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tuarus thunderbolt rifle hand loads

shorty-j
Hi, hope someone can help me here. I have a thunderbolt 45 colt that suffers from the poor fit of the bore. Factory loads are not strong enough to expand the brass and seal the breech so powder blows past the brass. This seems to be common with these, some say the bore is a little out of round and a hotter load will usually seal. I have an older 1892 (late 1890's) and I use an old lee loader, it has a rife charge. I use a 200 gr bullet with a measure of 23.9 grains of 2400. I have been using this for over 30 years. the 92 is still firm and smooooth as butter. Since the 45 is similar in size and case capacity will this 23.9 grains of powder with a 250 grains of lead be okay to use in the weaker thunderbolt? I will be using a lee loader to make the rounds so we are talking a hand crimp not a crimp from a press. I appreciate any help here, thanks and happy shooting.
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  • Ambrose
    I use 8 gr. of Unique with a 250-255 gr. bullet in a repro Schoefield chambered in .45 Colt. I would NOT use your heavy charge of 2400 in a firearm of suspect strength! Keep in mind that 20-22 gr. of 2400 is absolute MAXIMUM in a .44 Magnum with 240 gr. bullet.
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