loads for .45 cal

[oldsmellhound]

Hi guys - just wondering what kind of loads you .45 cal shooters use. I'd love to know what you use & what kind of accuracy you're getting.

I posted last fall about having some accuracy problems with a new .45 I bought. This spring I picked up some 777 ffG on sale and have been trying to work up a load (before I was using only 777 pellets). I've been using Barnes XTP's - the 10mm 200 grain bullet, mostly because they are cheap to buy in bulk and I've been impressed with their terminal performance on deer. I'm using Harvestor sabots that I get in bulk as well.

A few weeks ago I spent an afternoon trying different amounts of powder charges. Shooting 3-shot groups with 90 grains of 777, the holes in the paper were almost touching at 50 yards. When I backed off to 100 yards though, the groups opened up quite a bit - you could still cover the shots with a pie plate, but not very impressive in my book for 100 yards. I shot a couple nice groups (about 3")at 100 yards with 100 grains of 777, butthey weren't consistent (some groups were all over the place with 100 grains). Just wondering what you guys think about this. Do you think that backing off to 80 or even 70 grains of powder would help? Would this load still be powerful enough at 150 yards? Ihunt mostly on strip-mined grassland where theshots can be long, and I want to find a load/combo that is accurate and powerful enough to shoot out to 150 - 175 yards.

Any thoughts/comments are appreciated. By the way, I'm shooting a .45 cal. bolt-action Cascade Magnum (CVA) with a Bushnell 3 X9scope.

[oldsmellhound]

Sorry, I meant Hornady XTP's, not Barnes.

[lonewolf5348]

i would drop back on the triple 777 to75 grains and see how the gun shoots at the 100 yd target
I remember when shooting hornady SST they shot one large hole at the 50yd target but the 100 groups open to a pie plate

[Ridge Runner]

if the groups are opening up like that, my guess is your not driving them fast enough, or else your 45 is like mine, wrong bore diameter. cva wants to replace my barrel, try 100 gr and powerbelts, if it won't shoot call the manufacturer.
RR

[Cessna Flyer]

With my 45 cal Traditions I tried to shoot 100 grains with heavy bullets and whetever I tried, 80 grains was the powder charge it liked. Now I haven't tried it with Like Pyro P or the others, mainly black powder

[frontier gander]

Deer Creek .45 sidelock, 80 grains triple 7, 225 grain powerbelt and cci magnum percussion cap. Dead on out to 150 yards. Cant wait to try it on a mulie this Sept! 2" group @ 150 with open sights. Nothing fancy either, just a silver front sight and i think Buckhorn rear sight.
With the .45 powerbelts, you should remove the plastic cup, give a squirt of Birchwood casey MOLLY lube on the nipple of the bullet, let it dry and then put the cups back on and spin them and remove them a couple times. I had problems where they were sticking to the bullet and throwing off my accuracy.

[oldsmellhound]

Thanks for all the ideas guys. I'd like to stay away from Powerbelts if possible - mostly because they are pretty expensive. I will try a couple of the Aerotips if I can't get anything else to group. Next time I go shooting (which unfortunately won't be for several more weeks) I'll try with some lower powder charges - 70, 75, and 80 to see if something works.

Any of you out there with ballistics software can tell me what kind of energy I'd be getting out of a 70 or 80 grain load of 777 with a 200 grain XTP at 100 & 200 yards? The 200 grain XTP has a BC of .199 by the way, but I don't know the sectional density. Thanks!

[moosekiller99]

I shoot a CVA .45 Hunterbolt Magnum and it likes 100 gr 777ffg with 250 grain QT's. It also is pretty good with the same charge and 200 grain Hornady SST's.About 1.5 - 2 inches @ 100 yards.