250 grain semi-wadcutter ahead of anywhere from eight to ten grains of Unique. I have never chronographed this load myself, but 10 grains of Unique supposedly pushes the 250 grain bullet at 1000 fps from a 7.5 inch Blackhawk. I think my progressive loader is set to throw 9.7 grains. This is an excellent, not mild, but medium recoil load. It shoots well from the Ruger as well as the 94 AE Trapper rifle. If you need a hotter load, you need to go to a .44 Magnum or one of the various .45 pistols from Bowen, etc.
I have been using 25gr of H110 behind a 240gr jacketed bullet in my 44 Ruger Hunter. This year I will also use 25gr of H110 in my Ruger 7 1/2 Vaquero with a 250 gr jacketed bullet. Hee Hee
I would use black powder or 777 but it just doesnt get the velocity for deer killin.
Doc
255 gr Keith type cast bullet over a dose of Blue Dot, works great, several hogs that went down in their tracks.
The Ruger Blackhawk can stand some pretty hot stuff too.
255gr cast bullet over AA #7, with a muzzle velocity of right around 1000fps. I'm using this in two guns, one a 4 5/8" Blackhawk, and the other a 7.5" Bisley.
For a while there I thought I was the only one that shot this old round.
Have some 300gr Keith style bullets on order and they should be fun to play with.
Did load some 255gr SWC with 30gr of PYRODEX and fired them out of my Blackhawk. That revolver got hot right quick!! Fired a total of ten rounds and called it quits. Heck of a mess to clean when I got home.
It is a good round, it probably killed more Indians and Banditos than all the other rounds combined. I use the .45 Long Colt for a self defense weapon, never thought about using it for deer hunting, but loaded properly with the right bullet it should be a good round.