Development of a 45 Colt hunting round

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xxxxxxxx WARNING xxxxxxxx
Read the following at your own risk.
What I am about to publicly share is my own personal experience.
Even though I have lived to share this experience does not mean you will be so lucky. If you try this yourself, you personally assume all risks and responsibilities.
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This is my 20 inch stainless 45 colt Rossi 92.
Reading this forum and others for education, I have polished the action, installed a Gun Slinger spring kit, stainless magazine spring and follower. Trigger pull is very light and sweet!

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I relieved barrel pressure at the forearm screw, drilled and tapped the front barrel band to install a set screw and then shortened the front magazine screw so that it no longer touches the barrel. The forearm inside was sanded to relieve pressure on the magazine tube. This was all done to improve accuracy. The design of these lever guns with the magazine tube securely and tightly attached to the barrel, when shooting multiple shots, the barrel expands at a faster rate than the magazine tube and can cause repeat shots to vertically string. Allowing some tolerance for expansion differences between the barrel and magazine has tightened my groups.

The stock and forearm were stripped and refinished.
Scope is a Leupold FX-II scout scope. It now has a cheek pad from Brownells.

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In search of an ultimate hunting load for this gun, I found load data for Ranch Dog's 290 grain gas checked cast bullets using Lil'Gun powder. I wanted to load some bullets with these capabilities. Carolina Casters listed the bullet on their website but I was unable to get a response to place an order.

I found some bullets I liked at RimRock Bullets https://rimrockbullets.com/xcart/g-ch-4 ... o-box.html I bought the 325 grain gas checked bullet, Buffalo Bore uses this bullet for their heaviest 45 colt bullets. RimRock's service was excellent, shipment was out next day.

This bullet is massive, for reference next to it is a 200 grain lead and a Hornady 250 grain XTP.

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For load data, Ranch Dog was kind enough to run the bullet specs and powder thru Quickload.
This was his reply "Based on a average bullet length of .896 and a cartridge OAL of 1.662", the maximum load of Lil'Gun would be 20.8-grains. This produces 33.1 KPSI and 1533 FPS at 70°.
As I stated, I consider 35.0 KPSI as a limit on my 45 Colt R92, the same as the 44 Mag but what is limiting this load is the case capacity. This load is slightly compressed, 105%, of the usable capacity and that is what I consider the limit.
I would start 10% below 20.8, 18.7-grains, and work up in five increments of 19.2, 19.8, 20.3, and then the max."

Here for reference is the bullet next to a final loaded round, half of the bullet is in the case, that is why the load is slightly compressed!

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Following Ranch Dog's advice, I loaded some rounds, starting at 18.7 grains of Lil'Gun, working up to 20.3. Here are my targets at 50 yards.

First for reference, I shot three Hornady FTX rounds. The charge is written at top of the targets.

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