I have a new Ruger Bisley in 45 Colt. I plan to work up a light load and a heavier hunting load for elk, deer, black bear etc. I know which bullets to try for the heavy load but I wonder if any of you could suggest which bullet might be most accurate for a light load? I have used the Mid-Kansas Cast Bullet Company's 250 RNFP with good success in my other Ruger Bisley 45 Colt along with Oregon Trails Laser Cast 250 RNFP but I have heard that the Keith style bullets tend to be more accurate. I am considering trying the 270 grain Keith bullet from Leadhead Bullets (proshootpro.com). Would that likely be any more accurate than any others for a light load? Any other suggestions? I have had good accuracy with the 250 RNFP bullets mentioned with 6.2 grains of Hodgdon Titegroup or 10.0 grains of Universal Clays. If I try the 270 Keith from Leadhead what powder and charge would likely give best results? Thanks, Rufous.

For my S&Ws I use 255 home made SWCs (Redding) on top of 8.5 to 9.5 grains of Unique. I've not come across a 45 Colt that didn't like this load and I have four or five 45 Colts. Make that 6 45 Colts I've also got a 45 Colt rifle.
My preference is to have the bullets sized .454 rather then the standard .452. All of the commercial cast and swaged bullets I've used have been sized .452 and I always get a generous supply of leading to clean out, .454 bullets, have yet to lead in any of my 45s with .454 bullets.
For hunting I use a home cast 300 grain gas checked Redding with 20 grains of H110 in my Anaconda.
Jim

My "squirrel load" is 9.0gr Unique under a Lee RoundWithFlat bullet of 250gr. Does good.

What I do is to have 3 loads.

Squirrel load

"Short Magnum" (A different 250gr bullet driven ballz-to-the-wall with a stiff charge of 2400)

"Heavy load" (A 315gr Minnie Ball driven at 1200 fps with 2400)

Sight the guns in for squirrel load at 20-25 yards.

The Short Magnum will shoot pretty close to the squirrel load - up close any way.

The Heavy load will shoot Waaayyy high of the Squirrel load. It effectively sights the gun in for longer range. My light little 4 5/8" bbl Ruger shoots to Point-of-Aim at 200yards with the Heavy load. The 5 1/2" Bisely shoots to aim point at about 60yards, with the big stuff.

This gives a guy plenty of flex for different targets and ranges in the field.

My RBH likes the H&G #68 200 grain SWC over 8 grains of WW 231 in WW brass with WLP lighting it up.

I like it too when it's time to have a lot of fun without a lot of pain.

If you can locate any Star brand swaged bullets look for the 230gr rn for the ACP. They come in 500 rd boxes. It is actually a conical with a small flat point like the factory 45 Colts AND has a hollow base. With 8gr of Unique it will shoot to the sights of fixed sight guns, has little recoil and 820-850fps. If you push any faster you'll get leading and might blow the base. We even get a little expansion on jackrabbits and javalina. Accuracy has been outstanding in every gun we've tried. Much better than hard cast. Two pardners and I will never be caught using one of these in an ACP again. They all go in our Long Colts. You already have hard bullets for your big loads. Really need to try them because you'll shoot 20 of these to one of your big loads.

I use a 250 grn.fprn over 8.5 grn of clays,With a Win.lrm primer,,I have a bunch of them i'm looking to use up.It's a mild shooting,accurate load that takes out white tail @ 50 yds.Fits my needs very well.Happy shooting!! Clay. P.S. I run this load through my contender,and ,valquero.I would'nt reccomend it for any other gun.I know there are others that would easily digest this round,,,But not gonna say due to lack of personally trying them out

hard to recomend a specific bullet each of my .45s like something different. any 250-260swc with 8-9 grains of unique works for plinking or deer size game though

I like the Keith style or the LBT for hunting. For powders it depends on what velocity you are shooting for. I like Titegroup (clean burning) and HS 6 for light loads. For barn burner loads for hunting 300 grain with H110 work well for me. I have not had as much sucess with 2400 but there is a wide velocity spread with that which is very unique.

It is hard to tell what your gun will shoot with out trying it. My Bisley likes mid velocity over low velocity rounds.

Hcliff

The bullet style used for light loads in .45 Colt should probably be the kind where as much of the bullet shank as possible lies with the case when the bullet is seated, thus reducing combustion chamber size.

The original factory bullets with a rounded conical nose satisfy this requirement. They may be available in bulk for small $$$.

BigIron

Maybe it's because I shoot a M25-5 Smith, but everybody's "light" loads seem more "moderate" to me. For the last quarter-century or so, when harvesting sheets of paper at short-to-moderate range, I've used a Speer 200 gr SWC (loaded deep in the case, as BigIron suggests) over 8 gr. Unique. Accuracy has been good as I can hold, and I haven't been charged by a wounded target yet.