45 Long Colt Contender Accuracy

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longarmed posted this 3 days ago

i have a friend who has been trying to get 50 yd accuracy out of his 45 long colt Thompson Contender. First off it hasn't got one of the combo 45/410 barrels so there is no long chamber and thread for a choke. He mainly shoots plain based lead or gas checked lead in the 250 grain range and 11-12 Brinell hardness. He shoots off a rest. Accuracy is great at 50ft but abysmal at 50yds. He has also tried multiple different powders and loads. Bullets are leaving round hole so no tumbling. Anybody have any suggestion or insight that might help.

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Ed Harris posted this 3 days ago

Has he slugged the barrel and cast the chamber? Bullet fit is key.

A T/C .45 Colt barrel I had in the 1980s was .456 groove diameter. Rifling form at that time was equal width lands and grooves with twist of 20 inches per turn. A .449 zz minus gage pin was a sliding fit and .450 would not enter. Factory .45 Colt rounds shot poorly beyond 25 yards. Rounds handloaded with bullets larger than .454 would not chamber. I rechambered it to .45-70 and it shot 300-grain bullets accurately to 200 yards with mild subsonic loads to mitigate recoil.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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Aaron posted this 3 days ago

At a minimum, slug the barrel to see what the groove diameter actually is. A .457 lead round ball will work great for that.

 

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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Larry Gibson posted this 3 days ago

My 45 Colt Contender barrel has real shallow rifling and appears to be the same type of rifling they put in the .410 barrels.  Groove diameter is .451 so I use .452 sized bullets.  Mostly I've used the barrel for pressure testing with the Contender mounted in a Ransom Rest.  The GC'd 452490 and the Accurate 45-230MH have given very good accuracy [2 - 3" with 10 shot test groups] at 25 and 50 yards.  That is with just visually inspected bullets.  With PB'd 200 - 235 gr bullets with nominal Colt SAA loads the accuracy runs 4 - 6" at 50 yards but sometimes better.

LMG

Concealment is not cover.........

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