Powder question

[Tony Z]

Got a Uberti Cattlemen in 45 Colt last week-loads of fun so far. So much fun, that it is time to load some cartridges. I was using This Unique, about 10 grains on Ranier 200 grain RN (worked nicely in my Henry Golden Boy). Question is, for plinking, I'm looking for suggestions as to how low I can go, using the same load, for both guns? Will 6 or 7 grains work for both? How about primers? Suggestions for other powders that may work better for this?

Thanks,

T.

[T. O'Heir]

Gotta manual? There is no "about 10 grains" in reloading. Six or 7 grains of Unique is way below minimum.
Alliant's site shows 9.5 of Unique as the MAX for a cast(plated bullets use cast data) 200. Reducing that by 10% gives you the START load of 8.6. They used a 5.5" barrel so the velocities will be different out of a rifle.
Anyway, you might get lucky, but the chances of two firearms shooting the same ammo the same way are slim.

[Hawg]

The Golden Boy is a .22

[Tony Z]

Whatever the brass reciever Henry is called, in 45 Colt.

[44 Dave]

Had some issues with very light loads of Unique now I use Trail Boss, the little doughnut shapes have more volume for light loads and it burns cleaner.

[Tony Z]

Thanks Dave, I'll take a look at the specs for Trail Boss!

[Pathfinder45]

My RCBS powder measure is very inconsistent with Trailboss. But just recently I tried Trailboss using Lee powder dippers with a heaping scoop and got excellent consistency. In 45 Colt, of course. Still, Unique remains one of the very best powders for that caliber. I much prefer 255 grain cast bullets. The powder charge should be, "around", 8 to 8.5 grains of Unique as a reasonable maximum for Colt revolvers and their replicas with that bullet weight. In my much stronger Vaquero I am going as high as 9.5 grains, but in those Uberti revolvers you should not load them with that much powder. Standard primers will do for Unique. I believe that CCI and Federal make the best primers, but I also use a lot of Winchester primers. I use no other brands of primers.

[Tony Z]

I'm looking for a "plinking" round. I have a Lyman 55 powder measure, Lee Dippers, Lee AutoMeasure and RCBS Little Dandy.

[Pathfinder45]

Well, there are lots of load recipes out there for plinking loads. Basically, everything listed for the Cowboy shooting sports is a bunch of mild plinking loads. There's a wealth of data out there for free from the manufacturers of powders and bullets. You can buy their manuals in book or magazine form, and even though they are well worth it, they also have free data because they want you to use their products which are mainly components and not so much books. Since it is so easily available, you ought to use their established and proven data rather than hear-say recipes you read on some internet forum. This is a great forum for that, but always, always compare those hear-say recipes against reliably proven data.

[sawdustdad]

For light plinking loads with lead or coated bullets (not jacketed or plated) many of us CAS shooters will load fast powders--bullseye, 700x, Clays, Clay Dot, Red Dot, etc. to 500 or 600 fps. Find starting loads in a reputable manual and work down to where you want to be.

[Tony Z]

Pathfinder, Dave, Sawdust Dad (you a woodworker?), thanks for the guidance. Won't be doing any cowboy action shooting, but the 500 to 600 fps velocities are what I'm looking for, for my informal plinking.

[sawdustdad]

I am a life-long avid woodworker, mostly period furniture, tall case clocks, etc. This plus shooting (CAS mostly), boating, fishing, and home remodeling keeps me very busy! I'm I'm still working full time, dagnabbit!

You don't have to be involved in CAS to enjoy the light loads! I'll check my load data notes to see what loads I've developed for the .45 Colt and what my results were. Don't have them in front of me right now, and don't what to post wrong data.

[Tony Z]

I'm also a life long woodworker (64 years old now!). Furniture etc., including about 4 or 5 years of hand tools only-no electricons burned. Now I'm a hybrid.

Would be interested in seeing loads you worked up for .45 Colt. Been a shooter since I was a kid, and the Uberti I bought has only been surpassed by the .22 Savage my dad bought me when I was around 12

[sawdustdad]

Here are some ideas for plinking .45 Colt loads. Starline .45 Colt new brass, fired from a Ruger New Vaquero 5.5 inch barrel over an RCBS chrono. Each of these is based on a 10 shot string.

4.5g Trail Boss, 255g RNFP Hornady swaged bullet, avg 438 fps, SD=32

5.6g Trail Boss, 200g RNFP Hi Tek coated "cowboy" bullet, Avg 545 fps, SD 55

All the following with a 200g Hi Tek coated (MO bullet Co) cowboy bullet:

4.5g Clays, avg 511 fps, SD 31
4.0 Clays, avg 480 fps, SD 22

4.5 Clay dot, avg 598 fps, SD 45
4.1 Clay Dot, avg 564 fps, SD 22
3.5 Clay Dot, avg 481 fps, SD 44

4.0 Red Dot, avg 554 fps, SD 23
3.5g Red Dot, avg 482 fps, SD 17

[Pathfinder45]

Looks like Sawdustdad has got what you're looking for. My mildest loads are pushing 255 grain cast bullets to 840 fps.

[Old Stony]

6.0 GR. Unique will push out a 200 Gr. cast just fine. If you want light recoil it should work fine for you, but it will not burn as efficiently as some other powders at that velocity range. You will have some dirty brass, but the revolvers shoot them without a problem. I've shot a bunch of .45's over the years with that load and just have to tumble the brass a little longer than normal.

[Tony Z]

Thanks to all, got some good stuff to start with. Fortunately, I have my own single lane range, indoor, with a loading press a couple of feet behind the rest.