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Whats the upside and downside of the .45LC

6K views 32 replies 13 participants last post by  bquick 
#1 ·
Hello, I was looking at the Ruger Convertible in .45LC and .45acp. I already shoot the 45acp and I have all the reloading stuff to do the LC. I was just wanting the know what type of loads for Outdoor camp/hunting/SD that would be good in the Blackhawk. I have always liked the SA but I just don't really want to get something that would not stop a big cat as I really do not have to many bears where I camp and hunt. However last year me and my kids came face to face with a cougar less than ten feet away. And I decided that I wanted to get something with the punch to do the job but also fun to shoot and easy to carry.

Thanks
Ron
 
#2 · (Edited)
First, to the extent you're asking about loads, you may want to re-post in another section and might get more info. I would imagine either .45 (LC or ACP) would stop any cat, but have no personal experience.

Second, am I safe to assume you're open-carrying? If not, disregard the below:

What concerns me is that you said: "I really do not have too many bears where I camp and hunt." IMHO, one bear is too many, and it's also my (armchair only, of course:)) understanding that .45 is not sufficient to take out a bear, because of its very thick skin and skull.

If it were me, I'd want a heavier revolver. If you're open-carrying, that extra weight on a good belt or shoulder rig is not so much to be a deal-breaker. A bear attack is.
 
#3 ·
Hello, thanks for your input. Where I camp and hike at is primarily in the foothills of Northern California, The worst I have come across there is some yotes and the ocassional Cat in the distance. When I go to a friends property up in the high lakes or in the mountians there are a lot of bear activity mostly just black bears and only a seldom cat sign. When in Camp I have a Mossin Nagant m44 customized for camp rifle and sometimes a compact 12ga. The reason for the pistol is for when I am hiking away from camp or when I am panning for that ever elusive yellow stuff...:unsure:

Thanks
Ron
 
G
#4 ·
I was going up to the smokies for some trail time and I read on calibers for bear control. .357, .44 magnum and .41 seemed to be the most common of recommendations for a bullet that will stop an attack, but thats if you hit a bear charging you traveling at around 30 mph in about 50 ft. of distance, maybe less...
 
#5 ·
From someone that is familier with both black bears and big cats, "IF a Cougar wants to attack you, you won't know it till it all over". IOW your 10' staredown wasn't a dangerious situation (high pucker factor for sure, but no emminent danger) unless YOU pushed it and made the cat feel trapped.
The cougar/puma/catamount/mountain lion (all the same critter) tend to attack from the rear and they go for the neck, by the time you become aware of their presense it will be to late to reach for a firearm.

That said, bullet selection is larger for the Colt round (BTW, LC is a bit of a misnomer, there is the Army had 2 45 revolver cartridges, the Short and Long, respectivly known as the Schofield and the Colt. IOW it's either 45 Long or 45 Colt), and a handloader with a strong gun (like the Blackhawk) can exceed the 44Mag in power.
 
#7 · (Edited)
The only down side that I see right now, is current availabilty of factory ammo in 45LC. I handload, so it doesn't bother me, but my supervisor was saying he couldn't find it anywhere. Standard SAAMI pressure that is. I looked also and by golly he was right.
Since you also handload, your main consideration is your choice of handguns,
and the Ruger BH is a good one. My 4 5/8 inch BH can get down right uncomfortable with upper end loads. I put on a set of Hogue rubber grips to help along with that.(sissy!):rolleyes:
Try to google up the article that John Taffin did comparing some big bore rifles to big bore handuns. Pretty amazing, the 45LC.
P.S. The article mentioned above is in the July 2002 issue of American Handgunner.
 
#8 ·
I have several .45 Ruger NMBHs with both .45 Colt and .45 ACP cylinders. I originally got mine for CAS, but I have switched to .357 so have a couple of spare guns. One is set up for light loads with checkered Eagle Gunfighter grips. I keep the .45 ACP cylinder in it most of the time. The other is setup for hotter .45 Colt loads. It has smooth Eagle Gunfighter grips. The smooth grips handle the heavy recoil of hotter loads better.

As an armchair guy who has never had to face this problem, I have opinions but no personal experience. I do tend to favor heavy bullets to ensure penetration of any likely target, but not necessicarily high velocity. I feel any load in .45 cal with a 275 to 300 gr. flat nosed lead bullet loaded to 1100 fps should take care of business. There are plenty of load combinations capable of producing this level of power with good accuracy.
 
#12 ·
I feel any load in .45 cal with a 275 to 300 gr. flat nosed lead bullet loaded to 1100 fps should take care of business. There are plenty of load combinations capable of producing this level of power with good accuracy.
WOW! It HAS been quite a while since I've reloaded 45 Colt ammunition, but if memory serves, my favorite load was 11 grains of Unique, behind a 255 grn slug. According to the manual (In the section for Ruger and Thompson Center only), my loads were at the upper limits already, and were around 1100 ft per second.
Are there now loads that will push a 300 grain slug safely out of a Ruger Blackhawk at those velocities now days? :eek:
-Bruce
 
#9 ·
Well I made up my mind

Hello,

Well I have decided to get a Ruger Blackhawk convertible in .45 colt /.45acp with the 5.5" barrel. I want to get one in stainless. Now I have to try to find one, I know that Ruger makes one but in blue not stainless. So can anybody point me in the right direction or know of one for sale or trade?

Thanks
Ron
 
#10 ·
One possibility is to do what I did: buy a stainless .45 Colt NMBH with either the 4 5/8" or 7 ½" barrel, and send it to Ruger and ask to rebarrel it to 5 ½", and while you are at it, have them fit a .45 ACP cylinder. I have done this a few times, although not recently and it has worked very well. A new barrel is about $60. Having someone cut a 7 ½" to 5 ½" I priced out at about $125.
 
#11 ·
Ron,

Have you tried Gunbroker?

On a side note, when guys used to hunt cougars with hounds, they used to take them with .22s to minimize damage to the pelt. Cougars are pretty thin skinned. Bears require something a lot heavier. If you handload, a good heavy semi-wadcutter should work well, and give you adequate penetration.

And check out Double Tap ammo, they make good hunting loads for your Ruger.

Jim
 
#16 ·
I have a Ruger Vaquero .45lc with a 7.5 barrel and I dirt-rolled a deer in the head at about 35 yards before Thanksgiving. Poor little guy didn't know what happened. At least you have less trigger pull with a single action, since you have to manually cock the hammer, making it more accurate. Just make sure you get a good first shot. lol Just don't think I would want to lug my gun around camping.
 
#22 ·
There are loads for 45 LC Rugers, TC's and Freedom Arms that are up there with 44 mag speed but with a bigger bullet. My hot 45 LC load is a 250 gr Hornady XTP over 24 grains of Lil Gun for about 1350 fps. To say it's a handfull in my Blackhawk is an understatement. This load is on the Hodgdon website and they say that you can load up to 25.5 grains for 1410 fps. 24 is plenty for me. If I need to hammer something worse than that I'll drag out my 500 S&W mag.
 
#25 ·
I stick with the 300 grain XTP's in my 454 Casull loads but 250 XTP's and 250 RNFP's are my go to for my 45 LC. Another friend told me to put wheels and a trailer hitch on my 500. It's a heap of gun but really fun to shoot.
 
#26 ·
I have a Freedom Arms Premium grade 7 1/2" .454 & a Ruger Super Redhawk 7 1/2" .454.
I also have a Wildey .475 Mag., While I have no real excuse for owning any of them, I have killed whitetail & feral hogs with them. Living in Texas, I don't see many brown bears!
I do enjoy the flat 100 meter trajectory of the .454 & the .44 Mag + muzzle energy down at 100 meters.
I also like the fact that they are no larger that the same revolver in .44 Mag.
 
#28 ·
Being able to reload is a wonderful thing for those of us that shoot a lot. Can load the factory rated stuff for the 45 LC and if you have the right gun you can up the power considerably. Same with my 500 S&W Magnum. My plinking load is a 367 gr SWC over 15 gr of Unique for 1250 fps. Very easy to shoot and kicks some butt when it hits something. I can go from that to an "O M G" load easily with this pistol.
 
#29 ·
I have worked up a load for MY gun. I make no recommendations one way or the other about anyone else using the load in their gun. I get good results with this. It's very consistent and groups, well probably better than I can shoot it. I shoot about 2" groups at 25 yds if I concentrate. It penetrates very well and the recoil is not bad at all. It's unconventional but easy to load and the components are easy to come by.

I load a 255gr cast SWC over 6.5 grains of Unique in .45 ACP brass with the bullet seated deep so that the shoulder of the SWC is flush with the case mouth. I used Winchester brass and WLP primers. The bullets were Oregon Trail Laser Casts. I chrony'd the loads at an average of 959 fps from a 5.5" NMBH. The SD for the load was only 6.2.

A load like that should be adequate for cats.

Doc
 
#30 ·
I load a 255gr cast SWC over 6.5 grains of Unique in .45 ACP brass with the bullet seated deep so that the shoulder of the SWC is flush with the case mouth. I used Winchester brass and WLP primers. The bullets were Oregon Trail Laser Casts. I chrony'd the loads at an average of 959 fps from a 5.5" NMBH. The SD for the load was only 6.2.

A load like that should be adequate for cats.

Doc
Hi Doc, I'm a bit confused here, I thought we were talking about .45 Colt, not ACP. Did I miss something?
-Bruce
 
#31 ·
I can see where the confusion came in. What I'm talking about is using the .45ACP cylinder in the Blackhawk convertible. In my neck of the woods .45ACP brass is much more common and much cheaper. So, I wanted to work up a load with my favorite .45 Colt bullet using the cheaper brass.

I wouldn't shoot that load out of an auto pistol, at least not a stock one. I'd be afraid the load would beat the frame to death with recoil and increased slide velocity.

Sorry for the confusion.
 
#32 ·
Just be careful & watch your brass closely.
The .45 ACP brass being shaped differently than the Colt.45, leaves the beveled case head exposed & unsupported, unlike the Colt.45 brass.
Not an issue at .45 ACP pressures, but as the power increases it could become a problem. Hence why they make +P.45 ACP brass.
Of coarse if you really want to go crazy, you can cut down .308 Winchester or .30-06 brass & inside rean it to make a .45 ACP+P++!:lol:
 
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