Which primer, and load is best for you in your 45 L.C. ?

[cleveland48]

I've been looking on John Taffin's website.(www.sixguns.com).  And one of his articles is about ruger packing pistols.  He has listed loads and the velocity for his loads on this page.  I have a 4 5/8 blackhawk in 45 L.C.  Which is what he has on this page and one of his loads is 20.0 gr. of Alliant 2400 with a 250 gr XTP. I have been shooting this load for about 3 days now, and it seems to be working pretty good.  I'm using CCI large pistol primers, but was wondering if any of you use magnum primes.  Also can some of you tell me your favorite loads for this caliber, along with the primer,powder, and bullet that is working for you.  Just wondering what some of you have had good luck with.  I'll be using it this deer season if one comes out close enough I may put my rifle down and give her a try.  I can keep 12 shots inside about 4 1/2 to 5 inches or so at 50 yards.  I'm young with good eyes but for some reason I can't use these sights as well as I thought I could lol.  I've read on here where people are getting 1 or 2 in groups at this range, but I'm not capable of it apparently.  But thanks for any advice ya'll can give me guys.  Good luck this year. Andrew.

[dpe.ahoy]

I wouldn't use mag. primers with 2400.  If you go to H110 or LilGun then use mag. primers.  I use a max load of both with heavy (315g) Keith SWC with very good results.  Use them in my Blackhawk, Redhawk and all 3 rifles as well.  Won't tell ya my weight of powder charge as I have gotten it from sources other than the powder site.  Check some articals by Brian Pierce in Handloader magazine or Ross Seifreid.  They have both written several articals on the 45 Colt.  That has become my favorite handgun cartridge for hunting.  Lately have been using Titegroup with good results using a receipe from the Hodgdon site and 300g cast bullets.  DP

[blackhawk45]

For plinking I use 9.0grs. of HS-6, Win brass ,CCI LP Mag primers and a 250gr. L.R.N.F.P. Meisterbullet.

For some serious Deer and Bear hunting, I use a stout load of Win 296, Win brass, CCI LP Mag primers,and either 250,or 300 gr.Hornady XTPs, These loads are very accurate out of my 5 1/2"  Blackhawk, but the Win 296 loads are a hand full, ( recoil is brutal )

[cleveland48]

I was wanting to get some H110, or 296.  And I was wondering if you were suppose to use Mag primers with these two powders.  I won't be using max charges but fairly close.  I was wanting to keep velocity around 1000fps or little more with 250 xtp or 300 xtp, I don't know how hard this will be with the 4 5/8 barrel.  Also I've heard about how stout the blackhawks are, but was wondering how they perform with a steady diet of heavy loads?  I havn't loaded just plinkers yet, but I do have some universal on hand to play with when I get time.

[Glanceblamm]

My very first hunting load came straight out of the Hornady 3rd Edition manual and was listed as being safe for their test firearm which was a Colt buntline special with a (sawed off) 4-3/4"barrel.
They used 21.6gr of 296 & a Fed 150 primer with the 250gr XTP and got 1,000fps out of it. This worked great out of my 7-1/2" barrel Ruger on accuracy & preformance.

I did go ahead and warm the load up a little in the latter years and use the CCI primers exclusively...My Sierra data recomends the
CCI 350 for the likes of 2400, Bluedot, and 296
CCI 300 for most all of the others

most of my plinking is done with Unique & the CCI 300

[cleveland48]

I've got some cci LPM primers, but when the guy handed them to me at the store I wasn't paying attentiion.  I found out when I got home that they were the strips of primers.  What is the best way about getting them out of the strips?

[Lone Star]

The makers of 2400 - Alliant - do not recommend using magnum primers in .45LC loads.   It simply isn't necessary with this powder in this case.  Nosler, Speer, Hornady and Lyman agree - although they do use WLP primers which are hotter than some other brands of standard primers (but then they use them for W231 loads too ).  You can use mag primers with 2400 if it makes you happy but if you do so, drop your charge a few grains first and work up.

You do need mag primers for the ball twins H110/W296.  You also need to load these to within 3% of max loads, use a small expander and a lot of crimp.  It also works best to use bullets of 240-grains or higher.

I like BlueDot in my .45LCs, plenty of performance, great accuracy and lower recoil than the slower ball powders.  Less sensitive to bullet pull too.

.

[Glanceblamm]

Lone Star Wrote:

You can use mag primers with 2400 if it makes you happy but if you do so, drop your charge a few grains first and work up.

It looks like Sierra already has this figured in as the starting load is 17.9gr of the 2400 and the max listed is 20.3gr
I really do like this stuff as it produces tidy groups.

Looks like you know your stuff as the accuracy load on the very same page of the Sierra data list 15.3gr of the Blue Dot with the 240gr bullet for loads in the 1,100fps range.
One thing about that Blue Dot...you do get an impressive Boom out of it.

[larry357]

My best (favorite)  all around load that works accurately in all my 45,s with my cast bullets is:
CCI 300 - 255Gr. Keith- 9.0 Gr. Unique. Chronoed out of the 7 1/2" Hunter= 1042 fps
This load is accurate in my shorter barrels and the chrono says it is adequate for Whitetail
My most accurate hunting load is:
Win WLP-255Gr. Keith- 18.0Gr. 2400. Chronoed out of the 7 1/2" Hunter=1191 fps.
I dont use Mag primers with 2400 and back when I was testing loads for hunting it was probably luck of the draw that the WLP,s gave me a little better accuracy. As far as cheap plinkin and paper plates a little Bullseye goes a long way
NOTE: Neither of these loads are for older guns or the Newer small frame Vaquero,s

[Graybeard]

Because of what's available locally mostly I use the Winchester primers that are for magnum or standard use more than any other. They work fine for me in both applications and just seem to be all that is carried around where I buy.

[cleveland48]

Yeah gray beard where I'm from just about the only primers you can get are winchester standard and magnum.  I just happened to find some cci primers the other day, but wasn't for sure which one.  So I just got the standard pistol primers.