.45 cal

[smokepole]

How many people have .45 cals? I saw a few on sale and was thinking about picking one up.

 

[Grouse]

How many people have .45 cals? I saw a few on sale and was thinking about picking one up.

I really see no reason to. I'm shooting .40cal bullets in my 50cal MuzzleLoaders. From what i have read, the .45cal Disc Elite seems to be a real shooter. I think big6x6 owns one. You might be able to find some information from him.

 

[smokit]

I do and I enjoy them more every time I shoot one.It's all you need for deer.Less recoil a big factor in my old bones.Plus you can push it to 2200-2300 fps with 120-130 grs.lose t-777 or clearshot.

 

[Anonymous]

I like the 45. Don't have a real good reason I just like it. Most of my hunting is done in woods so shots seldom exceed 50 yards. I have killed a wad of deer and hogs with 80 grains of FF blackpowder or Pyrodex using a tan sabot and a Hornady 180 or 200 grain HP-XTP .400 diameter bullet. Never had to shoot one twice but most did not drop on the spot. Some took just a few steps or a couple leaps and were down within 50 or so yards.

 

[toytruck]

I have a .45 barrel for the Encore, and so far it is very tempermental to find a good accurate load. The 225 grain powerbelts have been the most accurate,but I didn't like their performance on deer, even though they have killed four for me. The .50 barrel is easier to load and more accurate so far with 300 grain sabertooth bullets.

I am using Triple 7 loose powder in FFg. The crud ring is worse in the .45 cal. too compaired to the .50 cal. I am not giving up on the .45 as it should be a shooter with the 1:20 twist, just haven't found what it likes yet. Besides it gives me an excuse to go to the range and shoot.

 

[Grouse]

I have a .45 barrel for the Encore, and so far it is very tempermental to find a good accurate load. The 225 grain powerbelts have been the most accurate,but I didn't like their performance on deer, even though they have killed four for me. The .50 barrel is easier to load and more accurate so far with 300 grain sabertooth bullets.

I am using Triple 7 loose powder in FFg. The crud ring is worse in the .45 cal. too compaired to the .50 cal. I am not giving up on the .45 as it should be a shooter with the 1:20 twist, just haven't found what it likes yet. Besides it gives me an excuse to go to the range and shoot.

Have you tried the 175grn Barnes yet??? :idea:

 

[Anonymous]

I have a .45 barrel for the Encore, and so far it is very tempermental to find a good accurate load. The 225 grain powerbelts have been the most accurate,but I didn't like their performance on deer, even though they have killed four for me. The .50 barrel is easier to load and more accurate so far with 300 grain sabertooth bullets.

I am using Triple 7 loose powder in FFg. The crud ring is worse in the .45 cal. too compaired to the .50 cal. I am not giving up on the .45 as it should be a shooter with the 1:20 twist, just haven't found what it likes yet. Besides it gives me an excuse to go to the range and shoot.

My experience with turn in 20 45's has been............you may not want to hear this....slow the load down....good hunting accuracy for me has been in the 1700 to 1900 maximum muzzle velocity.

I had a great shooting turn in 28 45 about 15 years ago. It would shoot around 1 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards at muzzle velocities of 2100 to 2300. Unfortunately someone wanted it more than I did. Truck was broken in to while on a hunting trip to Texas and the rifle has not been seen since.

 

[dwhunter]

My experience with .45's isn't that good. I found the Encore barrel in .45 just wouldn't shoot near as good as the .50. Really it all boils down to this, a .50 will do what a .45 will and much more and besides there is a much better bullet selection for the .50. With sabots for the .50 that will take a
.40 and even a .357 bullet you have yourself a .45. Pressures are generally increased in a .45 also. But with all that said "what ever blows your skirt up" they just ain't for me.

 

[Anonymous]

I am using Triple 7 loose powder in FFg. The crud ring is worse in the .45 cal. too compaired to the .50 cal. I am not giving up on the .45 as it should be a shooter with the 1:20 twist, just haven't found what it likes yet. Besides it gives me an excuse to go to the range and shoot.

If you do have a 1:20, I believe Thompson will still warranty it for you-- and send you a 1:28 barrel.

 

[Anonymous]

My experience with .45's isn't that good. I found the Encore barrel in .45 just wouldn't shoot near as good as the .50. Really it all boils down to this, a .50 will do what a .45 will and much more and besides there is a much better bullet selection for the .50. With sabots for the .50 that will take a
.40 and even a .357 bullet you have yourself a .45. Pressures are generally increased in a .45 also. But with all that said "what ever blows your skirt up" they just ain't for me.

You're right. 50 caliber is the do all muzzleloader, the most practical of all the calibers for a broad range of uses.

I own a bunch of guns that are not very "practical" and will probably acquire more as the years pass!

As you stated "what ever blows you're skirt up"!!

 

[Doohan]

I own a bunch of guns that are not very "practical" and will probably acquire more as the years pass!

LOL! Del, you are my kind of guy!!! Very well said!

 

[big6x6]

Way back when....I did a .45 comparison featuring a Knight Disc Elite
.45, T/C Omega .45, and a "Winchester"(read BPI/CVA) Apex .45. I pick four projectiles; 195gr Dead Center, 200gr XTP, 275gr Powerbelt, and 195gr Barnes, all using 100ffg Triple Seven.

The Knight was the best shooter with best average of all projectile and best average with a single projectile. The best shooting projectile in the Knight AND the Omega was the Barnes 195gr Expander. Then the Knight liked the 195gr Dead Center and the Omega liked the 200gr XTP.

One fact that was somewhat disturbing was that the Omega and Disc Elite were WAY out of the Apexs league in the accuracy department. In all my shooting with the Apex(ahem, TWO Apexs), I never had a single load that was accurate enough that I would feel comfortable hunting with. It was THAT BAD! So much for CVAs cream of the crop.

The other finding while shooting the .45s was that the same rifle in .50(Disc Elite and Omega) is WAY more forgiving and less picky about loads. I'd MUCH rather have a Disc Elite in .50cal or an Omega in .50cal.

ALSO consider the most telling of all...I only have two .45s left, the Knight Disc Elite and a White.

 

[Anonymous]

There have been problems with the "Super .45's" every time they have been introduced and reintroduced. They don't shoot faster and farther-- the reduction in barrel volume prohibits it. As Razorback alluded to, the twist rates were too tight in the Encore and Traditions "new" .45s @ 1:20. Thompson took care of folks under warranty, Traditions did nothing-- just quit making them.

Rather than bothering to design a gun that fits the caliber (like I want a 20 ga. on a 20 ga. frame not a 12 ga.), most did nothing except put a smaller hole in the same untapered barrel. Same gun, except heavier, than can't burn as much powder. Most .45's have been extremely fussy-- even the ones that can shoot at all. Of three CVA Optimas, none would shoot acceptably. The .45 cal. barrel on my Encore did fairly well, with one bullet-- but the .50 cal. barrel is far better shooter. The White 98 .451 did well with 460 gr. conicals-- no sabot would "group" at all, not even a Powerstar.

There is one .45 that I really do like, and that is the Contender G2. Fun to carry, fun to shoot, 1-1/4" 100 yard accuracy, and-- Thompson even put a good trigger on mine. That's the one .45 where the profile fits the caliber-- one sweet handling gun.

Guns to have to make a great deal of sense, but I like them to at least make a wee tiny little bit of it. Anybody shooting a .52 caliber? :shock:

Sorry.

 

[Underclocked]

Okay, so I got 3 of them. 1 White and 2 TC. And a .410 White. The .410 will kill anything a .50 caliber will. Beyond that, what's the point?

Del, sounds like you shoot about the same load as I do in my .45 G2. I love that little rifle!! You oughta try one if you haven't - flattens some of these hills a little. Randy is going to sell me his I think. I go through Harrison on my way to the VA at Little Rock - have thought about stopping in at your place just to say howdy but am not exactly sure where you are located there. Good to see you here.

 

[toytruck]

I have had the scope rail (TC aluminum) epoxied to the barrel since I ran out of vertical adjustment in the Leupold VXII scope. I have since put that scope on the .50 barrel and put a Sightron 3X9 on the .45 cal. barrel. The .50 barrel has a Warne steel scope rail on it with no vertical problems in the Leupold.

The .451 conicals would just slide down almost by themselves so I am now trying .452 diameter conicals in various sizes and weights. I have the Sightron scope dialed in now at 25 yds. and ready to go at 50 yds., but it is too hot to shoot right now.

The 1:20 twist should be accurate. Didn't the .45-70 come in that twist along with the .45 caliber rifles used in the Civil War for sniper work? At least that is what I have been told.

 

[Underclocked]

1:20 twists can be VERY accurate. Poorly done barrels and misaligned QLAs - blame it on the twist rate. 1:20 is for the big boys though. But that might be a matter of functional eloquence. Lightweight bullets in sabots are better suited to a little slower twist. My Encore is NOW a 1:28 barrel with the QLA chopped off. Shoots just fine now so long as I don't go overboard on bullet weight. 350 grain Powerstars do well in it though.

 

[Anonymous]

The 1:20 twist should be accurate. Didn't the .45-70 come in that twist along with the .45 caliber rifles

Still does, standard bullet weight is 405 grains.

The Civil War ended in 1865. The .45-70 Government did not become the U.S. Military round until 1873-- the year it was introduced.

 

[smokit]

Talking about 45 cal. I just bought a new 45 remington SS 15 minutes ago off Gun Broker.com.$179.00 with $20.00 shipping.
This is my second Rem.45. The one I have now shoots 7/8 in. groups after beech plug mods to reduce blow back.

 

[Twanger]

I'm very fond of my White Blacktail M97 45-cal.
Very few critters can withstand a 460gr conical... it's hard to imagine why you'd need a bigger bullet.
Is it 'better' than a 50-cal? I wouldn't be so bold to say that.
It's supremely accurate and I like it - what more can you ask in a gun?

 

[Anonymous]

It's supremely accurate and I like it - what more can you ask in a gun?

Something you can hit a dove with.

Sorry.