OK, so my daughter swiped my GP100 for her apartment defense gun. My wife needs a revolver for home use (long story, she hates autos) I am a little short on wheel guns right now, so she's going to have to use my Redhawk untill I come up with another .38/.357.

I need a reasonably light recoiling .45LC load, I can use 200 or 230 .45acp bullets, both cast and jacketed, or I can use 255gr. .454s

Any ideas or suggestions appreciated!

I would look to some of the reloading tables for the Cowboy Action Shooting found in many of the popular manuals. They usually are targeting some very low velocities, in some cases maybe too low. I would suggest something around the 750-800fps range would be something that could be handled recoil-wise with a shooting of that weight.

Usually small doses of some of the faster burning powders will get you started in the right direction. I would experiment with powders and bullets that are in this area velocity wise and see where the accuracy and recoil end up for you. Good Luck.

I would use the starting load listed for Red Dot. I've noticed in my .45acp it has a light recoil and they list them for .45LC

Hodgdon Trail Boss.

Look into the 45 Schofield case with a modest charge of H. Titegroup. I shoot those on my 45 Colt Redhawk & Blackhawk, usually with 200 grain bullets. With the gun weight it will be like shooting a cap gun.

200 grain cast bullet and 6.0 W-231 gives a very light recoiling 45 Colt load which still has reasonable power.

My mother used to tell me she actually enjoyed shooting my mild 45LC loads of a 255gr LCSWC over 7.5gr of Unique as much as dads 3gr Bullseye with 148gr LWC 38 loads.
These were from a 7.5" Blackhawk and 4" Diamondback so there was some difference in gun style and wt.

Joe,

I use 5 grains of Unique in My 1873 Colt Series 3 Reproduction..

of course I also use 10 grains of Blue Dot in it..

I pretty much shoot the 255 grain Lead Bullets from Laser Cast here in Oregon...

I picked up some 45 cal Hornady XTPs to play with in it recently... but haven't made it to the range with my schedule lately..

Medium loads for old colts or cowboy loads. Or, as mentioned, use trail boss and that powders recommendation for loading.

Since this is a temporary situation what not buy a box of cowboy factory ammo.
The bullet is a dead soft swaged slug at low velocity. Those that I've fired were like shooting marshmellows.

Jim

I use Trail Boss and a 200g lead bullet... for about 800ft/sec.

It is a very lite recoil load... really lite.

thanks for all of the suggestions guys, I really appreciate it!

I have red dot, 231, and unique so I'll throw some loads together for a little weekend trial. Unique....that damn dirty stuff works in everything, doesn't it?

8 gr. Unique with a 200 gr. SWC (I use the Speer) should give you a little over 800 fps. It should be close to what you're looking for, and I also find it to be a good light practice load.