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Reloading Advice


Judge Lewis

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I am new to CAS and reloading. I want to reload some .45 Colt pistol loads. I bought some 160 grain bullets in hopes of reloading C45S brass, but can't find any. I did find some 45 brass but powder and primers are almost non-existent. (Hard to believe that this situation is caused by hoarding...) Anyway, I did find some powder and looking at the Hodgdon data, it looks like the only one that is usable is 4756. The other powders that I found are: Red Dot, Green Dot, Reloder7, Herco?, 4227, and the 4756. Any advice would be appreciated.

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Been using red dot for about 7 years....seems to work for me....mileage may vary. If you look a few pages down there was a recent purchase of the cowboy brass rights from Andirondack Jack. Check it out...it should be available.

 

KK

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Red Dot is very old powder... I'd bet there has been a truck load of 45 Colt loaded with it. I've never shot washers (160 gn) in my 45 Colt, so can't offer any specific advice as to a load.

 

Snakebite

 

Not allowed to give out loading information on the wire. I shoot 160 gn bullets (Snakebite Bullet) in my 38s... but if I were going to shoot 160 gn bullets in a 45 Colt, using Red dot... I would start out using

1/4 of the square root of 64 times the number of children that I have. (measured in grains)

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I've shot a lot of Red Dot under a 175 grain bullet, and also 700X. Both work well. Lots of others have good experience with TrailBoss. And Clays (just regular Clays, not International nor Universal) works well.

 

Lots of choices.

 

Since you are new to reloading, I would suggest you try to find a local CAS pard who can walk you through the steps. It's not hard, but there are some tricky points, and the matter of safety for yourself and fellow shooters, too.

 

At the very least, make sure you have a good reloading manual that shows you the steps. The Lyman Cast Bullet Handook is a great one for the cast bullet loads we use in cowboy shooting.

 

Welcome!

 

Good luck, GJ

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I started this sport with 8 pounds of 1970's vintage Red Dot that I found vintage load data for and shot for quite some time. Still have about a pound of it left, but have switched to Clays. It is the sole smokeless powder that we keep around here now to load 38, 45 ACP, 45 Colt, and 12 gauge. Found the Clays to be a bit cleaner than Red Dot or Promo.

 

All of the 45 loads were behind the same 230 grain rnfp bullet.

 

Have recently switched to a 200 grain bullet and Clays works great with their published load data.

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I would really like to find some Clays, but it looks like it has disappeared from the face of the earth. I do have a pard, Slate Mike, who has kindly offered to show me the ropes with reloading. I just have to find the right materials so that I am not mooching any from him, especially in this impossible market.

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I would really like to find some Clays, but it looks like it has disappeared from the face of the earth. I do have a pard, Slate Mike, who has kindly offered to show me the ropes with reloading. I just have to find the right materials so that I am not mooching any from him, especially in this impossible market.

Judge, a lot of the mail order houses that sell powder have provisions on their websites where you can request to be notified when a particular brand of powder is in stock. Same with primers and brass. That is how I was able to buy Trail Boss recently. Give that a try.

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I would really like to find some Clays, but it looks like it has disappeared from the face of the earth. I do have a pard, Slate Mike, who has kindly offered to show me the ropes with reloading. I just have to find the right materials so that I am not mooching any from him, especially in this impossible market.

Powder Valley is showing the 1lbs (14 oz actually) of Clays in stock.

 

JEL

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I would really like to find some Clays, but it looks like it has disappeared from the face of the earth. I do have a pard, Slate Mike, who has kindly offered to show me the ropes with reloading. I just have to find the right materials so that I am not mooching any from him, especially in this impossible market.

I dont know if you ever get down to Keene NH but there's a shop near there that I go to, Trader Johns (in WInchester on Rt 10) which usually has it in stock. Of course give him a call first before taking the drive. I haven't been there since February but back then he had both powder and primers. I think the little shops are better able to keep things in stock because they're "out of the way".

 

Also, say howdy to Slate Mike for me.

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Judge, I reload smokeless rounds for a friend. Powders of choice for 45 Colts ... Unique - Red Dot and TiteGroup.

Might add, return those 160gr bullets and use the normal 200 or 250gr ones. You'll find plenty of reloading data for these 2 bullet weights in low and high velocities

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I bought some 160 grain bullets in hopes of reloading C45S brass, but can't find any.

You WILL be able to find some in about 4-6 weeks. most likely. If you hold onto those 160 grain bullets, you will find they work very well in Cowboy 45 Special. They will work in 45 Colt, it is just more trouble finding good loading data for such a light bullet for 45 Colt. If you need my loading data for the 175 grain slug, which can be adapted to the 160 grain bullet, let me know by PM.

 

As Gunstock Smith and Miss Cubbie (and the inventor, Adirondack Jack) have requested on a couple of threads about the Cowboy 45 Special brass, please have patience as they get their initial stock run produced by Starline.

 

This IS the worst time for someone to start reloading in the last, say, 100 years or so. The shortages we have now are about like trying to get set up to reload in, oh, the 1910s or so, when there just weren't many tools and components available to the average shooter. The Ideal Company was about the only supplier of note back then, and components were scarce as hen's teeth. Sound familiar?

 

Patience and perseverance. This too shall pass.

 

Good luck, GJ

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I just got 4# of Clays from Natchez Shooters Supply. There is some around but you may have to wait a couple of weeks for it to ship. I use Clays for everything....38, 44-40, shotgun trap and cowboy.

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When you first posted up here about it a couple of weeks ago, a site had Clays. They sold out. (Luckily I got 8 lbs as did a buddy.)

Last week they had Trailboss for $13 a bottle. This morning it is gone too.

Today they have HP38 that would end up at $20.50 or so a pound (buying 10 1lb cans) delivered to your door.

I think you just gotta be in the right place at the right time. Primers are the same way.

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Powder Valley is showing the 1lbs (14 oz actually) of Clays in stock.

 

JEL

They only have International Clays not regular Clays

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HP 38 and Winchester 231 are the same powder. I use a minimum load of W231(from Hodgdon's online manual) under 160 grain bullets and they shoot just fine. Easy on my arthritic wrists, too...

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Red Dot is very old powder... I'd bet there has been a truck load of 45 Colt loaded with it. I've never shot washers (160 gn) in my 45 Colt, so can't offer any specific advice as to a load.

 

Snakebite

 

Not allowed to give out loading information on the wire. I shoot 160 gn bullets (Snakebite Bullet) in my 38s... but if I were going to shoot 160 gn bullets in a 45 Colt, using Red dot... I would start out using

1/4 of the square root of 64 times the number of children that I have. (measured in grains)

Now Snakebite, you know that using "washers" for describing a .45/160 is just improper. Washers may be thinner but they're still heavier than that. You need to use the proper term; ..."Asprins". ;) Oh, and Green Dot works real well with a 200 grain.

 

Boothill

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The Meister Reloading Manual for Cowboy Action Shooting lists loads for 160 grain bullets using Herco, Blue Dot and Accurate #5.

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The Meister Reloading Manual for Cowboy Action Shooting lists loads for 160 grain bullets using Herco, Blue Dot and Accurate #5.

Link?

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Of all the powders that you listed as available to you, Red Dot will do the trick. While I like and use Clays in everything CAS, 38's, 357's, 45 LC, and even 45ACP, along with my shotshells, Red Dot is of a very, very, similar burning rate, and will work in all those specific cartridges also.

 

So, at least for now, if you can get some Red Dot, then you will be set for powder until the availability of components gets back to normal.

 

RBK

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Link?

 

 

 

Regrettably not an online manual. PM me your snail mail address so I can send you a photocopy of the page with the loading data. (I do not use PM as I don't want to be responsible for any possible transcription errors.) I do not see the manual in print at this time.

 

 

 

 

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I scored 2 lbs of Red Dot and 1000 Fed primers. A friend of mine bought for me some Universal Clays, thought he was doing me a favor and buying Clays. I didn't want to burst his bubble so I just paid him and said thanks. I hope I will be able to use the Universal Clays on something.

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I scored 2 lbs of Red Dot and 1000 Fed primers. A friend of mine bought for me some Universal Clays, thought he was doing me a favor and buying Clays. I didn't want to burst his bubble so I just paid him and said thanks. I hope I will be able to use the Universal Clays on something.

Check the Hodgdon Online Reloading Center. It lists a load for 160 cast bullet in 45 colt using Universal Clays.

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