bigmike349
Member
- Jun 26, 2013
- 58
1. Winchester 1892 Case Hardened Sporter in .45 LC
2. Ruger new Vaquero 7.5 inch in .45 LC
Since I was a little kid I wanted a six gun and a pistol caliber carbine in matching calibers. When I finally got old enough and had enough disposable income to make a purchase I did some basic research and pulled the trigger, but looking back I wish I made a different decision to fulfill this need.
For those that hand load the .45 colt can be an amazing cartridge depending on the firearm you use. See the writings of John Linebaugh for more information that can ever fit here. My issue is there are essentially 3 tiers when hand loading within safe pressures depending on what gun you load it for. I purchased a Ruger new vaquero 7.5 and a Winchester 1892 Case Hardened Sporter (both in .45 LC) with the intent that I could hunt whitetails with ammo that would be safe to fire from both guns (as they did when these guns were popular, likely with a .44-40). unfortunately the Ruger new vaquero's frame size can only take tier 2 loads safely which does not meet the minimum muzzle energy for hunting within maryland. I could load for tier 3 with my Winchester, but the OAL would exceed maximum size which has a tendency to jam in 1892 without modification, in addition (after talking to Steve Young of Steve's gunz) the 1892 was designed for a bottle necked cartridge causing additional issues when firing a straight walled cartridge like the .45 colt, limiting the profile to a round nose, as opposed to more efficient and accurate designs like the LBT LFN-GC. the stuff you can get off the counter is typically tier 1 or tier 3 (+P) and both are very expensive. if you don't hand load and don't have money to burn it doesn't make sense to own a .45 LC firearm.
If I had a chance to do it over again I would have purchased a Ruger Super Blackhawk Bisley in .44 Magnum and a Rossi 1892 case hardened sporter in .44 magnum as this is a more functional choice for what I had planned. both are now discontinued by Ruger and Rossi respectively.
2. Ruger new Vaquero 7.5 inch in .45 LC
Since I was a little kid I wanted a six gun and a pistol caliber carbine in matching calibers. When I finally got old enough and had enough disposable income to make a purchase I did some basic research and pulled the trigger, but looking back I wish I made a different decision to fulfill this need.
For those that hand load the .45 colt can be an amazing cartridge depending on the firearm you use. See the writings of John Linebaugh for more information that can ever fit here. My issue is there are essentially 3 tiers when hand loading within safe pressures depending on what gun you load it for. I purchased a Ruger new vaquero 7.5 and a Winchester 1892 Case Hardened Sporter (both in .45 LC) with the intent that I could hunt whitetails with ammo that would be safe to fire from both guns (as they did when these guns were popular, likely with a .44-40). unfortunately the Ruger new vaquero's frame size can only take tier 2 loads safely which does not meet the minimum muzzle energy for hunting within maryland. I could load for tier 3 with my Winchester, but the OAL would exceed maximum size which has a tendency to jam in 1892 without modification, in addition (after talking to Steve Young of Steve's gunz) the 1892 was designed for a bottle necked cartridge causing additional issues when firing a straight walled cartridge like the .45 colt, limiting the profile to a round nose, as opposed to more efficient and accurate designs like the LBT LFN-GC. the stuff you can get off the counter is typically tier 1 or tier 3 (+P) and both are very expensive. if you don't hand load and don't have money to burn it doesn't make sense to own a .45 LC firearm.
If I had a chance to do it over again I would have purchased a Ruger Super Blackhawk Bisley in .44 Magnum and a Rossi 1892 case hardened sporter in .44 magnum as this is a more functional choice for what I had planned. both are now discontinued by Ruger and Rossi respectively.