I had someone load up some 45lc's for me. When he loaded them i was planning on using them in my raging bull .454, but i had to sell it. What do u guys think about 27.5 grains of H110 behind a 240 XTP out of my .45 Ruger Vaquero (old model)? Will this gun hold up to it or will it blow apart. The guy that loaded them isn't real easy to get a hold of. He's a friend of my father-in-law.

IMO, that's too hot.

My Speer manual (For Ruger or Contender Loads) lists 20.0 of H110 as MAX.

Hodgdon's website lists a 250gr. XTP max at 26.5gr of H110.

Personally, I wouldn't do it.

Your load is a grain more than I would put in my Colt Anaconda. You will most likely not blow the gun up, but expect accelerated wear due to the high pressures. Personally, I would not use them.

the hodgdon website showed a 240 grain SIE JHC with a starting load of 27.2 grains of H110 and a max load of 28 grains of H110. Does it matter if it is a SIE JHC or a HDY XTP? Isn't 240 grains 240 grains? If my loads are 240 grain HDY XTP with 27.5 grains of H110, then all should be ok, right?

quote:

Originally posted by wheelgunner:
the hodgdon website showed a 240 grain SIE JHC with a starting load of 27.2 grains of H110 and a max load of 28 grains of H110. Does it matter if it is a SIE JHC or a HDY XTP? Isn't 240 grains 240 grains? If my loads are 240 grain HDY XTP with 27.5 grains of H110, then all should be ok, right?

Yes and no.You don`t know if the jackets are the same alloy.I would work up to that charge.

I would not use it in my Ruger, but as has been stated it probably won't "blow the gun up". More importantly it may not be much fun to shoot either. At these power levels, most folks are shooting heavier cast bullets eg. 300 grain, with a lower charge of H110. What is the barrel length of your Vaquero?
Peter.

That seems a bit hot to me not knowing what the bullets are capable of handling. I would call Hornady and ask thm about the bullets. That would be more my concern then the strength of the Ruger. JMHO.

quote:

Originally posted by Peter:
I would not use it in my Ruger, but as has been stated it probably won't "blow the gun up". More importantly it may not be much fun to shoot either. At these power levels, most folks are shooting heavier cast bullets eg. 300 grain, with a lower charge of H110. What is the barrel length of your Vaquero?
Peter.

Is is a 7 1/2 inch barrel.

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
That seems a bit hot to me not knowing what the bullets are capable of handling. I would call Hornady and ask thm about the bullets. That would be more my concern then the strength of the Ruger. JMHO.

What would happen to the bullets? I hadn't heard that before.

I've never seen it happen, but the jacket can separate from the core. That load is a grain over max for a 250 grain XTP according to Hodgdon. Since no load exists for a 240 grainb XTP, I would play it safe and find out what the application is supposed to be for the 240 grain XTP. I bought bullets one time for my Casull, but they were made for a .45 acp and not rated for the extreme speed. I didn't use them. I have no doubt that the gun can handle it without any negative effects. Better to play it safe and call Hornady.

I was mostly worried about the gun handling the preasures. As far as the jacket separating from the core, I'll just experiment and see what happens. Thanks for the input.

quote:

Originally posted by wheelgunner:
I was mostly worried about the gun handling the preasures. As far as the jacket separating from the core, I'll just experiment and see what happens. Thanks for the input.

The gun will not blow up IMHO as Whitworth said you are only 1 grain over the Max load on the Hogdon's web site for the 250 grain XTP and you are under the max load for the 240 grain Sierra JHC which is 28 grains of H-110

None of these loads on Hornady's web site exceed 30,000 CUP's as tested by Hogdon

1st. So long as Ruger says that your old model Vaquero will handle what a Blackhawk will, I wouldn't worry to much about blowing up the gun.

2nd. Load data from any source is just a guide. It's not the gospel.

3rd. As far as 240gr being 240gr, well, not exactly. I've worked up loads using H110 and 300gr bullets (sierra 300gr, Hornady 300xtp and 312gr cast lead), and found that the velocity for a given powder charge (20.5 gr H110) was different for each bullet. The sierra was about 120fps slower than the Hornady and the Cast lead was about 100pfs faster than the Hornady. Just need to note that the sierras are .451" while the Hornady is .452".

Having said that, I've used the exact same load (27.5 grains of H110 behind a 240 XTP) in my Blackhawk and found, while working up the load, 45 caliber bores and H110 or Hodgdon Lil'gun are very forgiving as far as charge weight, especially H110. I think you will probably find that after you have fired a few rounds, you may want to put a set of Hogue rubber grips on the revoler, as the recoil is not as forgiving.

Having said that, after putting the Hogue grip on my Blackhawk I can shoot full bore loads all day and comfortably.

My only real hesitation is the fact that you yourself didn't load the rounds. So if I were you, I'd load one round in the weapon and fire it over a chronograph, should be in the 1450-1500 fps area with a 7.5" barrel. Assuming that it's not going a whole hell of a lot faster than 1500fps and the spent cases still can be easily ejected from the chamber. I'd say your good to go.

I say it is your revolver and body parts. Decide which is the least costly avenue; pulling down the loads or risk turning your Vaquero into shrapnel. Throw in cylinder separation around a third party(ies) and the cost can go astronomical. Max for one revolver/shooter may be over max for another. Crossing data from one bullet manufacturer to another is not a good idea either.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Personally it would depend on two things, first is if the Vaquero is as strong as the blackhawk, never owned a vaquero so could not say.
The second and most important thing would be how well do you know the fellow that loaded these?
How long has he been loading? how is he with the rest of this life?
Personally if someone other than myself is loading what I am shooting I want them to be detail freaks, clean, religious,,, you get the picture.
Shooting someone elses handloads always gives me pause.

quote:

Originally posted by bucko:
Shooting someone elses handloads always gives me pause.

+1

Thanks for all the input guys, I really appreciate it. I have the utmost faith in the guy that reloaded these rounds, he's been reloading longer than i've been alive and i've shot his .454 reloads before(wish i didn't have to sell the rb 454, i wanted to repace it with a bfr 454 but had to use the money on something else). I'm gonna double check the vaquero/blackhawk thing, but I think they are basically the same gun. As far as recoil, i'm not concerned, these aren't plincking rounds. I'll let u guys know how it goes......that is if i still have fingers to type with lol.

The Old Model Vaquero is equal to the Super Blackhawk in strength

quote:

Originally posted by jwp475:
The Old Model Vaquero is equal to the Super Blackhawk in strength

Right on! A shooting we will go!!

I've never been keene on shooting others handloads. At the range one day just prior to deer season a young fella setup on the bench near me. He was shooting his uncles 270 handloads. I commented it appreared to be snappy for a 270 and looked at the fired cases. Some, had extruded brass into the ejector cutaway and all had very flat primers. When asked about it, he assured me all was well as his unk was a famous gunwriter and knew what he was doing.

heres what ill tell you and you can go from there. It wont blow your gun up unless your gun is allready damaged. I shot probably 5000 rounds of 45 loaded with the same load using a 250 swcgc bullet. It did though shoot my gun loose. It was a fairly tight(as tight as rugers go) gun when i bought it and eventually it sounded like a rattle when you shook it. I ended up sending it to clements and he fixed it and made it into a custom. Now if you have a few hundred of those loaded shoot them and dont worry about it but if you have a thousand id say pull the bullets. One more thing. Every gun is differnt and if you find yourself pounding out the emptys dont continue but them im sure thats just common sense to you.

quote:

Originally posted by Lloyd Smale:
heres what ill tell you and you can go from there. It wont blow your gun up unless your gun is allready damaged. I shot probably 5000 rounds of 45 loaded with the same load using a 250 swcgc bullet. It did though shoot my gun loose. It was a fairly tight(as tight as rugers go) gun when i bought it and eventually it sounded like a rattle when you shook it. I ended up sending it to clements and he fixed it and made it into a custom. Now if you have a few hundred of those loaded shoot them and dont worry about it but if you have a thousand id say pull the bullets. One more thing. Every gun is differnt and if you find yourself pounding out the emptys dont continue but them im sure thats just common sense to you.

What kinda custom work did u have done?