45 Colt Black powder loads

[soonerfan66]

Loaded up some 45 Colt with Black Powder for fun . Used 30gr of Goex 3F and a 230gr RN bullet . Accuracy not bad but could be improved on . Anyone got a pet load they would share ? Using a Uberti El Patron Colt clone with a 5.5" barrel .

[old tanker]

Lyman 454190, .030 card wad over 38 grains of Goex 2F compressed.

[steveu]

You will most likely get better accuracy with a .454" sized bullet.

[soonerfan66]

I tried .454 , 255 gr FP with the 30gr 3F load and it was worse then with .452 RN . . Will try the 2F with .452 and see . I know seems with my cap and ball revolvers best accuracy came with a lighter load . That was what I was expecting on suggestions but here and a few other forums it's the bigger loads are better . I have about 50-60 empty brass waiting may just sit down and load a big test run of loads !

[old tanker]

I load the "Big Three" of the traditional cowboy cartridges with 38 grains of Goes 2F. The powder charge is just about all you can get into Starline brass using a drop tube and still have room for a bullet. The Lyman 454190 250 grain bullet for 45 Colt. The Lyman 427098 is used in the .44-40 and the Lyman 401043 in .38-40. All of them as cast and pan lubed. The bullets are cast pretty soft using 20:1 lead tin alloy. A .030 card wad is seated atop the powder with a compression die set appropriately to the bullet used. There is just the barest crimp over the ogive, mostly just a bit more than needed to remove the flare. The bullets will not set back as they are firm against the charge. I use a homebrew lube made from beeswax and canola oil, but any good black powder lube, like SPG should do fine. There should be a star of grease at the muzzle. The hefty compressed charge burns cleaner and shoots better for me. Some folks like magnum primers with black powder, but I use Winchester large pistol primers.

This .38 WCF is named after some moderately famous shooting range.

[soonerfan66]

Thanks for the suggestions . I loaded up a variety of loads last night and shot them today . I cleaned the barrel and cylinder after each set of loads . The best that seamed to work for me was 25gr of 3F , COW for filler and .452 bullet . But that was today , if next time I shoot and it does the same I will stick with it .