Has anyone hand loaded a 45LC shotshell?

[BigBossMan]

How do you do that using black powder? :shock:

[Questor]

Interesting question. I wonder if you'd be able to get enough powder into it to make it work well.  The recipes I've seen -- and don't rush to your loading bench with this advice because I'm only paraphrasing from memory-- is that you use a few grains of smokeless followed by a gas check, followed by shot, followed by an inverted gas check and a roll crimp. Speer might make plastic shot cups for 45LC (I know they make them for 38, 44, and 45ACP.)  Using the gas check method, I don't think you'd have enough room in the case for powder. Using the shot cup, you probably will because the cup extends beyond the case mouth.

[John Traveler1]

I'm with Questor.  The Speer .45 shot capsules are the way to go using a moderate charge of smokeless powder.

If you insist on using blackpowder, you need to copy how it was done in the last century:  shot loaded into wooden bullet-shaped "sabots" using overpowder card wads.  

An alternative is to use rifle-caliber brass, trim down the rim to fit the .45 Colt chamber, and make it cylinder-length.  .303 British and .30-40 work okay for this, but they will bulge a bit because of the bigger .45 Colt chamber.  I've used .444 Marlin brass for this in .44 Spl and magnum revolvers with good luck.