I looked through the 45colt load dat today and noticed that its astray in many differant groups. Could loadswap be organized a little without too much fuss.

Also what would be a good cast bullet to start with for a m25 S&W 250-280 grains 1000 fps would be what I would want for performance, target shooting mainly and the occasional critter. I was thinking Unique or 2400 for a powder choice. Anyone have an favorites???????

This was kinda more about the load swap issue, but OK! Maybe it should have been 2 posts.

Brandon,

In the next few weeks I'm going to start working through LoadSwap to correct some of the very issues you mentioned. I'm right in the middle of the hunting season, holidays, and a move out to the Rancho Costa Plenty.

10-4


Brandon

Brandon,

For an excellent bullet and load for your Smith try Beartooths 265gr K-swc and 9.0grs Unique. This is an excellent load and well within the capablilities of the N frame .45s. It's also a very good load for game up to dear if your able to place your bullet in the right place.

2400 powder doesn't work well when used with light loads. It tends to burn very dirty and inconsistant that way. Once you get up to about 18.5 grains with the 250+ grs bullet it burns very clean. But I consider this load to be over the limit for the 25-5 or any N frame in .45 Colt. More suitable to the full sized Ruger Single Actions.

Joe

Joe

Brandon, I have a 4" barrel Mdl 25 and have found the Unique, Titegroup class good for target, general carry loads in the 900 fps class. If you are looking for a hunting load that is more powerful, then you are going to have to go to H4227, H110 route. John Linebaugh wrote an excellent article on this very gun and +P loads here:
http://www.handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=12

My gun did not like the H110 or Win 296 at the higher pressures that Mr. Linebaugh liked in his gun. I felt the pressures were a little much, muzzle blast high, and accuracy was terrible. I did find a good load with H4227 that gave me good accuracy out to 50 yards with 255 gr SWC's. I was able to get about 1020 fps which is plenty good for deer. I haven't had a chance to try them out on a hog yet so I will have to do a little more investigating in this regard. For general purposes, a good hard cast bullet at 900 fps will take care of most of your needs.

Brandon - I've used Unique, H4227, HS6, and HS7 with good results in the .45LC. I've finally settled on a 255 grain LSWC with an HS7 load that gives 1118fps from my 6' M25. 12 grains of HS7 is a good starting point.

Beware - this is above maximum loads for .45LC!

HS7 gave best results in my gun and loads at 1020fps worked well also. Use Walters wads over the powder in lesser loads to improve accuracy. Only problem is they slow down the reloading and I'd sooner be shooting.

The M25 is up to to all this IMO, and the 1118fps load will do anything you want to do with a .45LC.