Hi All,
The other week my father ordered Speer's 300gr Gold Dot bullet for his .45 Long Colt. I did some snooping on the web and noticed that Speer has designed this bullet for the .454 Casul, pushing it much faster than is possible with the Colt. I'm wondering if it can still be used at Ruger/Contender levels and if I can expect some expansion at these velocities? Also can anyone give me loading suggestions for this bullet with either 296 powder or 2400? My dad has a custom made 15" .45LC Only bull barrel from the TC Custom shop that we're hoping will squeeze out enough velocity from safe powder charges to make this bullet open up a bit. He's not so computer savy, so I thought I'd ask here for him. Thanks for any help or direction you can give.
Anthropas
Anthropas,
The Speer #13 manual (their latest) shows a starting load of 20.2 grains of 296 and a maximum of 22.5 with the bullet seated in the BOTTOM cannelure to allow for the maximum powder space. Magnum primers are recommended with this powder. Speer cautions that these loads were tested with copper crusher equipment to the MAXIMUM PRESSURE of 40000 CUP. Using the wrong cannelure or increasing powder charges will cause pressures in excess of industry maximums.
the load listed for 2400 with the same cautions are starting at 17.1 and a maximum of 19.0 using standard NOT magnum primers.
Other warnings with this bullet are included for Colt and Wesson Revolvers. The shorter cylinders of these pistols require crimping in the forward cannelure and reduction of loads - they suggest using the loads in the rifle section of their manual which use the alternate seating depth for reliability of feeding.
The 300 grain is recommended where deep penetration is the primary concern and expansion is seconary. With a 15 inch barrel on a TC Contender frame you should expect some expansion as it gets near 1200 FPS from the 7.5 inch test barrel. I would expect nearly 1350 FPS from your gun.
