Reloading .45 Colt for indoor use and bowling pins.

[That Guy]

Sometimes, I am "That Guy".

When I saw indoors, I immediately thought that about 40 grains of 3F Black Powder would be about right.

Well, I *do* agree that would be an awesome load to try, indoors... (Once.)

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[dragonmouse]

I'll jump on the 8.5 unique under a 250gr lswc. My lil 3.5in barrel uberti will do poa/poi with enough sight out to 25yds all day long. Don't have a chrony atm but it's the same load that an older 5.5 in off brand saa took several white tail does with a few years back. Bowling pins would be fun!

[willie]

Red Dot shotgun powder has been a favorite for many decades when loading 250/255 grain cast bullets. 6 to 6.5 grains of Red Dot with the bullet weight given will keep you within SAAMI specs and produce accurate ammo. Don't waste money on 300 grain bullets for indoor shooting. Anyway, who needs the extra recoil?

[Exiledviking]

I really appreciate all of your replies. Quite the brain trust we've got here! Gotta love this forum.

Can't wait to try out the Ruger .45 Colt. I think I'll keep the velocity around 800 to 850 FPS. Looks like that'll be plenty for bowling pins.

Anyone have an older version of Hornady's reloading manual? I have the 9th edition and using the powder charges listed for their 180 gr XTP .357 Magnum loads using VV N110, my 6 inch S&W 686 Plus is around 200 FPS slow compared to the velocity Hornady is listing. At 10.7 grains I got 716 FPS and with 10.9 gr it was 741 FPS. This was 10 rounds of each load. Hornady's velocities (around 930 to 960 FPS with those 2 loads) were recorded using an 8" Colt Python. I'd be curious to see if Hornady reduced the loads in the later manuals as I've read in some forums.

VV shows their starting load with N110 for a 180 Speer TMJ as being 12.7 grains for a velocity of 1253 FPS. That's WAY above the velocity I'm aiming for of 1000 FPS.

We also ran a Rainier plated 158 gr RN 357 Mag load with 5.4 grains of Titegroup thru the chrono at the same time and it came up around 250 FPS below where it should have been.

Is it possible to have a barrel that is that slow?

Hopefully this week or next I'll have another opportunity to use the chrono with some slightly heavier loads (11.1, 11.3, 11.4, and 11.5) of the VV N110 to see if puts me closer to the 1000 FPS goal. We are also going to shoot some of those N110 loads and the 158 Rainier/Titegroup load thru my friend's 6" S&W .357 Mag revolver to see if we find a big difference in velocities.

[okie john]

Is it possible to have a barrel that is that slow?

The cylinder gap is the likely culprit.


Okie John

[Exiledviking]

The cylinder gap is the likely culprit.


Okie John

My friend and I thought so too but we looked at it the day we ran the chrono. It looks pretty tight, probably somewhere around 0.003. I'll have to gauge with some feeler gauges.

[Exiledviking]

Another friend who's an experienced reloader suggested that I might not have enough of a crimp on the bullet.
I'm going to have to read up on crimping.

With that heavy of a bullet should I be using a roll crimp?
And how do I determine if it's a hard enough crimp?

[BN]

VV shows their starting load with N110 for a 180 Speer TMJ as being 12.7 grains for a velocity of 1253 FPS. That's WAY above the velocity I'm aiming for of 1000 FPS.

Looks like you are 2 grains below what VV recommends for a starting load. Maybe N110 isn't a good powder for reduced loads.

I often get less velocity than what is listed.

I have a Hornady #3, but VV powder hadn't been invented yet.

[Malamute]

Another friend who's an experienced reloader suggested that I might not have enough of a crimp on the bullet.
I'm going to have to read up on crimping.

With that heavy of a bullet should I be using a roll crimp?
And how do I determine if it's a hard enough crimp?

Yes, roll crimp.

Crimp it until the case starts to bulge out below the crimp, back off slightly, just about right. Many cast bullets have great, deep, tapered crimp grooves, perfect for heavy roll crimps.

The only revolver loads Ive taper crimped are 38 Short Colt, the dies I use are 9mm and dont have a roll crimp, otherwise they would have gotten a good heavy roll crimp.

[willie]

In post no.18 above, Bill replied that maybe N110 is not good for reduced loads. Win 296 and H110(identical but different labels)have the same slow burning rate as does N110. Under no circumstances should should Win 296 or H110 be used in reduced loads. Safety is one reason.
Avoiding reduced loads with slow burning powders is a good safety practice. If there are exceptions, they escape me. I assume that N110 and the other 110s share similarities, but I'm out of date on the N version.