OK .45 Colt Black powder....

[RAMCHARGER]

Yea I got my Marlin 1894 in .45 Colt. And well it just seems like a sin to fire "smokeless" outta it.
But I never loaded black powder before.
I think i'll load a few hundred black loads with some 250 gr RNFP lead bullets. And using a lee turret press

So show a BP virgin how its done.

[Army GI]

Great choice! Shooting 45 Colt with Holy Black is the way it's done!

This worked for me:

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,18257.0.html

And more resources:

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/board,82.0.html

http://sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=102205&hl=army+gi

Here is some information I'll copy/paste from the exact same question I asked on The Wire:

Howdy

Just read your question. If you use a Big Lube bullet in 45 Colt there is no need for any extra grease provided by a grease cookie, the Big Lube bullets have plenty of lube. Generally speaking, the longer your barrel, the more lube the bullet needs as it gets rubbed off as it runs down the barrel. I used to get away with pan lubing regular hard cast smokeless bullets for my pistols, the thin skimpy lube groove carried just enough lube to work in a revolver. Could not get away with that in a rifle, the bullets ran out of lube before they reached the muzzle and I had to add a grease cookie.

Wads are a different thing. Basically a wad protects the underside of the bullet from melting from the intense heat of the powder burning. I have found no need for wads under a Big Lube bullet in CAS. The accuracy is not affected enough to need a wad under the bullet. Lube cookies with smokeless bullets was a different story. Needed a wad between the powder and the lube cookie to keep the lube from adulterating the powder AND needed a wad between the lube cookie and the bullet to keep the cookie from getting glued to the base of the bullet. Found out the hard way that a lube cookie glued to the base of the bullet makes for an unstable bullet.

Paper patching was a transitional idea in the development of modern cartridges. The bullet itself does not engage the rifling, the paper patch does, just like a patched round ball in a flintlock rifle. The paper patch means the bullet needs to be slightly smaller in diameter than normal to allow for the thickness of the paper. I have never heard of paper patching pistol rounds, only long range rifle rounds.

For 45-70 I use traditional mult-lube groove bullets with a .030 card wad between the base of the bullet and the powder. Dick Dastardly has some Big Lube molds he designed for 45-70, but I prefer to stay with traditional designs in my Sharps. Traditional bullets requires the use of a blow tube between shots to keep the fouling soft.

[30Cal]

Figure out how you're going to clean it before you use real BP in there.

[Army GI]

You don't really need to clean it. Just the major moving parts and the barrel so you don't get jammed.

The old timers back in the day didn't obsess about cleaning ever last square inch of the internals. Contrary to popular belief, BP won't dissolve your gun over night if at all.

[spencerhut]

Cleaning Black Powder Weapons:
Take 1 average sized bottle of Window cleaner with Amonia in it and dump it into an empty 1 gallon jug.
Fill the remaining space in the jug with water.
Clean your weapon with the mixture, bore also.
Make sure it's dried out
Re-oil the weapon with a good gun oil (or Mobile1).

Doesn't get much easier (or cheaper)

Almost forgot, only use regular old black powder. Do NOT mess with any fancy black powder substitutes.

[Army GI]

What's wrong with the subs?

Besides different loading information?

[spencerhut]

Black Powder substitutes are:
1. Not stable in long term storage
2. More sensitive to load changes
3. Some wick moisture like a sponge

Plain old black powder works just fine. I'll use my plain old black powder, you can use whatever you want.

[CHS]

I have embraced black powder substitutes. A lot of people don't like them, but I love them. While the smell may not be authentic, and there's usually a bit less smoke (people LOVE lots of smoke), I think they have several advantages.

When I go shooting my cap and ball revolver, if I use real black powder, I have to clean all the action about 1-2 cylinders worth of firing, or it's too gunked up to work any more. With pyrodex, I can shoot all day long, and just clean the gun when I get home. I LOVE anything that lets me shoot longer without or between cleanings, and pyrodex does just that.

Also, with black powder being considered an explosive making it much harder for businesses to store, it's way more costly per shot than pyrodex. With the cost of shooting anything these days going up, I'll take the cost savings any day.

I love my pyrodex.

[Army GI]

Black Powder substitutes are:
1. Not stable in long term storage

I plan I shooting up that powder soon after buying it.

2. More sensitive to load changes

How? I load Hodgdon 777 to 100% density

3. Some wick moisture like a sponge

Why does that matter if you clean your guns?

Plain old black powder works just fine.

I can't find any in my town and I can't buy enough powder to justify a bulk buy.

I'll use my plain old black powder, you can use whatever you want.

Whats with the smug remark? I was asking a legitimate question.

[30Cal]

My question was more of a "do you want to go pouring soapy water through the action of your rifle." Cleaning a muzzle loader is fairly simple. I can see where cleaning a leveraction the same way would be a real PITA--keeping the water out of the stocks, magazine and action. I'm sure there's tricks with hoses and buckets or whatever.

Once you've scrubbed it with soapy water, you will have surface rust in a matter of minutes.

[spencerhut]

Whats with the smug remark? I was asking a legitimate question.

Not intended that way. Just a statement. I've heard the arguments for and against real black powder. My money buys the real stuff. Your money can buy whatever makes you happy. Nobody need to get bent out of shape about it.

[bohoki]

soot makes a mess

[ar15barrels]

Once you've scrubbed it with soapy water, you will have surface rust in a matter of minutes.

That's why you use boiling hot soapy water and you pull the barrel off the stock.
The water heats up the steel which dries itself out after you wipe out most of the water.
Then you just oil it down for protection before storage.

Of course this is hard to do on a lever gun because the barrel does not come off the lock real easy...

[30Cal]

Of course this is hard to do on a lever gun because the barrel does not come off the lock real easy...

That's what I'm wondering about. How does this all work on a leveraction? On a muzzle loader, I would think that you have a lot more control over where the water goes (and back in the days, a .45 ML was "freshened" out to .50, then .54, then .60, .63...)