.45 colt efficiency

[frontloader1]

Glanceblumn/Meplat.......You are absolutely right.....I misread/misunderstood Glanceblumn post.I apologize to all.my head is not screwed on right sometimes....frontloader1

[MePlat]

frontloader1 :

You did nothing wrong.  You looked in a particular Hornady manual and saw that W296 wasn't listed for the 45 Colt in standard or Ruger section.  Thats good.  In the 3rd edition you will see it.  In the Hornady vol II published in 1973 you will see Winchester 630 listed for 1000 fps in the same gun,  a Colt SAA with a 4 3/4 inch barrel.
Just remember it is always good to be safe, but,  if one is using a load for many years,  getting good service from it through many lot changes of powder and primers and their gun is sound and their brass is not passing away too soon than that load is safe.
Be cautious but also be reasonable too.  Kinda like being so safe you never leave home for fear of being hurt but then one looks at the CDC website at the number of people injured at home in falls etc.. 
Common sense prevails.

[Range Rider]

Deer never wears body armor.  The .45 Colt and many other handgun rounds will take a deer.  The old advise of shot placement of course is the key.  I once saw a fellow shoot mule deer at 20 yds. with a German Luger it went down for the count.  Should you use a 9MM for deer?  Hell no.

RR

[Mohawk]

Though both lungs the 9mm is fine. And expanded it is more than enough. Just my observations.....

[Terbltim]

This is too much fun not to get in on!

The original question was: "can the 45 Colt Ruger be used as a short range(50 - 75 yd) whitetail round?

Answer: Yes! (with nearly any load you care to use that you can shoot well.)

What really matters is making a good shot.
If the deer is not recovered...it probably wasn't a good shot.
Don't blame the gun or the ammo.
Only you can make a bad shot.

Life is good.

[critter44]

The last Monday of Nov. this year, I shot a doe with mine at just under 50 yards. I have a S&W M25 with 8 3/8" barrel. Load was a 255 gr hard lead SWC at just over 900 FPS. Hit her mid-right shoulder and it exited the 3rd rib from the back. She went about 35 yards and piled up. Yup. Works just fine!

LOVE handgun hunting! This was my first with the .45 colt and the first with iron sights.  I have taken several others with a Redhawk .44 mag, a Ruger Blackhawk hunter .44 mag and a Contender in 30-30.

I have decided that the placement of the shot is WAY over the top as the most important part. Poke a good hole in the vitals and you are good to go to the dinner table.

[Glanceblamm]

Glanceblumn/Meplat.......You are absolutely right.....I misread/misunderstood Glanceblumn post.I apologize to all.my head is not screwed on right sometimes....frontloader1

You did nothing wrong as said already.

I also have some great data from Sierra and the bluedot along with the 2400 worked out very well among others. My big problem is keeping the lot's of hunting ammo down to a reasonable size. I like 100rd lots but 20 would be much better for those new or once fired cases reserved for hunting.

[Mohawk]

Exactly right, Critter. Very well said.

[Mohawk]

Take it from a guy that uses a .38 Spl for venison, Critter. The stuff just works as in your .45 Colt SWC. No need to hot rod anything and beat your gun up. Just put the bullet where it needs to go.... Good Job and Good Shooting!

[Ak.Hiker]

"might ought to check that Hornady Handbook again!!! Im setting here looking at Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading ....Fourth Edition..45 long colt....250 grain hp/XTP....no listing of 296......for listing of 296, I have to go to the Ruger-T/C only....250 grain hp/XTP  no listing of 296.........300 grain hp/XTP..Starts Win296....18.3 gr@1100 fps......THE MAX..21.3 GR@1300 FPS  ......"

Just because a load is not in a newer book doesn't mean it isn't/wasn't a good load.  What rips me are the shooters that have been using a load they got from an older book and have been using that load for years with different lots of powder,  primers and cases and in some situations many different guns and when they see a newer book with greatly reduced loads for their powder and bullet weight start to quake,  swoon, shake and grab their chest screaming "oh lordy I have a lit stick of dynamite in my hand."
If one has been using a good load for years and getting good case life, been using different lots of primers and different cases and the guns are still sound then that load is okay.  Period.

Now if you are experiecing pressure problems than look at the load with a critical eye.  There will be tell tell signs. 44 mag below
Speer # 9 240 gr bullet 2400 powder cci 350 19.0 gr max
Speer # 10 240 gr bullet 2400 cci 350  22.2 max
Speer # 13  240 gr bullet 2400 cci 300 21.0 max
Speer # 14 same as #13

45 Colt speer data #14
Ruger data
260 JHP  H110 20.0 gr max
300 UCSP  H110 23.5 gr  both cci 350
Explain these two loads.

Okay go.

The difference in load data may be based on bullet construction. The 300 grain Unicore is quite a bit tougher than the 260 grain JHP.

[Lloyd Smale]

I dont get into the math numbers when comparing two differnt calibers be it rifle or handgun. Ive just seen to many times in the field where killing power of a gun on a certain animal was way out of wack with the numbers. I go buy what i actually see and what ive seen over the years is that theres not spit differnce between the 44 mag and 45 colt when loaded with simular weight bullets at simular speeds and thats high praise indeed for the 45 colt. Ill say this too. Take a 44 special, mag or 45 colt and load it with a 250 grain cast bullet with a decent metplat at 900 fps and you will be shocked how well it does even compared to much more powerful loads and bigger guns. Ill put it this way. I wouldnt be a bit leary of taking a gun loaded like that hunting anything under 600 lbs. As a matter of fact id feel better armed then i would with something like a 243 that makes probably twice the ft lbs of energy. What your guaranteed with a good bullet at those speeds out of a sixgun is penetration. The ability to drive a bullet EVERYTIME into the vitals of an animal and thats what kills.

[cwlongshot]

Good post Lloyd!! 
The 44/45 IS .429-.454 AT impact. A 243 may be faster and WILL expand. But thinking it would ever attain the diameter of the pistol rounds ARE is foolishness. Not to steal the 243's thunder either. It's a great round. But for my money, inside say 125 yards, I'll take the properly loaded pistol round ten times outta nine! Load the pistol rounds with a hard cast bullet with wide mepat like a LBT or a WFNGC that can and will penetrate thru and thru and look out!! Foot pounds,"shmoot pounds"! Physics dictates, your not hitting that animal with any more force than you feel against yor shoulder firing the round! I'll take the 100% gaurented, 45 caliber hole. Coupled with, thru and thru penetration, to most anything else with in say 125 yards.

The bullet diameter at impact is something many of the Killing or power "formulas" miss. I still look to the foot pounds as kinda a " litmus" scale for game. IIRC the Taylor TKO scale does take bullet diameter into account.

CW

[ole 5 hole group]

I go buy what i actually see and what ive seen over the years is that theres not spit differnce between the 44 mag and 45 colt when loaded with simular weight bullets at simular speeds and thats high praise indeed for the 45 colt.

I would generally agree with that statement but would have worded the last couple words like this:  that's high praise indeed for the 44 Magnum. 

[Lloyd Smale]

sorry but my first love is the 44 mag and in my opinion its what i measure the others by.

[Mohawk]

No math needed. Take a chunk of lead, put it through both lungs, and you will have a dead animal. My .38 Spl worked as well as most other handgun and rifle calibers, at least on deer. I don't understand this power thing. If it drops or hobbles 30 yds, who cares. I have seen .44 Mag through a rifle be less effective than the same hit by a .357/.38 in a revolver. Numbers mean nothing when it comes to killing things. It is what you hit with whatever you happen to be shooting.

[S.B.]

I'll have to join the proponents on this one. The .45 Colt will do just fine. Who on earth are you reading, that says it won't do for whitetail deer? Checkout John Linebaugh's website for some facts about this caliber, he has a ton of experience with this caliber, and builds some of the very best revolvers chambered for around it.
Steve

[Cheesehead]

I have taken deer with a 45 Colt and a 44 mag revolver. The deer could not tell the difference.

Cheese

[Merle]

I dont get into the math numbers when comparing two differnt calibers be it rifle or handgun. Ive just seen to many times in the field where killing power of a gun on a certain animal was way out of wack with the numbers. I go buy what i actually see and what ive seen over the years is that theres not spit differnce between the 44 mag and 45 colt when loaded with simular weight bullets at simular speeds and thats high praise indeed for the 45 colt. Ill say this too. Take a 44 special, mag or 45 colt and load it with a 250 grain cast bullet with a decent metplat at 900 fps and you will be shocked how well it does even compared to much more powerful loads and bigger guns. Ill put it this way. I wouldnt be a bit leary of taking a gun loaded like that hunting anything under 600 lbs. As a matter of fact id feel better armed then i would with something like a 243 that makes probably twice the ft lbs of energy. What your guaranteed with a good bullet at those speeds out of a sixgun is penetration. The ability to drive a bullet EVERYTIME into the vitals of an animal and thats what kills.

I would like to add that there are several high performance loads (Buffalo Bore & Double Tap) for the 45 Auto Rim that will also duplicate this level of  performance. I'm currently working with handloads in a S&W M625, and hope to get a chance at a deer next year.

    

[wls]

Ive taken a big 11 pointer with a 255lswc over 9.0g of Unique over a cci300 primer.  Out of my Ruger 51/2 inch it clocked an average of 975fps.  The buck was 35 paces away.