Surplus of win 231

[Streetstar]

I have a small surplus of Win 231 powder ( maybe 4 lbs) and am in the mood to use some up over the holidays

Anyone have a pet load for either 45 colt. Or 38 special with 231 they can pass along?

Much levergun and single action festivities will transpire for sure

[walks with gun]

Every levergunner can probably appreciate a 1911 in .45, what better way to use up a bunch of 231.

[trapper45]

Seven (7) grains of 231 under a 250-255gr lead bullet does great. The ammo brochure that used to be available from Winchester (1985) lists 7.1 gr of 231 for the .45LC with a 250-gr bullet, for 875fps, 13,000 c.u.p. (I don't figure one-tenth of one 7000th of a pound makes much difference, and 7 is an easy number to remember.)

The same brochure lists 4.3 gr of 231 with a 158-gr lead bullet in .38 Special. (865 fps; 15,500 c.u.p.)

Merry Christmas!

[arjunky]

Seven (7) grains of 231 under a 250-255gr lead bullet does great. The ammo brochure that used to be available from Winchester (1985) lists 7.1 gr of 231 for the .45LC with a 250-gr bullet, for 875fps, 13,000 c.u.p. (I don't figure one-tenth of one 7000th of a pound makes much difference, and 7 is an easy number to remember.)

The same brochure lists 4.3 gr of 231 with a 158-gr lead bullet in .38 Special. (865 fps; 15,500 c.u.p.)

Merry Christmas!

Like trapper45 said 255 grain lead and 7 grains in colt good for weaker guns. I used 8 in my old vaquero, shot great. 4-4.5 grains in .38 is a good load.
Byron

[J Miller]

I've used the same loads from the same manual Trapper45 listed since the 1970s. Excellent loads.

Joe

[Streetstar]

Thanks gents ! --

I was going to buy a case of pre-assembled blasting ammo (and still might soon ) to build up my brass ,
--- but -- am starting to feel the Christmas squeeze a bit already, but i'm not going to give up shooting if i have materials at hand

My wife is going to have to stop using my workbench as a laundry folding table for a while so i can mount up my Rockchucker and powder measure again

I hadn't reloaded in a couple of years -- as i told myself i would start up again when i could get a Dillon 650 and/or a couple of Square B's in there to really crank it up --- but alas , i never did that -- Loading up a couple hundred rounds of .45 and another couple hundred of .38 will take awhile for me, but heck , that would be 300 bucks worth of ammo if purchased locally ---- sounds like a pretty good return on a few hours work

[Malamute]

A couple simple little tricks allowed me to load faster on a single stage press. I use baskets to hold me brass, some about 8-12" diamter work well. Dump a hundred or more cases in, shake the basket sideways a bit and most of the brass turn mouth up. I pick up 3 or 4 (or more), run them through the die, etc. When the cases get harder to pick up, more shaking gets them turned up again. When that die is done, the in and out baskets get swapped, and the next stage is done. They work well for the hand priming tools also. They only see a loading block when getting charged, and rarely see boxes. Ziplock freezer bags work well. If the see boxes, its only when done. Bullets can also be put in baskets for easy handling. I buy them at the second hand stores for next to nothing.

I've seen people use cartridge boxes and loading blocks for every stage when processing their cases. That would drive me absolutely up the wall as being so slow after using the baskets.