The wimpy 45LC no more

[wingnut]

Part 2

So, you want to reload and hunt with subsonic ammo good for big game out to 75 yards & maybe a little more. Here is how I did it and it near doubles the muzzle energy of the latest 30 cal fad round.

Get your BB to your favorite g’smith for the frontend work and fence work as needed. The barrel can be very tight and Henry says there are no pins nor glue (I found none). Meanwhile get the reloading items:

A box of 250 Oregon Trail Laser-Cast 405g 45-70 bullets.
A Lee bullet lubricating and sizing kit .452”
A pound or 2 of Lil’gun powder
Your choice of primer and brass

Work:
Size each bullet thru the lub & size die. The bullet will become longer, keep as much lub as possible as was.

Reload:
Deprime, size, re-prime, bell the cases.
About 12.9g of Lil’gun. Exact amount will need to be adjusted for speed depending on your barrel length, the elevation and the temp.
COAL – 1.645”
Apply a good roll crimp.

Test. A speed of about 1010 fps will give you over 900 foot-pounds.

FYI- The heaviest .452 Cast Performance bullets are not stable past about 25 yards at this speed. I think the big flat nose just catches too much air.

All cautions apply.

Good luck

[fortyshooter]

I don't think a 240-255 gr. .45 Colt bullet is exactly wimpy at speeds over 1000 FPS. They have killed many large critters over the years.
I do load up the 300 gr. bullets for my Ruger SBH and Alaskan though.

Now with the .45-70 load up some 500 gr. bullets and shoot them thru a 1885 High Wall rifle...now you have something!
Here is one of my 500 gr 45-70 bullets pictured next to a complete .45 ACP round!!

[BigAl52]

.
Aren't the spring trimming and trigger pull modifications seen in other topics also messing with the warranty?

Henrys are warrantied for life. I would not do anything like this to mine as I wouldnt take the chance of messing with the warranty. Why not just get a 45-70 if you want more lead. Aint nothin whimpy about the 70.

Mags
Im not sure if you trimmed a spring it would void a warranty. I wouldnt do it unless I had another spring to replace it with when sending it back. But I have read where when sending one back and if they replace internal components if you have changed anything you will not get it back. They will return it to the way it left the factory originally.

[RanchRoper]

Have to agree with fortyshooter, I routinely shred the 50 yd wooden target board at the range with 250 gr LFN 45 Colt rounds. Better than a wood chipper...

[fortyshooter]

One of my hot 300 gr. .45 Colt loads for my Alaskan. It moves along at a mild 1100 FPS out the 2.5 inch barrel.


Bullets were 325 gr. FP cast that I faced off in lathe to 300 gr. weight and giving a nice sharp cornered .400 diameter flat.

[wingnut]

H45LCa.JPG (84.16 KiB) Viewed 2110 times

My BBS45 (not a carbine) with Leu'd 1-4x and a Cast Performance 45/360g gas checked load.
Sorry about the BIG.

[fortyshooter]

Very nice...just like my .44 Mag version! I have some .44 Mag loads using the Missouri Bullets 300 gr. bullet but don't think the 1.700 length would feed in the stock action. I shoot them in my Ruger SBH though.

.44 Mag Smasher 1.700 COL.

[Hidden Mortimer]

Hey Wingnut,
Have you hunted deer with those Speer soft points? How did they perform and what velocity did they need to be at to have good expansion? I have a box of those sp’s and another box of deep curls for 454 Casull that also feed well in my Henry if I crimp them closer to the top of the cannelure.

[wingnut]

Hunted deer with them, yes, Success, no. Please see the reviews at the MidwayUSA link at the bottom of the first post in this thread. You can get the Speer 300g SP over 1650 fps with Bludot and slower powders in a 20 inch barrel (Ruger pressures).

[Hidden Mortimer]

Awesome, did you recover any of those bullets. I have some lil’gun and longshot for my reloads. I don’t know how slow or fast those powders are but I’ve heard they work well on the 45 colt for Ruger pressures. Can’t wait to go to the range tomorrow and try them out.