Henry Rifle Forums

Recently picked up a Big Boy case colored side gate 45 Colt. Got to the range for sight in with 8 different hand loads. Having never loaded 45 Colt before, I threw together 10 rd of each of the 8 recipes. I gotta say, all 8 were very good to excellent at 65 yd. I had both a 8” plate and a 4” plate set up to practice for some upcoming woods walks. Using just the irons, the 8” plate was always in danger…always managed to hit it. The 4” plate was hit better than 1/2 the time. That, with the front bead completely covering the 4” plate.
Since my eyes are no longer as good as I’d like, I’ve got an aperture/receiver sight on order along with a few different height front sights, including both brass and fiber optic. And, I thought I’d grab a Marbles bullseye rear sight too. Which ever works on the BB will stay. The other will go on another lever gun.
Some pictures of mine, and the full picture from the Henry site.

Beautiful gun!

Nice firearm! Happy shooting!!

beyond beautiful .... looking forward to your reports on selecting sights and the load that works best .... be sure to follow the link below to where you can add your Henry Rifles to our community's total

http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 39#p175539

Very rich looking with the combination of color case hardening and that gorgeous walnut.

Very nice rifle and the color case is exceptional. Care to share the load info for the ones you tested.

What the others have said, beautiful rifle.
Yes the 45 colt is a very fun round, especially in a rifle.

RP

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 11:14 am

Very nice rifle and the color case is exceptional. Care to share the load info for the ones you tested.

EDIT:
I restructured some of this to make it easier to view the load data that I used.


Thanks,
One of the best was Meister hard cast 250 gr with 5.7 gr of Trail Boss.
And another was an Acme 250 gr coated bullet over 5.6 gr of Red Dot. I also tried 6.0 Red Dot with the same bullet.
Good, but not as good as 5.6 gr.
Then, 5.9 Trail Boss and a 230 LRN (45 acp bullet, to be single loaded or just two in the magazine), and the same load with a 200 gr LSWC.
The last three were 7.2 gr unique, 180 gr RNFP
8.0 and 8.3 gr Unique, 250 gr Meister RNFP.
I was told not to expect too much from the 180 gr load, but it was actually pretty good.
All of the rest were also good. Just not as good as the first two.

Because the 5.6 Red Dot shot better than the 6.0 load, I am now trying 5.7 and 5.9 gr to see if there is any improvement. Also, a firmer crimp.
All were loaded to 1.600” and had a moderate crimp. All had signs of low pressure…sooty cases. I am now stepping up a few tenths of a grain where I can and applying a more pronounced crimp. My crimp die is a Lee collet crimp. I am hoping to get a factory crimp die, for a good roll crimp, but they are no where to be found right now. Once I settle on a good one or two loads, I can just use the seater/crimp.
While I was at it, I also loaded some more test loads. I will try 6.5 gr Red Dot, 6.8 gr Red Dot and 6.4 gr T. Boss with the Speer 200 LWC.
5.6 gr Tite Group with the Meister 250, and lastly, 5.6 gr Red Dot with the 230 gr LRN.

Very nice tool that you got there.

I agree, the CCH on that rifle IS beautiful. Glad it turned out to be a shooter as well. A winner all around.

Very nice color case on that Henry side loader 45 !

Those are some nice loads to try and can't go wrong with 8.0 to 9.0 gr. of Unique with a 250 gr. 45 Colt. I found that 6.0 grain of Red Dot works really well in the revolvers giving a tighter grouping. Keep up the great loading work!

Nice looking gun!

Agree, you have some good loads going there. Not to mention a darn good looking rifle. If you have any Universal, 7.2gr under a 250gr rnfp works rather well. You're certainly going in the right direction. .45 Colt's are a hoot.

An update on some of my loads.
It seems that Red Dot is working really well for me. The 200 gr Speer LSWC is proving to be very good with both 6.5 gr and better yet with 6.8 gr of Red Dot. But the really big surprise was the Dardas 230 gr LRN and what seems to be the magical load of 5.6 gr Red Dot. Even though it is not really a 45 Colt bullet, and I have to single load them (Or a max of two to begin with in the tube), it is spectacular!! From a sandbag rest, at 50 yd, four rounds went into a diamond shaped, one hole group. All touching...using open sights!! A fifth round went 1/4" to the right opening the group to just a skoosh over 1" overall. I'm gonna start pumping those out in quantity.

As a side note, and I know that this is a Henry site, but does anyone here have experience with Winchester/Miroku 1873 rifles in 45 Colt? A buddy of mine has one and is looking for advice on poor accuracy from it. We both have read that the Jap Winchesters, specifically the 1873s in 45 Colt, experience pretty bad accuracy issues due to bore and/or chamber size. Also, other than stepping up to .454" bullets, some think that swaged bullets in .452", rather than hard cast, might be an answer.

Thanks!!

Has he slugged his barrel to see what his cast bullets should be sized to? If he hasn't he will just be guessing about what size bullets will shoot the best.

Travlin wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 15, 2021 12:11 am

Has he slugged his barrel to see what his cast bullets should be sized to? If he hasn't he will just be guessing about what size bullets will shoot the best.

No, not slugged yet. He doesn't reload...yet. He only shoots factory "cowboy" loads. From what I can tell, all are .452"
I was curious more than he. Gonna have to run an 'ole fishing sinker down the tube.

Just beautiful ! Nice shooting and good luck.

You guys using Red Dot in the .45 Colt, how is the case fill with RD? Thanks.

Yes, beautiful rifle!

Rifletom wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 26, 2021 4:24 pm

You guys using Red Dot in the .45 Colt, how is the case fill with RD? Thanks.

6.8 gr Red Dot fills ~1/3 the case. That is a 1.277" case. I specify that because I have once fired, factory brass from Hornady that ranges in length from 1.220", to 1.287"!! And Starline too, that brass ranges 1.242"-1.285"
That 1.277" case held 19.6 gr Red Dot filled to the rim, and not compressed at all...just poured loosely into the case.