Howdy Galen! Welcome to the Wonderful World of "Whut the Heck?"
Ok, I'm just saying what works for me and about 3 others who tried my method and stuck with it. I'm
NOT saying any of the information put out here already is wrong or unnecessary, just what works for
Me.I'll start with the guns I shoot and their barrel lengths so you'll have some basis of comparison. I have been shooting 45 Colt now about 11 years, from Rifle #1) (Uberti) 1866 Winchester 24" Sporting Rifle & #2) (Rossi) 1892 Winchester 24" Sporting Rifle; for Revolvers, there are #1) (AWA) Colt SAA w/ 7.5" barrel, #2 & #3) 2 ea. different (Uberti) 1875 Remington Army w/ 7.5" barrel(s) and #4) (Old Model) Ruger Vaquero w/ 3.5" barrel. My friends who use these same loads use a variety of guns but they include another 1875 Remington, various Colt Clones in several barrel lengths, genuine Colt SAA revolvers in 7.5" as well as 5.5" (the exact lengths are approximate except the 7.5" figures) and in rifles, a couple more Uberti-clone Win. 66 and 1873 repeaters, a Lightning (the Beretta version) and a Colt-Burgess. ...... OK - now for the details:
The one consistent component is Winchester cases, BUT ... there are also a few Starlines as well as some RP Nickle cases that get used occasionally. I don't load my brass for them, they bought the same components as I and, with only a few exceptions, load their own.
I (we) have NEVER annealed a case. It's not that I don't think it's worthwhile, I just that I
have so many, I don't bother. I bought 2000 Winchester cases to start with, and have more now as folks who planned on throwing their brass away got convinced to "throw away" that brass to ME! I used to work at a Gun Store with an attached Range. (PopGuns, Indianapolis) I'm a brass "Hound, Scrounger, Moocher" ... whatever ya wanna call me, but I grab what I can wherever I shoot. And I keep track of how many loading on my cases I do - I'm now up to 12 reloads each case on my main stock of Win brass. What little Smokeyless I (we) shoot is the 5.1 grs. of Clays recipe from their website. That pushes 250 gr. bullets; some from Valiant, some from other Hard-Cast makers, but most with the PRS BigLube boolit - and yes, I use a soft bullet with BP-friendly lube for Smokeyless loads. There have been a few 225-230 gr. bullets along with a few of the 200 gr bullets as well, but the heaviest bullet with the "stoutest" load is what works best. I put a firm crimp, but not so much that I get case-mouth failures often - no more than normal. (I've probably lost 20-30 cases over the years to cracking, and surprisingly, 5 of those were after the
first loading!)
My #1 load is to fill the case with enough 3f Goex powder that I get about 1/8" (.125") compression when I seat the PRS 250 BigLube boolit. That is a volumetric load and usually weighs about 32.5 to 37 grs. of powder depending on the lot of powder I have. With the last batch I bought (I split a case of 50 with a friend) my current charge weighs about 34.6-35.1 grs., when weighed. I leave my powder bar set so that it meters out the same VOLUME of powder all the time, and I only weigh it just to see what it comes to whenever I change lots of powder, switch to Pyrodex, or change granulation size to 2f. (Which isn't often.) Basically, I weigh to check to see that my powder measure setting doesn't change; as I'm sure you know, this is recommended for safety with ANY manufacturer's measure. I use Dillon equipment - BP & smokeyless, but have used
RCBS,
Bonanza, and
Lyman measures as well as
Lee yellow dippers for BP before I got my
"Big Blue Wonder" setup.
I use mostly Winchester & CCI primers, but not Magnums, 'tho the Winchester primers SAY they're for regular or Magnum needs. I HAVE used Mag primers before, but BP really "lights" easily and doesn't really need the extra $ it costs for the Mag primers.
OK - I've rambled off in too much detail ... perhaps ... but you now see how another guy does it and is happy with the results. I get VERY little blackening on the cases - but I'd be a liar if I said they came out clean. Plus the more I shoot, the dirtier they come out. What I DON'T get is a lot of unburned powder or debris, either in the chambers, bores, or in the
actions of notoriously
dirty-from-45Colt-loads-in-toggle-link-guns! And NEVER had my own gun spit unburnt powder at me (or anyone else I know of.) As Jefro posted, only modern
rifles have been chambered in 45 Colt - the old ones weren't
at all so it is a "new" issue with the rifles.
Works for me. Have fun!