True Blue and .45 Colt

[hornetguy]

I don't know if any of you have tried Ramshot's True Blue powder, but I took the plunge and got a 4# bottle of it.
I loaded up a box of 45 Colt, using a 255gr commercially cast bullet... the data sheet suggested anywhere from 7 gr or so, all the way up to 13 or 14 gr... the "old" low pressure loads were around 7.5-8.8 gr, and the higher pressure "Ruger" type loads were 12.1-14.2... I don't really want a rompin-stompin T-Rex load, so I started at the low end of the Ruger loads.... 12.0gr.
Man, this stuff, to use the old worn out expression, meters like water... it's a very small grained spherical powder that just flows with no hangups. My Lyman 55 gave me less than a half-tenth variation....I threw/weighed the first 5, then the 5th one after that, then every 10th one. I got that variation on ONE of my thrown-then-weighed charges. That's almost a non-existent difference.

Now to see if it goes bang.... range report to follow...

 

[Sam Colt]

 

[hullhullhull]

I like the sound of a powder that meters really good. Looking forward to the range report.

Reloading and shooting .45 Colt makes me think back to good times learning how to reload with my dad.

 

[Txmark]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[hornetguy]

Well, I have a partial report. It goes bang.

Unfortunately, my chronograph decided to not work. All I got was ERR on the display. I finally got that cleared, but it wouldn't read the shots I fired across it, either the .45 or the .38 wadcutters. This is a fairly new ProChrono, and it's the first time I tried to use it indoors. I've used it outdoors maybe 8-10 times.

The loads seemed to be very consistent, and while not T-Rex category, they are not puff-balls, either. Recoil was moderately brisk... a 255gr bullet moving along around 1150fps (extrapolated from manual data) does cause the barrel to rise a bit.
I noticed no un-burned powder granules... all in all this powder seems to be pretty clean burning.

Once I get used to a big bore single action again, I hope my groups improve... but, we're dealing with 68 yr old eyesight, so, there's that.

This group was 12 rounds at 10 yds (30 ft), shot while standing on my hind legs, so, don't be cruel.... At least it shows promise. The single hole down by the "7" is a stray shot from a double-action string from my snub 38...