The .45 colt is one of my favorite calibers, and I've been loading for it for several years now.

I recently bought a Taurus 450SS, a snub-nose revolver in .45 Colt with a short (and ported) barrel. My normal loads (225's with titegroup) run very slow from the gun due to the short barrel and porting, and am looking for tips or recipes on lighter-bullet loads, with powder charges tailored to give decent results from this unusual combination.

I've just started experimenting with it using 160-grain lead RNFP bullets, with titegroup and bullseye charges. Ran five rounds each of 6.5, 7.0, and 7.5 grains of each powder, and the higher-end ones are close (running mid 800's), but am just curious if anyone has any experience with short-barrel, large-caliber loading before I get too deep in any one direction.

I'm considering a faster powder; probably red dot since I already use it for some other things, but really am looking for ideas from others as well.

{edited to add - the gun is out of production now, but was rated for +P loads. They actually still make the same gun in .41 magnum (the taurus 415), so it's fairly stout for its size.}


Thanks

I have done a lot of shooting with a 3" bbl S&W 625 in .45 Colt but all have been with cast bullets 240-300 gr. I have used about all of the common powders. Most of my loads are in the 700-900 fps range but I can get 1000 fps with 300 gr cast bullet and WC820 (H110/W296) without any problems. You might try some of the heavier cast bullets, in my experience they do well in short barreled revolvers.
C.G.B.

Sounds like a GREAT gun.. i hadn't seen one before .. i would love to have one, in stainless

I've shot the same 300 grain loads out of a pair of 45Colt Bisleys, one with a 5.5" Barrel and one with a 4.75" barrel and noted a difference in velocity of about 65-75 fps. I reached a point of diminishing return and pressure when adding additional powder to a load for the shorter barrel trying to achieve some additional fps with H110.

The alternative is to go to a wee bit faster burning powder but that has attendant problems of watching the pressure to make sure your loads are still safe for your shooter and you.

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
Sounds like a GREAT gun.. i hadn't seen one before .. i would love to have one, in stainless

It's a hoot for sure...


In addition to this .45LC version, they made it in .41mag and .44mag as well. That's a big part of what makes this gun intriguing to me; it should handle loads up into the "ruger-only" .45LC loads.

This .44mag version should be a handfull. Personally, I'd rather hold out for an Alaskan...

The powders which give the highest velocities in long barrels almost always give the highest in short ones. But, the muzzle blast can be excessive. I'd try a mid-speed powder like UNIQUE, BlueDot or AA-7 with 180-200 grain bullets. Bullseye is a bit too fast for highest speeds, but it does reduce recoil and blast.



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quote:

Originally posted by TX Nimrod:
The powders which give the highest velocities in long barrels almost always give the highest in short ones. But, the muzzle blast can be excessive. I'd try a mid-speed powder like UNIQUE, BlueDot or AA-7 with 180-200 grain bullets. Bullseye is a bit too fast for highest speeds, but it does reduce recoil and blast.


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Not almost, but ALWAYS. You will get more blast & bang, but you will also get higher vel. The slower powders alos lose more vel than the faster powders, but the end result is always mroe vel. Dump the uberfasts & move to WSF or Unique. Load above midrange & you' still get complete powder combustion. I run Unique in my 3" M629 for 1000fps loads w/ 250grLSWCHP.

Thanks. I'll try the medium powders. (I think I've got some #7 in the cabinet left from .357 use.)

My Taurus owner's manual warns about the use of lightweight bullets in my titanium revolver; a heavy crimp is needed to keep the bullets from working their way out of the case and blocking the cylinder from turning.

Ran my initial trial rounds thru it finally to see how they'd do. Fifteen rounds each of Titegroup & Bullseye (five each with charges of 6.5, 7.0, and 7.5 grains, per powder) with a 160-grain rnfp (Suter's choice from midway). Two powders, three charge weights per powder, five rounds per charge - thirty rounds total. Unfired starline brass and federal match primers.

The sky was right at that level between cloudy and sunny where the chrono (an F1) would or wouldn't need its diffusers; so I got an annoying number of errors and read failures. It was obviously a poor day to chrono loads, but it was the only chance I'll have for a while to hit the range, so I did it anyway. Distance to chrono was ~10 feet.

Titegroup:

6.5 - avg 561 - very weak load, lots of sooting on outside of cases
7.0 - no good reads, all five reads errored
7.5 - avg 770 (ran 732 to 805 fps) Seems like a wide spread; possibly erroneous reads..?


Bullseye:
6.5 - no good reads
70. - 748 fps avg
7.5 - 794 fps avg

Book claim for 7.0 of titegroup with a 160rnfp is 1051 fps (using a 7.25" barrel); I was only averaging 770 with 7.5 grains. (73% of published velocity, while using 7% more powder)

Similarly, book claims for 7.0 of bullseye a velocity of 976 fps, using a 185-grain bullet. I was only getting 748 with a 160-grainer. (76% of published velocity, even using a bullet ~15% lighter)

May be due the extremely short, ported barrel; may be due to over-optimism on the part of the book. Likely some of both, with the short barrel being the main culprit.


I picked up some Unique yesterday to try out next.

Thanks for the direction & help, and please keep them coming. I'll post results of next batch when I chrono them.

You are only going to lose 25-30fps/inch of bbl w/ fast to med powders. With slowr powders, upto 50fps loss per inch. A good uniform roll crimp is needed for most unifrom results w/ any powder.
http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/45colt.html

i like 2400 and 250gr bullets in 4" 625-9 .. right at 1000 fps, to boot.