Howdy folks! I ask that the only people who respond to this thread are people who have either:

(1) Shot large game with a .45LC themselves (ie. bear, moose, grizzly, elk, heavy African, etc..) I'm not talking about light skinned, medium sized game such as whitetail or mulies.

(2) Have witnessed such game as listed above being shot with a .45LC first hand. (Not read in a magazine article, or heard a story from Uncle Fred's adopted neice, who had a friend of her 2nd cousin's neighbour, who shot a bear with a .45LC etc, etc, etc.)

The reason for this is I'd like first hand, 100% factual feed back about things achieved with this cartridge, like Penetration, Location of hit, distance of shot, bullet used, powder charge and velocities, how far did the animal go, etc.

Thanks for the info fellas,
CDW

I once shot a Eland and a Nayla at a game farm. The firearm was a Thompson Center Contender with a 45 Colt 10 in. bull barrel with a T/C 3X scope. The load was a RCBS 255 SWC weighing 264gr. The were heat treated by dropping from mold to a pan of cold water. Velocity was 1777 FPS using 29gr of H110 and a Federal LPMag primer. The Eland was shot at my guess was 30 yards into the shoulder. He collapsed immediately and kicked a couple of times then expired. The bullet was unrecovered because it completely penetrated the bull. The Nayla was shot a "Texas Heart Shot" from somewhere near 70 yards. He died on impact and we followed the wound cavity from his anus to the shoulders and found the bullet with the nose sheared off weighing 194grs. The wound cavity widest dimension was eight inches and was 5 feet 7 inches long.

I have seen 4 or 5 elk taken with a .45 colt and a few pigs. I don't recall finding any bullets in any of the elk. All the loads were 315 Gr. SWC cast hard and dropped from the mold into water. Powder was WW296. As I recall velocity was about 1400 or so.

I remember shooting one cow at about 25 yards through the shoulders that dropped as if hit by lightning. That bullet is still flying for all I know.

Not sure if it qualifies, but years ago when rounding up cattle I had a problem with a cow that weighed about 1100 pounds and was going severely berserk. I was in a creek bottom too thick to use a horse so I went on foot to move a few animals out and the cow came after me and put me in a tree, then she attacked the tree. After she left I climbed down maybe 15 minutes later and she came right back again and I went back up into the same tree and she attacked the tree again, and this time I thought she was going to knock the tree down and stomp me because she seemed pretty sincere in her conduct so I drilled her in the head once from above with a 4 5/8" Blackhawk in .45 Colt as she was butting the tree with the flat part of her forehead, shot went clean through from approximately the knot on the top of her head and exited out the front of her throat, and she went straight down and never got up again. The gun was an ordinary box stock Ruger that I carry daily, and is hardly ever used with heavy loads. Load used on the cow was 9.5 grs of Unique and a 260 gr Keith, just a normal .45 Colt load that is safe in an SAA, range was about 3 or 4 feet.

Thus far I haven't lost anything at all I've used that load on, although I mostly use it on small game, coyotes, and an occasional deer or hog; that cow was by far the largest animal I ever shot with a handgun.

Richard G. Pickard
Itasca, Texas

sorry to chime in here but #2 was funny made me laugh. Made my night

brian

Thanks for the info so far fellas!
Hate it when those cows won't listen to reason, eh? You've got a .45LC, and they've got no brains!

Good penetration on the Texas Heart shot cow, too!

Keep the facts coming fellas. And fellaettes!

CDW

Mad cow disease, eh?

I let my lawyer deal with my ex-wife

.

My only experience with the 45 Colt and big game was with a moose. 370 grain LBT GC over 26 grains of H110 out of my Taurus 454 Casull RB. Complete penetration from about 45 yards.