I recently acquired a S&W 625 Mountain Gun in .45 Colt. I have been advised to keep the velocity at 1000 fps with 250 grain bullets. This will supposedly prolong the life of the gun as compared to shooting 1200-1300 fps loads. Any comments on this?

Would also like to find a good load with Hornady 250 XTP's and Hodgdon 'Lil Gun powder.

Thanks in advance,
Ben H

Your Mountain Gun is not a good platform to run the .45 Colt to near .44 magnum pressures. The advice to keep velocity of 250 grain bullets at 1,000 fps or under is good stuff.

Look at how much metal there is from the bottom of the bolt notch on the cylinder to the inside of the chamber wall.....not that much.

If you want velocity in a Mountain Gun, the .44 mag and .41 mag versions are much better choices.

If you want hotter .45 Colt loads, the Ruger Redhawks, Blackhawks, and Vaqueros, the unfortunately discontinued Colt Anaconda, and the Freedom Arms guns are the way to go. The TC Contender can also handle warmer loads.

Email Hodgdon at help@hodgdon.com to get Lil Gun loads with the 250 XTP at 1,000 fps.

[This message has been edited by BigIron (edited 05-26-2001).]

[This message has been edited by BigIron (edited 05-26-2001).]

Ben,

I wouldn't worry too much about 1200fps and 250grs. We're still pretty mild at that stage. 1000fps? That's single action colt peacemaker levels for crying out loud! I'm all for being prudent, but come on guys.

More importantly is what you want to do with it. If your just target shooting, no big deal. If we're talking personal defense loads, then I would stick to 1000-1100fps just for over-penetration worries.

If we're talking hunting, I'd use flat nose over hollowpoints, and load up to 1300fps no problem, still have room for more if you want it, still well below 44 Mag pressures. The S&W is a stouter gun than you are being led to believe, cylinder walls and all that.

I have an anaconda in 45LC. I plink with the 250grs at 1000-1100. I use Corbon 200grs for defense loads, factory loads means one less thing I can be sued over if I ever do have to defend myself(hopefully not). And some rather warm heavy handloads for hunting big game(300-335grs).

It's a fun cartridge to load for, very forgiving. Much more versital than 44 mag. Never tried 'Lil gun powder though, sorry. I do know that whatever you use, powders that fill more case volume respond better in the big LC cases, less erratic velocities.

Unfortunately, never tried Lil'Gun. But I have had very good results with Blue Dot. Moves those fat slugs out right smartly, I should say. Haven't taken them over the chronograph yet, but my Vaquero will hold a tight five-shot cloverleaf out to 25 yards with it.

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Happiness is a 200 yard bughole.