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Old February 10, 2013, 09:24 PM   #1
mattL46
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200gr hornady FTX in 45 Colt?

I mistakenly bought some of the mentioned bullets a little over a year ago and just a couple of days ago pulled them out for some loading only to find out there was no load data for these in 45 colt. My research turned up that they were designed for the 460 S&W mag. Should I hope to be able to donate these to a friend considering they are non returnable or does anyone think they will be useable in the colt? Thoughts, opinions, advice. Please help!

thanks!
Matt
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Old February 10, 2013, 09:38 PM   #2
ATPBULLETS
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They will work just fine in 45 colt...
just have to seat them to spec so they dont stick out to far to rotate the cylinder...
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Old February 10, 2013, 10:11 PM   #3
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So a good suggestion would be to reduce powder charge by 10%?

Or use minimum load as not to reduce too low?
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Old February 10, 2013, 10:22 PM   #4
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Yes you can use them. What gun do you intend on shooting them out of, and what powders do you have?
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Old February 10, 2013, 10:29 PM   #5
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Gdawg its a ruger "old" vaquero. No desire to load scorchers. Off the top of my head I have some regular clays as well as universal. I have some green dot and unique and I'm sure I have another more pistol appropriate powder just not coming to me at the moment.
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Old February 10, 2013, 10:57 PM   #6
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Going out of the Lyman 49 book, for a standard load 45 Colt(not the Ruger hots or TC loads) they list a 200 grain Jacketed HP but it's a Speer bullet, not your Hornady, but the powder charges will still work. For Unique, they list 8.5 - 9.5 grains.

Or if you want to send them to me, I'll launch them out of my 460 for you.
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Old February 10, 2013, 11:09 PM   #7
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After re-reading ATPBULLETS comments, I'm rethinking this. I haven't played around with those FTX bullets yet, but yeah, they are longer than typical JHPs. So deeper seating may be required which will increase pressure.

The Hornady manual lists a 225 gr FTX, which requires you to trim the case shorter. Not sure if you'd need to do that with the 200 gr one, they don't list it in the book.

Maybe some others have some experience with that bullet in 45. You may want to see if anyone else chimes in. You could send Hornady an email asking as well.
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Old February 10, 2013, 11:34 PM   #8
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Well I failed to mention I did email hornady. I'm curious to see what they say. Won't be till sometime next week I'm sure. I sure would like to use the expensive things...
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Old February 10, 2013, 11:41 PM   #9
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ATPBullets have you used these bullets for the Colt application? If so what is a good recipe if you don't mind me asking?
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Old February 11, 2013, 07:38 AM   #10
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I have used the 225 ftx bullet thru the Taurus Gaucho pictured in my siggy link... and it works great,... i use a load of 8.0gr of W-231. and i seat the bullet at the crimp grove. I took a dremmel and ground down the polymer tip to ensure clearance thru the rotating cylinder... made me a poor man's critical defense load.....
i can tell you this.... when i loaded those for the first time, i looked at the pistol face on and it was a scarry site seeing all those red tipped HP's starring at you...

Your 200 gr ftx... i've not seen yet,,,, but my load above will lay you on the mild side for a 200gr since i was at 225gr bullet.
You have unique.... try it with a fuzz more.... maybe 8.5 to start... go to 9.5gr trying 6 shots at a time...9-9.5 should get you at a 900-1000 fps range.
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Old February 11, 2013, 07:51 AM   #11
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When working up this load ... i did go higher ... up to 10gr w-231... got alot more kick...(+p) range.... no pressure signs... so i backed it down for revolver sake and mine.... if i were to just load the bullet for hunting thick skin... id probably go with 10gr.... but for deer and such.... that milder 8gr does the trick...

The ftx bullet is pretty cool as you can really play with velocities and still achieve bullet expansion down slow and up faster... i think we'll see more data come to light as time goes about these bullets,...
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Old February 11, 2013, 09:18 AM   #12
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Thank you for the awesome info. I'll let you know what hornady has to say.
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Old February 11, 2013, 09:37 AM   #13
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ATPbullets I've made a small discovery. In my 2008 hodgdon annual manual they list a 200gr hdy xtp. So I think if I reduce the tip and use this data I won't kill myself?
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