Curious to know if anyone on this board hunts with a good cast bullet load from their favorite 45 Colt revolver or lever action rifle??

Cheers.

Well, there was this one guy that got me kinda torqued up; I was hunting him with a 45 Colt....I cooled off before I caught up with him.
Rod

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Rod's Place

I have carried a Ruger blackhawk with 255gr. hard cast flat nose from Lee in front of a healthy dose of unique. I always planned to use it on a hog, but always go for the sure thing and use my rifle.
Good luck and good shooting

I use a Ruger Bisley .45 colt. If you are going to hunt you can't beat the LBT bullet designs. CastPerfomance sells them as well as providing a link to Balliticast who makes the moulds. I personaly like the 325 LFN and 335 WLN. I won't print my loads, but I do get close to 1300 fps with both bullets out of my bisley and do prefer Starline brass for heavy .45 colt loads. Cast performance includes loading data with all of their bullets and on their website.

www.castperformance.com

I've killed both deer and turkey with the .45 Colt in an old model Ruger.

Although you can soup it up with powders like 2400, 4227, or h-110, I prefer to keep my loads right at the majic sound barrier of 1100 fps. This velocity is usually more accurate and consistent since the bullet doesn't break the sound barrier and go through the attendant turbulence associated with it. Also, with a handgun you're killing with mass and penetration, not hydraulic shock, so an extra 200 or 300 fps doesn't really mean much in terminal performance. A medium-stiff charge of Unique will get you into the 1100 range.

With bullets heavier than 250 grains, I've had difficulty in getting my Rugers to shoot low enough, even with the rear sight screwed all the way down. The recoil and barrel time when using a 300 grain bullet just unavoidably shifts the impact higher. If you want to use a 300 grainer, which I think would make an excellent hunting bullet at 1050 fps or so, you may have to modify your sights.

I agree with DAVIDREED. LBT style bullets are the way to go. My favorite is the 325 LFN in my Bisley w/Starline cases and Hodgdon 'lil gun powder. H110/WW-296 are also excellent powders.

Good Luck,
Ben H

I have killed a couple of deer and several Lions in traps and up in trees bayed by dogs with my .45 Colt Single Action Army and a hot loaded 255 gr. lead bullet...They kill very well...I have also shot a few Javilina hogs with it and about 3 tons of jack rabbits I suspect...

Its a great old gun that my grandad carried throughout his liftime career as a Texas Ranger...He paid $7.00 for the gun and they took 20 cents out of each paycheck until it was paid for...It shoots smak dab on the button at 50 yds.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

I had the same problem with my bisley (not being able to get rear sight low enough). The good folks at ruger will send to a taller front sight if you call them. Mine shoots great now (if the front sight was only a bit narrower.

Atkinson...in your opinion, with the P+ loads from a Ruger, what is the limitation on game? I've always wanted to hunt cats (either here in the US or in Africa). Is a hot 45 colt load practical or do you need something from the Linebaugh line of cartridges?

[ 06-19-2003, 18:53: Message edited by: sloth ]

For cats in a tree a 22 L.R. is plenty, you shoot him in the heart and wait until he dies and drops out of the tree, that way you don't get your dogs chewed up...A 45 tends to knock them out of the tree and they live long enough to really chew up some dogs.. The other option is a brain shot...

The 45 Colt seems to work as well as the 44 and 41 Magnum IMO...I used to hunt a lot with pistols, but don't use them much these days...

I suggest cast Keith Simi wadcutter type bullets, cast fairly hard (1x17 seems about right as I recall, not sure) for big game. Jacketed hollowpoints suit some folks, but I don't much care for them, or didn't back then some 20 years ago and I'm sure a lot has changed since then in the pistol hunting game, so I'm probably not the one to ask....

I have a 4 5/8" SSBH that I carry when I am packing out meat. I think I may whack a doe w/ it this fall. I use a handloaded LBT style 300gr that I cast. Over 16gr 2400 or 18gr of H110 it will just hit 1000fps, very easy shooting but really penetrates.
Stonecreek, you can remove the rear sight & file off about .025" of the bottom/rear. This will let you get a few add'l. clicks lower & you can probably get on @ 50yds. That's what I did w/ my SSBH.