.45 Colt Deer Load

[broknaxl]

Does anyone have a good Deer hunting load for the .45 Colt. One that is suitable for use in an Anaconda. Thanks

[diamondback22]

I think Hornady makes 45 colt with its flex tip bullets..

[smkummer]

What bullet and powder are you going to use or have available? I use both the Lyman 454190 (250 gr.) and Lyman 452454 (255 Keith) out of my 6 in. anaconda. With lead bullets, mine prefers the .454 diameter bullets at Colt pressures and velocities but I was able to get the .452 diameter lead bullet to shoot well at Ruger level loads.

[broknaxl]

Right now I have some 200gr lead semi wadcutters, but will probaly go to a 250/255 gr. - As far as powder, I have a good amount of 2400, red-dot, unique. Any suggestions??

[Holdin McGroin]

If you're going to hunt with a 45 Colt what you do is tell the deer that there's a really hot doe that likes him and she's waiting in the alley behind the bar. Then you shoot him in the back of the head and steal his wallet. Seriously, why would anyone want to to kill an animal with a marginal caliber weapon except for bragging rights. You OWE IT TO THE CRITTER TO END IT'S LIFE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. Down here in Florida we have a fish called a Tarpon, it's as big as a man and everybody wants to get into the record books for landing a big one. You're supposed to release them afterwards. What happens is little wanabes try to hook them on flyweight tackle to get the record for five pound test line because they know the fifty pound test line record is out of their reach. The bottom line is they fight the poor fish for 6 or 8 hours and after they weigh it for the record they let it go and it's so tired that two seconds later a shark grabs it and kills it. For every cool picture in the gun magazines of some expert kneeling over a dead buck with his pistol there's fifty poor deer that took a week to die from a flesh wound from some wanabe. Are you sure you want to play this game?

[porsche]

Holdin McGroin,You must have some people with really poor hunting skills in Florida. Unique powder, 255 grain lead semi wadcutter, 9.5 grains of powder. More than adequate for any whitetail deer with good shot placement, this is true with any shot regardless of caliber.

[Holdin McGroin]

Like 22s? Name one state where that is legal. And yes, there are many people in Florida with poor hunting skills, just like EVERY state in this country. How else do you account for hunting accidents? Do deer look like people in your state? Are you trying to say that EVERY idiot with a gun is as competent as yourself?

[porsche]

You sound like a troll and I am not going to play.

[Holdin McGroin]

That's it, take your ball and go home. Sorry if I don't suffer fools.

[bmcgilvray]

Stealing wallets from deer in back alleys? Tarpon fishing with light tackle? The legality of .22s for deer hunting.

We're the ones who are suffering.

The .45 Colt is good medicine for whitetail deer in my view. I've not used it and am not recommending it but the 250-255 grain lead SWC over the maximum charge weight of Unique, as listed in the Lyman 46th manual, has worked great for a cousin who uses it in an 8 3/8-inch Smith & Wesson Model 25 .45 Colt. The revolver and load have 5 deer to its credit last time I heard.

I've taken a few deer with handguns and my cousin's efforts with the .45 Colt mimic the results of my use of a .44 Magnum.

Good hits are golden and bad hits are ... bad. A .458 Winchester Magnum won't effectively put down 100 lb. whitetail deer with poor shot placement. An acquaintance tried it once and hit the deer right behind the rib cage on a broadside shot. Deer dropped but got up and ran off, requiring a merry chase to bring to bag.