Good stuff. After reading the John Linebaugh article on .45 Colt, I saw that he has some suggested Hodgdon HS6 loads, so I have been playing with that. It is versatile in .45 Colt, as you can load single action army safe level loads up to Ruger only stuff. It meters fantastic, which is something I definitely look for in a powder. HS6 has been available from most of the online sources you mentioned for awhile. Looking forward to the Smith M10 and .38 special video. Keep em coming! It is refreshing to see old school gun stuff!
Thanks for the info! Where might one find this article for research? I’ve read one of his before a good while back from his webpage I believe, but I don’t recall HS6 being mentioned. If it was that article, I’ll go back and reread it. Thanks again!
Great video and a good, solid topic. I’m going to check out Rim Rock and buying the .45 Colt manual tonight. I’ve procrastinated long enough on buying one. Really tired of looking through a shelf full of manuals finding the bullet I’m needing data on. Really enjoyed.
Just got my first 45 Colt, its a Ruger Vaquero (old) and it has been fun. I have been using Unique, Titegroup and HP-38 which is the same as Win 231. Only have loaded 200 and 230 grain, but need to try some 250's next. Good video brother.
The closest functional counterpart to Unique is Hogdon Universal . In most applications you can use same loads gr for gr as Unique . One of the beauties of .45 Colt , is that you can use virtually any handgun/ shotgun powder for standard .45 Colt ( 250/ 255 @ -/- 850 ) . For " Ruger Only " levels , I really like 4227 . Also , AA 9 . Virtually every high volume commercial bullet casting outfit uses Magma Engineering equipment , usually using the Magma Engineering molds . In this discussion, that's a 255 gr generic SWC , with bevel base . And it's not terrible. In all of Taffin's writings where he talks of Oregon Trail bullets , this is what he means . 90 % of commercial casters use the same standard 92/ 6/ 2 alloy as " hard cast " , unless they explicitly advertise otherwise.
45 Colt is my favorite cartridge. Excellent information in this video. To add to the info, there is always black powder and substitutes that can be made at home or are typically available (eg Pyrodex and 777). Plenty of power at low pressures.
I’ve found that HS-6 and Longshot to be excellent in standard pressure and category 2 loads up to 23,000 psi. Handloader 320 and 337 have excellent .45 Colt features for SAA and 23k loads respectively.
If you could try out shooters world ultimate pistol that would be great. Seems like it could be right in the unique zone for burn rate. No tests out there yet.
They are hit or miss near me. They can be had online, but hazmat is high. I try to catch places when they are having hazmat free sales online when I can.
great vid, just getting started on loading 45 lc. i have the older version on lee manual, Does the updated have that much more data or am i good with the older one... $20 on ebay compared to $65 on lee site.....
I don’t know that there is much difference. The older one I referenced was on loading rifle cartridges, and I didn’t study handgun stuff back when. I’ll see if I can get ahold of another and compare sometime
