the carbine and 720 fps out of my 7.5 " ruger with little to no felt recoil.   Sorry Tim can't see where the 45 is spose to have more recoil than the 243 on your chart??/  Or did I read the handi rifle recoil chart wrong???

My boys (nephew 10y and son 6y) just love this little 45 and my 6 year (big boy for his age)  old can shoot the carbine off hand.  On repeated trips to the range he has had no problem killing pop cans out to the fifty yard range with the open sights. 

I have ordered a 2-4 bushnell banner for the carbine and then will try the 250 gr boolits out to say 100m.  I also plan on putting a youth model stock on my carbine as the boys don't let me shoot it much any how.  The only problem with my carbine so far is that it seems to be very hard on powder and lead supplies.

In all seriousness everyone here realy likes the carbine and it does shoot cast boolits great out to 50y (as far as I have papered it). 

Roscoe

[hobbit]

I love mine, it shoots cast bullet just fine too!

[quickdtoo]

Sorry Tim can't see where the 45 is spose to have more recoil than the 243 on your chart??/  Or did I read the handi rifle recoil chart wrong???

What Handi recoil chart?  Recoil of my 250gr loads is about 15ft/lbs, which is about double that of the 243,  but if you're referring to your light loads,  those are less than the 243 listed on Chuck Hawks recoil table.

Tim

http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm

http://www.handloads.com/calc/recoil.asp

[whiteoper]

On the recoil side i was just having fun.  I know my light loads are just that "light plinking loads" with a min amount of recoil. On the other hand the 36g of black powder behind a 250gr pill  will move the recoil of the cabine up Mr Hawk's table some.+++

Roscoe

[quickdtoo]

 

[adirondacker]

thanks for all the input.i plan on loading a 230 grn fpb boolit from a mold i got off'n lloyd smale awhile back.i expect i'll use unique as a propellant seeing how i just stole an 8 lb're from my reloading shop for $100,make spretty cheap cast boolit shooting.besides i like the smoke,specially when you rapid fire a revolver loaded with it.
  what can i expect to pay for one of these honey's?,they are walnut right?,is it usually decent.what is the buttplate like ,if anyone has any pics i would like them,i haven't seen one in person and the stock photos i've found don't show much.thanks again,adker

[quickdtoo]

I doubt you'll find em for less than about $325, likely closer to $350. The stock set is checkered walnut with a steel butt plate that's case colored. Mine has a standard SB2 blued frame since it's an accessory barrel, but the frame of the Carbine is also case colored like my 45-120 BC, although it doesn't show well in the pic.

http://rrarms.com/catalog.php?prod=GCR45LC

444 Marlin and 45 Colt BC Carbine