Levergun Loads: .45 Colt Part III — Jacketed Bullets

The .45 Colt arrived in the early 1870s mostly due to the fact the military would not accept the ’71-72 Open-Top .44 Colt had submitted for the trials. Colt was sent back to the drawing board with a request for a sixgun with a top strap as well as a larger caliber. The result was the almost supernaturally inspired Colt Single Action Army. For 100 years this was the .45 Single Action. Then Ruger came out with their .45 Blackhawk on the .44 Magnum frame and suddenly we had a sixgun capable of handling heavier .45 Colt loads than was possible in the Colt Single Action. In the early years of the Ruger .45 Blackhawk we were pretty much confined to the use of cast bullets and even then, to get heavier bullets, we found it necessary to size-down 300-grain .45-70 bullets.

New Bullets

It wasn’t long before jacketed bullets started to appear. By the mid-1980s we had the Sierra 240 JHC, the Hornady 250 JHP and the Speer 260 JHP. I used the latter especially in Long Range Silhouetting. In 1983 Freedom Arms brought out the first .454 Casull Single Action from their new factory in Freedom, Wyo. Not only did Freedom Arms produce the finest single actions ever to come from a factory they also offered loaded ammunition, brass cases and jacketed bullets including 240-, 260- and 300-grain versions. Now we had a good supply of suitable jacketed bullets for use in Marlin and Winchester lever actions.

To go along with my Ruger and Freedom Arms sixguns, I acquired a pair of Winchester 1894AE Trapper .45 Colt leverguns with 16″ barrels. Today I still have my two Winchester Trappers and both wear receiver sights. However, in those early days one of them was equipped with a 4X scope just to see what kind of accuracy was possible. All of my testing was done with three-shot groups at 50 yards. It did not take long to find the Winchester Trappers were quite accurate. All of my work in those days was done with Hodgdon’s H110 and Winchester’s W296 powders. At the time and for many years after, reloaders argued about these two powders being the same. Hodgdon now owns Winchester Powders and a check of their Annual Manual shows the exact reloading data for both powders. This is also true of HP-38 and W231 — same powders.

Using the 240 Sierra Jacketed Hollow Cavity bullets gave the following results from the Winchesters: 23.0 grains of H110 registered 1,550 fps with a three-shot group of 1-1/4″ and 25.0 grains, 1,681 fps, 1-1/4″. A 250 Hornady and the same 23.0 grains of H110 charge resulted in just under 1,600 fps with three shots in 7/8″. The same charge with the 260-grain Speer was 100 fps slower, with three shots in a one-hole, 1/2″ group. This was 35 years ago and unfortunately the black and white pictures from those days are long lost. I really pushed the Freedom Arms 300-grain JHP and the Winchesters. Using 27.0 grains of W296 gave me 1,750 feet per second and a 1″ group. This load was much more powerful than factory .45-70 loads available at the time and these days I don’t feel like I need this kind of power nor do I want to shoot anything so heavy off my shoulder, now in the second year of its ninth decade.

Ultimate Accuracy

Switching to Accurate #9 using the same bullets and the same charge of 21.0 grains resulted in the Sierra 240 JHC at 1,441 fps and a 7/8″ group; the Hornady 250 XTP, 1,505 fps, 5/8″; and the Speer 250 DCHP puts three shots into 3/4″ while traveling 1,535 fps at the muzzle. My milder shooting loads, which are easy shooting but still plenty potent for most uses, are assembled with Hodgdon’s IMR #4227. With the above-mentioned Speer 250-grain bullet 23.5 grains results in 1,364 fps and a 3/4″ group while the 300-grain Speer DCHP designed for use in the .454 Casull loaded over 21.0 grains is just under 1,200 fps and 3/8″ — which continues to astound me. Either of these loads are more than adequate for hunting in the lower 48 while still being very pleasant to shoot.

Over the years I’ve had Marlin rifles with Micro-Groove barrels chambered in everything from .22 Long Rifle up to the .45-70 and everything in between. This Marlin .45 Colt is overall the most accurate centerfire Marlin rifle I have ever experienced. I wonder what it would have done when I was still in my invincible period?

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