.45 colt........anyone using this in a rifle?

[kombi1976]

A few of the single shot rifles are coming out in a .410g/.45 Colt chambering but I'm darned if I can find a load for this cartridge apart from pistol loads.
What is this one like in a rifle?
How much extra velocity can you gain from a 22" barrel over 7" pistol barrel?" Apparently it only clocks about 160fps with a 200gn lead pill.
Jay, perhaps you can answer this question.

[Jay Edward (deceased)]

Yes I am...rifle and carbine.

[Jay Edward (deceased)]

Sorry...neglected to respond to everything.

I had worked up a load using the .45-70 295 grain lead bullet and 4759 powder with close to 1" MOA and iron sights.  I neglected to write it down and now I have to re-develop the load.  I'll get back to you on this asap!

I also have a chart showing velocity vs. bbl length with a handgun cartridge which I'll search for and post.

This is a much neglected area as, rifle or carbine, firearms using pistol cartridges usually are stuck with loadings limited to handguns 'for safety's sake'.  Fine and well, but I want to have pistol cartridges taylored for my rifle and carbine.

[Jay Edward (deceased)]

Alright...here's the chart again:
 

[kombi1976]

Thanks Jay. As far as decent loads for rifles chambered in pistol cartridges, I'm not in danger of putting the overpowered(or is that powdered? ) rounds in a pistol as I don't have any handguns and don't anticipate obtaining the necessary licence simply because of the number of hoops I'd have to jump through.
 
How effective are your .45 Colt rifles? What sort of game do you shoot with them & what sort of range do they have?

[Jay Edward (deceased)]

Up to and including Whitetail (75 yards or under).  I've even take a Grouse or two off of high perches.  Varmints out to 100 yards but it's a dicey proposition.

The rifle & carbine demand flatnose bullets and that's ok by me.  I think they are more effective anyway.  (Cast bullets of course).

Cheap shooting my friend, cheap shooting.

[Daryl (deceased)]

Kombi said:
 

How much extra velocity can you gain from a 22" barrel over 7" pistol barrel?" Apparently it only clocks about 160fps with a 200gn lead pill.

I think that the old black powder loading shot a 255 grain lead slug at about 900 fps?  I don't doubt that some of the cowboy action loads are shooting extremely slow, but that shouldn't be the case with standard ammunition.
 
I'm not going to post my load (you can PM me if you want), but I'm getting nearly 1800 fps with a 255 grain cast SWC from my Winchester '92 Trapper/16 inch barrel.  The same load from my Vaquero does right at 1400 fps.  This isn't a load for every .45 Colt handgun, but it's safe in Rugers and most MODERN rifles.
 
Here's a link to an interesting page on the subject.
 
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/45coltlevergun.htm
 
I'd be really careful working up to some of the loads he listed, but I'm using a couple of them (not the REALLY heavy ones though) with no trouble.
 
Az

[CAfrica]

Kombi,
 
Don't know about the .45 but I have a 357 magnum in an 18" lever action carbine.  Muzzle vel is about 40% more than what you would get in a 4" bbl handgun.  Compared to a 7" handgun I suppose the difference would be only in the region of 20%.
 
Ruger makes a bolt action in 45, now that sounds like a real good option to me.
 
On the 357 at 1680ft/s (158gr SWC, not a hot load), point blank range on a 5 inch target is about 120 yards.  I don't normally shoot at more than 80 yards although I have done varminting at longer ranges.
 
Because my rifle is a top eject, I went to some trouble having a scope fitted scout style in front of the action.  One of those short handgun scopes.  I tried it with a red dot scope first but the red dot I had was designed for handgun ranges and the dot was too big for 100 yard shooting.  For some reason I could also not get acceptable accuracy with it.
 
As Jay says, cheap shooting.  This is my favourite plinking cartridge.
 
Regards.
 
C