Reloading 45 colt

[Buckshot82]

Hey everyone. I’m looking into reloading for a 45 colt out of a Henry big boy lever rifle. I see prophet river has some 250GR campro copper plated round nose bullets. 2 questions about this as I’m new to reloading and have only reloaded 270 and 6.5, my load book shows 45 colt as a pistol projectile, would I load these to pistol spec and then work my way up looking for pressure signs, or are there seperate load data sheets I can find pertaining to rifle specs. Question number 2, would these bullets be legal for hunting whitetails in alberta? They are copper plated which I believe is still an expandable but will avoid them if it’s questionable. If so what kind of projectile would you recommend for a 25-75 yard bush rifle? Thank you in advance, any info is appreciated!

[338wea]

For the second question I believe it is legal. As for the first our book has it under rifles(Lyman 50 and 51).

[Buckshot82]

Originally Posted by 338wea

For the second question I believe it is legal. As for the first our book has it under rifles(Lyman 50 and 51).

Weird I must have skipped right over it by accident then haha, thank you.

[3blade]

Be aware that plated bullets have a maximum velocity, above which the plating will separate and cause all kinds of problems.

I don’t buy what campro says about their supposed 8 mil plating. Plating does not have the structural strength of a jacket.

As for legality…oh boy…yes it probably does expand, but you are gonna have a hell of a time convincing any fishcop that’s not a FMJ. They are not firearms experts and you will certainly end up in front of a judge to prove it.

[Tactical Lever]

Straight cast works just fine. I favour a little bit heavier bullet.

You can also use Ruger Blackhawk data. Of course the velocities wil be off, but the Henry is easily strong enough to digest the hottest loads.

[Battle Rat]

Originally Posted by 3blade

Be aware that plated bullets have a maximum velocity, above which the plating will separate and cause all kinds of problems.

I don’t buy what campro says about their supposed 8 mil plating. Plating does not have the structural strength of a jacket.

As for legality…oh boy…yes it probably does expand, but you are gonna have a hell of a time convincing any fishcop that’s not a FMJ. They are not firearms experts and you will certainly end up in front of a judge to prove it.

Could give the fish cop a round and tell him charge me or go away.
The onus would be on him to determine if it is FMJ and he's not going to want embarrass himself before a judge.
On the other hand, in my 50 years of hunting, I have never been asked to see my ammo.
Have you?

[Battle Rat]

250-300 grain hardcast using blackhawk reloading data will hit with authority.

[3blade]

Originally Posted by Battle Rat

Could give the fish cop a round and tell him charge me or go away.
The onus would be on him to determine if it is FMJ and he's not going to want embarrass himself before a judge.
On the other hand, in my 50 years of hunting, I have never been asked to see my ammo.
Have you?

Yep. Both rifle ammo and broadhead on separate occasions. An investigation is very different than a license check (ecovegan Karen neighbors reporting what they don’t like no charges)

I know what you’re saying though, we don’t need any made up regs. Just pointing out that a guy could be in for a hassle, what you do or don’t do is your own call.

[Battle Rat]

Originally Posted by 3blade

Yep. Both rifle ammo and broadhead on separate occasions. An investigation is very different than a license check (ecovegan Karen neighbors reporting what they don’t like no charges)

I know what you’re saying though, we don’t need any made up regs. Just pointing out that a guy could be in for a hassle, what you do or don’t do is your own call.

I guess there are some FMJ pistol bullets that are designed to expand.
A good hard cast bullet expands very little but for its application you don't need to to expand to effectively kill.
Some young punk fish cops can be Karen's too I guess.

[Boogerfart]

45 Colt is the first cartridge I learned to reload, it's pretty forgiving as long as you remember it's not meant for high pressures at all, that's what the 454 Cassull is for. By the time you start to see pressure signs you're going to be past pretty much any book load. Having said that there is a lot of rifle specific data available and any handgun load should be safe in your rifle. I've probably got a few powder coated cast bullets you can try if you're ever near Thorsby, the 45LC was designed for a lead bullet, they'll preform wonderfully if loaded right.

[Battle Rat]

Originally Posted by Boogerfart

45 Colt is the first cartridge I learned to reload, it's pretty forgiving as long as you remember it's not meant for high pressures at all, that's what the 454 Cassull is for. By the time you start to see pressure signs you're going to be past pretty much any book load. Having said that there is a lot of rifle specific data available and any handgun load should be safe in your rifle. I've probably got a few powder coated cast bullets you can try if you're ever near Thorsby, the 45LC was designed for a lead bullet, they'll preform wonderfully if loaded right.

When I first started loading 45 Colt in a pistol I bumped up to 300 grain bullets with a safe, but heavy dose of powder.
I soon determined that a 250 gr at around 1000fps was doing all I need to do and much easier to shoot.
A moderate velocity and a moderate bullet weight will penetrate far enough to kill most of what we are shooting at.

[Carriertxv]

I’ve reloaded a lot of Campro 250 grain bullets in 45 Colt with 8.5 grains of Unique or 9 grains of Herco. The most accurate was with a 255 to 260 grain cast fp. That load would take down anything in North America.
As far as if plated are legal to hunt with I can’t help you with that

[silver]

If you are worried about hunting with it, shoot a couple of rounds into a box of wet newspaper. Recover the bullets and see if they have expanded.

[tony d]

I load the 300 xtp with 296 powder very effective hunting load

[Flight01]

I have the same 250 campro that are “flat round nose “…. If that makes any sense. I too will be reloading a bunch here soon. My gun is a 454 Casull lever so I know even the hottest 45 colt will be fine. Although I will be using 454 Casull for hunting , I think the campro coated bullets are legal to hunt as they do expand.

If I was going for a 45 colt hunting load i’d get some 250 XTP if you can.

https://www.campro.ca/index.php?id=1007

Link shows expansion comparison with other brands.

[Flight01]

Originally Posted by 3blade

Be aware that plated bullets have a maximum velocity, above which the plating will separate and cause all kinds of problems.

I don’t buy what campro says about their supposed 8 mil plating. Plating does not have the structural strength of a jacket.

As for legality…oh boy…yes it probably does expand, but you are gonna have a hell of a time convincing any fishcop that’s not a FMJ. They are not firearms experts and you will certainly end up in front of a judge to prove it.

Agree. It could cause grief with F&W.
But as for speed and plating, 45 colt should be fine at 1000-1200 fps. I wouldn’t use on my 454 as the speed bumps up significantly

[Flight01]

Just made a small batch of 45 colt 250 campro with Longshot.
Hopefully try them out tomorrow at 50 yards.
Also made a few 250 XTP to see what difference is in poi

https://imgur.com/a/BcNkfh5