SIXGUNS FOR GAME

In all probability, the .45 Long Colt has had more use, especially in the West, than other sixgun cartridge. No other sixgun has the romantic history and associations as has the .45 Colt. It is the gun that "WON THE WEST", the first successful center-fire revolver cartridge and the arm about which countless stories have been told and written. This cartridge with heavy loads, develops real power and yet is more pleasant to shoot than the .44 magnum, which like other magnums, uses very high velocity to develop power.

For many years the old Single Action Army in .45 Colt was the standard side arm of the U. S. Army. Then, in later years, the Army changed over to the .38 Colt Double Action revolver and used this until 1911, when the .45 Auto Colt Pistol (ACP) was adopted. For military use, the .45ACP is the best sidearm, as my Marine experience very definitely proved to me. I consider it an extremely effective combat pistol for short range work where speed of fire and ease of reloading the gun is of prime importance. The .45ACP, as far as actual stopping power (killing Power) is concerned, is the most effective of all self loading pistol loads I have used. The .45 Auto on game kills much better than the .32-20 and .38 Specials, but not so well as the .45 Long Colt with factory loads… however, for the man who likes an automatic, it is the best cartridge of all the autos for serious work.

For game shooting and all other uses where a powerful load is wanted (and in some cases downright needed) nothing can beat (or even equal) the good ole .45 Long Colt. For the all purpose sixgun, for those living on the "fringes of civilization" (at it were) and beyond, such as our cowpokes and hunters on the "open range", there is no other sixgun to equal the old reliable .45 Colt. With proper bullets and loads, it will kill anything from mice to elephants. For those who like and work in the "Range Country" there are times when a rifle cannot be carried handily. And when one is afoot is usually just the time when he deeds a gun… So, if one makes a practice of packing a sixgun on his person when he leaves the house, he will have it handy when he needs it. These were the teachings of our old friend, Elmer Keith, and nothing in my own personal experience has disproved it to any degree. Any sixgun, to really take the place of a rifle, must be a large caliber and be used with full power loads. So, for a real sixgun when a rifle cannot be carried, where one is dependent upon his sixgun for food, or where one’s life may depend upon the power and reliability of his side arm, he needs a large caliber, heavily loaded sixgun. Personally, based upon my own experience and also the experience of some of the most knowledgeable and experienced sixgunners of my acquaintance, for whom I have the utmost respect, my candidate for the tops in the field of game shooting is the .45 Long Colt…

For the "one gun man", who either through desire or necessity, must do all of his sixgun shooting with one gun and that one gun must cover the entire range of his shooting from targets through plinking, small game to big game, the gun must necessarily be of large caliber and with a wide range of suitable bullets and loads available wither through factory loads or handloads. The choice must depend upon a combination of the power wanted and the size of the gun found best suited to you individually. In this respect, although for my own use (and for many reason), I much prefer the .45 Long Colt in a heavy Single Action Sixgun, it would be hard to fault the choice of some others who prefer the .44 magnum, as a one-gun choice.

This question of caliber, loads, type and make of sixgun, really depends upon the individual and the kind of country he hunts in. What would be suitable and preferable for me would not, necessarily, be suitable for you. So, assess all the factors you think might apply to your use of the gun and make your choice accordingly. If upon use under your own conditions, you find your choice was not what you had desired, then choose another. Half the fun in shooting is in trying out different guns and loads.

There are, of course, several ways to go in this caliber selection process. Some, like my good friend, Jim Taylor uses a Ruger sixgun in .22 RF for the small stuff and a Ruger in .45 Long Colt for everything else. Both guns Jim has remodeled to better meet his needs. Friend Jim has developed some good power loads using heavy 300 grain slugs in the .45 LC cases. He is a real .45 LC "FAN"

I believer that anyone who intends to hunt with a sixgun should start out with the .22 RF cartridge, both to learn the fundamentals of shooting a handgun and then for "keeping his hand in" through the years. The .22 is about as inexpensive a load as one can get for practice shooting, unless he is also a handloader for the center-fires (and all shooters should be handloaders), and then the best system that I know is with my friend Allen Taylor’s "Slip-in" bullet.

The .22 RF cartridge in a revolver is not as powerful as when shot from a single shot or auto-loading pistol where the cartridge is chambered in the barrel. So, for game shooting with a .22, I much prefer a Colt Woodsman pistol for my own use. Although, if nothing larger than cottontails are hunted with it, the .22 revolver will do very well. Some hunters might choose the .22 Rim Fire Magnum, especially for jackrabbits (provided they can afford the extra "fare")

No doubt, most of those who will read these few remarks on sixgun loads will be "old hands" at the reloading game but, even for them an occasional review of fundamentals may be in order. With that in mind, please bear with me.

In developing special loads for any sixgun, always start with a powder charge by not more than ½ grain at a time, even when the case or primer show no signs whatever of pressure. Whenever the primer begins to flatten out, or show the least bit of a burr around the indentation and the case shows any expansion or sign of pressure, then it is best to make any further increase by about one-tenth of a grain at a time, stopping when a good safe, satisfactory load is reached and always below the stage where the cases show signs of extracting hard.

Check the groove diameter of your gun if you do not already know it. Then check your bullet diameter. In this connection follow Keith’s formula for sizing bullets, i.e., and not more than .001" or .002" over groove diameter and the cylinder throats must be large enough for all the bullets to pass through easily by hand. Also note in what manner your bullet may possibly differ from the Standard bullet. If it has a deeper seating depth, cut the first charge much lower than that recommended in the Table of Loads. It is very important to check the seating depth of various bullets, also the difference in powder capacity with various bullets and also the difference in powder capacity of the various makes of cases for the same cartridge. Remember that a deeper seating depth, other things being equal, will give higher pressures and a quicker and more complete combustion of the powder charge. A smaller powder camber, due to thicker case walls, will do the same thing. A heavier crimp, whether due to cases longer than standard, or stretched and hardened by continued resizing, will also increase pressures. Too soft a bullet temper alloy, may also increase pressures, this being due to excessive upsettage in the cylinder throat, or barrel cone. All "hot" powders, especially those like Bullseye, are not suitable for extreme, or heavy loads, as they are much too fast and hot and may fuse the base of the bullet before they show signs of much pressure, leading the barrel badly with consequent inaccuracy resulting.

It is best to keep even heavy loads well within the limits of safety as shown by case expansion and primer flattening to a lesser degree. Nothing is to be gained by going above the safety line with any load, as after that point is reached, any increase in the powder charge seldom adds anything to velocity; on the contrary, it generally decreases the accuracy and even two-tenths of a grain increase may raise the pressure as much as 3,000lbs. Or more after the maximum safe figure is reached.

It is well to stay within the pressure limit set by the loading companies for most sixgun loads. This pressure limit should be religiously adhered to by the reloader until he has had at least 3 years experience loading for sixguns and has accumulated precision equipment to load precision loads. Even then, with any of the older, lighter frame sixguns, it is safest to always stay around the factory pressure limits. Later,after accurately preparing sixgun loads, then he can consider upping his pressure limit, but then ONLY for use in the heavy frame guns of late manufacture such as the Ruger, Abilene, Seville and what I consider to be the strongest of all, my good friend John Linebaugh’s big gun: the 45 Linebaugh Conversion. This gun has so many good things going for it, that it may well be THE sixgun to use for the development of the heaviest loads for the .45, especially using the heaviest bullets. Speaking of which, I sure like the 300 grain Lyman-Ideal 45191 and the Keith-NEI 310.451 bullets. It is a "toss-up" as to which is best for a heavy game bullet. Only your tests, in your own gun(s), under your own hunting conditions, can determine that for you.

In my heavy guns I have used a load developed by friend Jim Taylor using the 45191-300 grain bullet over 18.5 grains 2400 powder and touched off by a Remington large rifle primer, using Rem. Cases with primer pockets reamed deeper for the rifle primer. This load shot in my Hawes "Western Marshal" at 25 yards put all 5 shots in one ragged 1" hole and out of the Seville and Ruger Blackhawk, only a slightly larger group. This load clocks in the neighborhood of 1200fps. Other than the excellent accuracy derived from this load, the most outstanding result was the clean burning. In most use of 2400 powder, there is a great deal of unburned powder grains but, not with this load! And look what you get with it: a 300 grain bullet at 1200fps and over 800 foot-pounds of energy!

I have used the vary efficient load of 11.0 grains of Unique (large pistol primers), which with the Standard weight bullet for the .45LC of 250 grains, (Keith 454424), develops 100 foot-seconds velocity for each grain of powder in the load. In my heavy .45LC guns, such a load does not have unpleasant recoil and yet gives satisfactory power for the lighter Big Game. At 1100fps it develops about 700 foot-pounds of energy. Friend John Linebaugh has developed some very extensive experimenting with the .45 and should be the one to write up these loads. How about it John? Also friend John Taffin has done considerable work with heavy loads and being a very through experimenter, can give us much solid data.

No getting away for a moment from the heavy .45LC loads requiring the use of sixguns of massive proportions and strength. Perhaps a few words devoted to the light frame guns in both SA and DA.

I have particular reference to the inventions and the technique for using them, that have been made by my good friend, Allen Taylor of Florence, Arizona. His "Slip-in" bullets and the technique for using them, has done more to enable the sixgunner to do "More Shooting at Less Cost" than by any other methods devised, over many a long year. For the paper-puncher, the hunter of small game and for the plinker who just wants to get out and shoot, nothing could be better. Costs are quite low: both for reloading tools and components. It is a good way for one to break into the reloading game and the cost of reloading (in most localities) should not exceed the cost of .22 rimfire ammo. Over the past several years, I find myself using friend Allen’s methods more and more as time goes by. These loads using Bullseye (with some of the heavier loads using Unique) are "tops" with me in keeping the "sod-poodles" and rabbits under control. Believe you me, no one who has ever used the Taylor methods as I have (and do) will ever give them up.

Before concluding these remarks on the .45 Long Colt cartridge and loads, I want to mention some experiments conducted with sixgun bullets at high velocity, principally to indicate the great versatility of this oldest but also modern sixgun cartridge. From a theoretical and mathematical standpoint, this design of bullet changes the entire complexion of the .45 LC. It is possible with this projectile to achieve calculated energy figures in the order of 1000 foot-pounds, with pressure indications within reasonable limits. This power is coupled with excellent accuracy.

This bullet is made form a reworked Lyman-Ideal mould 454424, and the 250 grain flat base solid point. In effect, this re-design is the same bullet, minus the base band and lubricating groove. Lubrication is given by a wax base wad (a sheet of heavy beeswax is pressed over the mouth of the case with the thumb after the powder charge is loaded). This bullet in solid-point weighs 184 grains and in Hollow point, weighs 160 grains. Velocity is correspondingly increased and the resulting expansion on light game is tremendous. Amazingly enough, the hollow point bullet shoots fully as accurate as the solid.

Powder charge with the 184 grain solid-point have run 12.5 grains of Unique and 22.5 grains of #2400 for velocities of 1550 fps. These velocities could be increased somewhat. A load of 13.0 grains of Unique, with the 160 grain Hollow-point bullet has been shot with very flat trajectory and amazing results on local varmints such as jackrabbits and coyotes.

This 160 grain bullet with 4.0 grains of Bullseye, is a delightful target load with very light report and recoil. Accuracy is equal to any .38 Special with the best loads.

There are those who may claim that the effectiveness of the cartridge has been lessened by the reduction of bullet weight. However, results in using this bullet show that on large, heavy game the answer is: Yes, such small light bullets are totally unsuited for use in the .45 LC. BUT, on small game and varmints, the answer is definitely NO:. Shooting small game and varmints with such flat trajectory, high velocity loads in the .45 LC is an amazing experience to say the least. However, (to repeat a previous caution here) all of these light bullets at high velocity must be used with the bullets sized just right for the individual gun, and not more than .001" or .002" over groove diameter, and the cylinder throats must be large enough to allow the bullets to pass through easily by hand, or about .001 over groove diameter of the barrel.

A few words on evaluating loads: While mathematical calculations of the power, or blow, which a bullet is capable of delivery, are interesting an unquestionable of real worth to the sixgun experimenter and hunter, there is a great deal more to a final evaluation of the different loads than a paper chart, which, after all, indicates only theoretical equations. A load to prove itself should be turned on a variety of targets; it should be tested for penetration, expansion and power delivered on a variety of material; it should be compared with other cartridges of similar, or nearly similar size, but, above all, it should be put to killing various species of game. It is only by being put through such a series of tests that it may be truly evaluated.

And now, in conclusion, and with reference to the loads that have been mentioned previously, I would paraphrase somewhat a statement made by my old friend and teacher, Elmer Keith, to-wit: "Remember Brother, I assume the risk and consequences of only such of these loads as I have myself assembled". Nuff said?

Robert Smythe

webmaster's note: This article was written for John Linebaugh in 1985,
2 years before Robert died.  He was a grand Old-Timer!