Highly Reduced loads?

[esshup]

I think the answer to your question is to use Trail Boss powder. It's used for subsonic loads in a lot of different cartridges, and it's designed to replicate black powder velocity for cowboy action shoots. Very easy to load, VERY fluffy powder, no filler needed.

 

[rewiltshire]

Go with the Trail Boss. I use light loads for CAS and are very low pressure and recoil. Also Trail Boss is very fluffy and even a reduced load fills the case nicely.

 

[Wedgy]

I was thinking black powder or BP substitute (bh209) too. Burns much slower, could fill case without a lot of pressure. Keeps pressure up for longer because of the slower burn. But I'm no expert on this subject. I do shoot quite a bit of BH 209 in my muzzleloaders though.

Blackhorn 209 is on the unicorn dust list and a new batch isn't coming out until September(hopefully) so there will probably be a mad run as muzzleloader season approaches. I saw a 10oz bottle go for $360 on gunbroker.

 

[hawlejr]

For many years I shot "gallery pistol" at 50' indoors. Standard load for a .357 pistol was 3 gr. bullseye powder with a 141 gr wadcutter hard cast bullet in a .38 special case. Nice light load, shoot all day very accurate, very repeatable. Most of the risk of extremely light loads comes from the ranks of rifle reloads with very light loads of slower burning powder. This is where you can get into detonation. Stick with straight walled pistol calibers, and a "light" load of 3-4 grs of a fast burning powder like bullseye or a shotgun propellent, and you should be fine. Give it a try on some medium ....like 4x4 wood posts to see what the penetration looks like. As I recall, the light target loads mentioned above for the .38 would only penetrate 2-3" of wood, and the relatively flat bullet face is exactly what you need for skull cracking.

 

[warboar21]

If you have Unique you can use the standard load of 8gr and a 250/255cast lead bullet. With a bang stick and no barrel I can't imagine velocity would be high enough to over penetrate. You could also use a 200gr cast bullet with the same charge weight of Unique. I recommend a cast lead bullet if you're going to reduce the charge weight in a handgun or rifle.

Unique is a very forgiving powder and I've used it in everything from .380 up to and including 45-70 with cast and jacketed bullets. I loaded the 45-70 with 12gr of unique and a 325gr .452" bullet paper patched to .458" for my son when he was younger and a little more recoil sensitive.
The powder is not position sensitive and does not require any filler.

 

[Lee Goodwin]

Trail Boss powder is good for reduced pistol loads but stay in the recommended low range and it will be light recoil...in a modern pistol.
For rifle you go with H4895 and I usually go 70 % loads or hotter but accuracy often falls off.
Hodgdon reload data center should have the data to use and not get into the danger zone of too low a powder charge and excessive cartridge pressures. It can be dangerous, so only use newer published data.
I got a copper jacketed projectile stuck in a rifle barrel once ..from many things, including a reduced load...
You could toy with paper jacketed bullets but that is another thread ..even paper jacket over one caliber size down...

 

[Dirtrax]

For years 45 Colt was considered a low pressure/low velocity round due to the abundance of old firearms in service. What was once old is new again. Is this considered proven?

 

[Dirtrax]

Sorry the pics don't expand well. I can try again if you're interested.

 

[esshup]

I like using Trail Boss because it usually gives close to 100% case fill so no case fillers are needed to keep the powder charge near the primer if the gun is pointed down, like would be the case with a bang stick.

 

[Ross1147]

No trailboss in my inventory. I have been looking for it for some time. I do have unique, blue dot, red dot, green dot, CFE pistol, and actually a bunch of BH209. Never thought about going the black powder route. And @Dirtrax photos look good. Thanks!

 

[esorensen]

Look no further than trail boss. I use reduced loads to test minimum velocity expansion limits. If it doesn't expand, the hard stop distance is closer in. Might be able to hit something that far out, but chances at recovery are dubious at best.

 

[esshup]

No trailboss in my inventory. I have been looking for it for some time. I do have unique, blue dot, red dot, green dot, CFE pistol, and actually a bunch of BH209. Never thought about going the black powder route. And @Dirtrax photos look good. Thanks!

Then I'd try the BH209 and do some penetration tests if you can. Keep an eye out for Trail Boss, it never hurts to have a small "can" of it on the shelf. Great for subsonic loads. I'm playing around with some in a .308 with heavy bullets.

 

[JDD]

I wish people would avoid answering questions they have no clue about.

The 45 Lc is a straight wall low pressure pistol cartridge. Spontaneous explosions of light loads as studied by Ackley happens in bottle neck cartridges with slow burning stick powders.

You should fined data for cowboy action loads on the hodgen web site. I would think a primer and 2 grs of bulleseye would be enough.

I killed most of the gators I trapped with a 22lr. On a bet I pulled a nine footer , then in grabbed it by the nose clamping it's jaws shut and scrambled it's brain stem with my Bowie knife. You can kill them with a well time blow with a long handled hammer. In Louisiana we don't have any restrictions other than the trapper has to kill it.

 

[C-130 Dude]

So started watching some YouTube videos and reading fishing forums and it looks like I'll be just fine using normal 45LC rounds. People are using 357mag and 44mag bang sticks and they aren't getting pass throughs with those rounds. My main concern was pass throughs because some of the best hide IMO is on the bottom of the jaw. A 45LC at cowboy pressures is anemic compared to 44mag so should be fine!

Yea, pass through to the bottom of the boat. Oops