45 Colt loads....around 1200-1400 fps

[subsonic]

I have burnt a lot of powder, primers, and lead trying for excellent accuracy with ~250-300gr bullets in my .45colt Bisley. I did find some loads that shot decent, but nothing to write home about.

I now shoot a 340gr over 22gr H110 with a FED150 primer and it is the most accurate load I've ever tried, shooting into an inch at 25yds. I have not tried it further, but it shows consistency that leads me to beleive it will group on out to 100yds if I can do my part with the iron sights (not likely). This is about 1150fps in my 5.5" gun.

My gun had undersized and inconsistently sized throats, thread choke (still havent' managed to lap it all out...) and still has poor cylinder alignment.

[bradshaw]

subsonic.... by what you're saying, a proper chamber hone or ream job to .4525", and elimination of the crompression ring by fire lapping or freebore, should get some other the loads you've tried to group. Prof of long range accuracy requires shooting at long range. If you can record a 1" group at 25 yards, try the same sight picture on a much bigger target at 100 yards. A large aiming bull allows you to concentrate on sight picture and front sight focus, without a dinky target acting like a magnet on your eye. If the sun is out, shade your sights and shade your eye to crimp your pupil and keep flare from "adjusting your sights."

Set your POI (Point of Impact) 4" high at 25 yds before trying at 100 yards.
David Bardshaw

[45coltnut]

Subsonic,

After doing a session or two of fire lapping Ill be ordering some 300, 325 & 340 FP cast bullets to try. I'm hoping like your load, the H110 powder works good. It's one powder that my local gun shop keeps plenty of and my 44 SBH loves with 310 hard cast.

Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it.

[subsonic]

Aug 27, 2013 12:56:54 GMT -5 bradshaw said:

subsonic.... by what you're saying, a proper chamber hone or ream job to .4525", and elimination of the crompression ring by fire lapping or freebore, should get some other the loads you've tried to group. Prof of long range accuracy requires shooting at long range. If you can record a 1" group at 25 yards, try the same sight picture on a much bigger target at 100 yards. A large aiming bull allows you to concentrate on sight picture and front sight focus, without a dinky target acting like a magnet on your eye. If the sun is out, shade your sights and shade your eye to crimp your pupil and keep flare from "adjusting your sights."

Set your POI (Point of Impact) 4" high at 25 yds before trying at 100 yards.
David Bardshaw

Throats are fixed. I fire lapped the hell out of it (over 200rds - was worried about over-doing it) and still have some thread choke. It still shoots light stuff crappy, so I just shoot the heavy boolits.

[ward01]

Aug 27, 2013 9:50:56 GMT -5 subsonic said:

I have burnt a lot of powder, primers, and lead trying for excellent accuracy with ~250-300gr bullets in my .45colt Bisley. I did find some loads that shot decent, but nothing to write home about.

I now shoot a 340gr over 22gr H110 with a FED150 primer and it is the most accurate load I've ever tried, shooting into an inch at 25yds. I have not tried it further, but it shows consistency that leads me to beleive it will group on out to 100yds if I can do my part with the iron sights (not likely). This is about 1150fps in my 5.5" gun.

My gun had undersized and inconsistently sized throats, thread choke (still havent' managed to lap it all out...) and still has poor cylinder alignment.

I believe I have a Ruger Bisley from the same run as yours. I fixed the throats right away but no matter how many fire lap rounds I still can't get it to stop leading completely. It also shoots 255-280 bullets poorly.

I had a 45-70 RCBS mould for a 300 gascheck bullet that was casting undersized. With my alloy they were about 320 grains with gas check. I sized some of them to .452 and loaded them over 21.5 grains of 296/H110 with the Federal 150 and they were shooting nice ragged one hole groups at 25 yards. Unfortunately I had sent the mould back to RCBS for replacement for size issues. I have since bought a 335 grain gas check mould and am starting to work with it - it looks good but hasn't quite matched the other but that may just be me too. At least with the gas checks, the leading is gone.

For the lighter bullets, I bought one of 5.5" Ruger Flat Tops - that is still a work in progress but is starting to come around. This way I won't have to fool around with the sight changes when switching bullet weights. It also gives me the bisley grip for the heavies and the standard grip for the traditional Colt bullets.

[45coltnut]

Wow, it sounds like this issue is the norm with 45colt Bisleys.

I just received my pin gauges today in the mail, so I had to test them out. I definetly have a barrel restriction within the first 3/4" of the barrel. I can only tell that its within .001" with the pin gauges. However, after reviewing my slugs I think the compression area is about .0015" - .002". Hopefully fire lapping will cure this. But, if my Bisley is like ward01's and subsonics, then maybe it will at least shoot the heavy stuff. Which I'm fine with. I just want this dang gun to shoot!!!

Thanks so much for everyone's input. I love this sight.

Craig

[Paden]

45coltnut, your gun sounds like one of mine; one of the newer New Model Blackhawks made for Williams. Has a slight constriction near the muzzle (generally a good thing), and a slight constriction due to "thread crush" at the other end (not so good). Nonetheless, I was able to find some loads it's happy with. My favorite I already listed above; the 345 grain Accurate 454350B (my design) (available from Montana Bullet Works) over 16 to 17 grains VV-N110 (currently in stock at Powder Valley). In my gun it's super accurate and doesn't leave a single molecule of leading. Every gun is unique tho. Point being, even if your bore isn't "perfect" if you put in the time, you can likely find a load or loads it's happy with which will not lead at all. Stay away from lead that's too hard (15 BHN is plenty hard), use a good lube, and above all make sure your bullet is sized properly for you gun. A highly recommended read: www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_textonly2.pdf

[wfngc]

You can buy 260 X 1200 fps grn speer hot core hp's from Georgia Arms for $34.99 per 50 less shipping. They are a ruger/FA load only and will kill about anything that I know of.

[45coltnut]

Ok guys, I've got some news to report on my 45 Bisley.

I've fire lapped the barrel about 50 shots. It is helping but taking it slow as the the barrel is stainless. I've tested the accuracy with that standard 250 grainers that I was using before. Not a major difference, but some.

However, I did order some 328 grain lead bullets and tested those today. VIOLA!!! It shoots the heavy bullets great! I'll attach a couple pics showing the first 4 shot group at 25 yds off hand, then a two shot group after adjusting the sites some. Still off hand. I'm a liking these heavy bullets.

I did try two loads. It likes the slower loads around 1200 fps. I think this load will work great for knocking whitetails off their feet.

Craig

[Paden]

Nice shooting, Craig. What's the load?

[45coltnut]

Sorry about that. I was so excited to finally find load my gun likes, that I completely forgot to tell about it.

I loaded the 328 grain Hunter hard cast bullet over 23 grains of H110. I tried 24 grains also but the group was about an 1" larger. I also tried the 300 grain XTP's over 22 grains of H110, but the groups were like 5" at 25 yds. This actually surprised me. I expected it to shoot better than that.

I retrospect, I think I've been trying to push the bullets too fast. I'm an old rifle reloader and I've always, or at least 100% of the time with my rifles, have found them to be more accurate with the hottest loads.

My 10.5" SBH in 44mag likes the big 310 True Shot cast lead also. I may tame the load down just abit and see if the accuracy improves on it too. Although, its not bad at all right now.

I'm just like a little kid at Christmas right now though, its been a long several months tinkering with loads, having the throats reamed and painstakingly fire lapping the thread crush to finally get a respectable group at 2 yds. While I didn't put a tape measure to the group, its about 1.25" center to center for the 4 shot group. This is well under half of the best I was able to get previously. If I can keep a 2"-2.5" group at 50 yds, then I'll be very pleased.

Now my brain can rest for a while and begin its thought process or working the creep out of the trigger. I think this is an obsession......or should I just call it passion

[subsonic]

Try 21.5 & 22gr of H110....

[taz]

My standard load for the 45 Colt 9 grains Unique with a Keith 255 SWC have taken 9 black bear and 7 White tails all from a 2nd gen Colt SAA .All within 50 yards. Life is good

T J B

[500fksjr]

My Ruger RedHawk 45 cal 4 inch loves a 360grn.Cast Pref over 18 grn of LiL gun for about 1200 fps...It is stout but accurate and 1.5 inch grp. at 25yds

[whitworth]

Oct 3, 2013 15:58:40 GMT -5 taz said:

My standard load for the 45 Colt 9 grains Unique with a Keith 255 SWC have taken 9 black bear and 7 White tails all from a 2nd gen Colt SAA .All within 50 yards. Life is good

T J B

taz, what's the barrel length of your SAA?