45 COLT BLACK POWDER LOADS

FACTS TO KEEP IN MIND:

1-No petroleum based products of any kind should never be used, this includes cast bullet lube and oil in the rifle bore.

2-No air space in the case, powder must reach to the base of the bullet. If a lighter powder charge is used and some type of filler must contact the base of the bullet. Use a card wad to separate powder from filler (corn meal or felt cookies make a good filler)

BULLET PREP:

1-If paraffin wax or other petroleum based lube is used place the batch of bullets in a pan of boiling water (I use a coffee can on the grill) to melt the lube, it will float to the top. Then dump out the bullets and allow to dry.

2-Pan Lubing with SPG All Purpose Natural Lube (click here), this product also works works well with smokeless powders. Click here to read Pan Lubing tips by Steve Garbe. I alter the my method and employ pliers to lift the bullets out instead of pushing them out, the Garbe method as outlined in the above article is probably the better method.

3-Those that cast their own bullets can easily use SPG sticks in their lube-sizer and skip steps 1&2.

BARREL PREP:

1- The bore must be free of petroleum based oils, cleaning with soap and water will accomplish this. Dry well and prep with Ballistol Oil or a running a patch impregnated with SPG lube down the bore. (soak a few in your melted wax that you used to pan lube)

LOAD THE ROUND:

1-Remember, no space between powder and bullet, most 45 Colts will fill with 33-35 grains, depending upon the brand of cases used. You can use a marker to place a line where the base of the bullet will sit and fill to that line. To find that measurement just line the crimp groove to the case mouth and mark where the bullet base will sit. Fill the case with powder to that mark, weigh the charge and you have your max charge. Use static free powder measures, keep in mind this is weight by volume so a basic muzzleloader powder measure is ideal.

2-I use 3F powder, it is fairly dense and burns cleaner. 2F will work as well, the larger grains will produce more fouling but a little lighter on pressures.. Do not use 4F, packs to tight and builds greater pressures which can be unsafe.

3-My load is 20-grains of 3F in Starline 45 COLT brass cases, a card wad, a felt cookie and 250-grain RNFP bullet. Felt cookies are dipped into the melted lube if not pre-lubed from the supplier.

4-Any powder charge will work, just fill in the voided are with a wad and filler material, corn meal will also work. I like the felt cookies, they do a good job and scrubbing the previous shots fouling from the bore so when cleaning is do if the cartridge is built right you are left with basically on shots worth of fouling to remove. Ballistol is used to create “MOOSE MILK” , 2-4 parts water to one part Ballistol (recipes vary depending upon who you consult, AKA Blackpowder Burn suggests 10:1 in his article, click here)

CLEANING FIREARMS:

1-Soap and water method works, I like using “Moose Milk”. Either way, not a lot of scrubbing with a brush, patches work well for me. Since there is always a shots worth of fouling in the bore I never experience leading. The key is to keep the fouling soft for easy clean up. Once fouling becomes hard cleaning a rifle or handgun is work, lots of work. Prepping the bore and not using petroleum based products is key.

2-Ask me what kind of nasty mess plastic wads make when I tried a experimental 12-Gauge load. Much cleaner to assemble to loads on a MEC, my Coach Gun was a disaster after firing all day. Again, no petroleum, EVER.

Denny McDaniels AKA SMOKEY D