Winchester/Miroku 45 Colt - Load Advice Please?

[Marcruger]

Hi Folks,

I need some advice from anyone with direct Miroku/Winchester 45 Colt experience, either '92, 1873, etc. Recently produced rifle.

I thought SAA Colt 45 handloads might work reasonably well in 1873. Looking for a fun plinking load at around 50 yards. Not grizzly bear hunting load. The SAA load was not even CLOSE to good in the rifle.

Usual 45 Colt load, 255 grain .452" MO Bullets (Hi Tek coated, 12 hardness), 5.6 grains TiteGroup, WLPP, Winchester or Starline brass, profile crimp. 740 fps from Colt revolver, 940 from rifle. ES and SD numbers are good in SAA, excellent in rifle.

Shoots 2" at 20 yards from SAA rested.

Tried it in the Miroku 1873 at 50 yards. 18", ten shot group. Closed up to 25 yards and it grouped about a 2" horizontal string, with three of 10 shots scattered way up and left about 9". Nuts.

The Miroku has peep sight, which I enjoy on lever guns. Not the monkey on the crank either. I can shoot from the bench with a .243 Remington in .3" to .4" five shots at 100 yards. Again, the SAA will shoot smaller groups than the Winchester/Miroku 1873 on same day. Not desired accuracy from a rifle clearly!

I ordered .454 bullets and expander as I read some Mirokus have a larger bore. Loaded these .454s, otherwise, same load.

No dice. At 25 yards got a scattered 4"+ group from the Miroku. At least the .452 tried to group, but with 30% crazy flyers. The .454s just spread shots with no notable attempt at grouping. The .454s work great in the SAA loads for the revolver BTW.

I read online a few folks saying their Miroku .45 Colt shoots small groups. What gives?

Has anyone successfully loaded for a Miroku 45 Colt barrel? Really seeking direct experience. Loads for Marlins, Uberti's and Rossi's don't really help here.

Oh yes, the crown looks great close up.

Many thanks in advance for any helpful advice.

Best wishes and God Bless, Marc

[Scott Tschirhart]

I’ve found that these guns need to be pushed a little harder than the load you quoted. But I haven’t needed to go outside of the .45 Colt loads that I also use in my SAA.

Try stepping up to 8-8.5 gr of Unique with a 255 gr bullet.

[JBowen]

Welcome to board, Marc!

While I have different brands of firearms than yours,
I have never found a load that both the revolver and
rifle agreed on the same loads.
It’s fun trying though!

JBowen

[GunnyMack]

Crown is one thing. 2 piece stocked guns are finicky as to how they shoot from a rest. That being said, hold it on the rest exactly as your would shoot it off hand.
Look at the forend cap, is it slammed tight to the barrel? A few file strokes to relieve it can't hurt.
As Scott mentioned add some speed to your rifle loads. Your short barrel load is faster but there is more drag in a long barrel and a pistol load just won't get it down to bore during the recoil impulse and prove to be accurate.
Look to different powders, we know each is an individual and what works for you might not be a good one in mine.
Did you notice any leading?
Try some jacketed .

Being a new bore, did you clean it before shooting it? Did you notice anything off?
Just because it's a new barrel they don't all shoot great from the factory, machine marks, leade angles, small/oversize spots in the bore.
Heck I have a rifle I built that has taken me 30 years of off and on tinkering to get under 1" at 100.
Keep shooting it, pay attention to your mechanics and don't get frustrated.

[44shooter]

I think something is wrong with the rifle. Slow loads should still group better than 18 inches at 50 yards. CAS participants use slow loads all the time, granted they are closer and shoot big targets most of the time.

Is the rifle brand new? Is there a possibility of a bulged barrel? Do either of the sights wiggle? Is anything loose or in a bind in the forearm and mag tube area? Check everything, screws are the easiest but don’t over tighten. Check the sights first.

Have you done any offhand shooting? Or try to rest the rifle at the front of the action or just put your hand between the forearm and rest.

[RIHMFIRE]

every gun is going to have its favorite load...
you are going to have to experiment with different loads
Starting light and increasing it gradually
Slug your barrel!
heavy trigger?
barrel harmonics.....vertical stringing
head space
barrel crown
check all the fasteners
could be a lot of things

[Scott Tschirhart]

I agree that you are experiencing some unusually large groups. You may not even consider them to be “groups” at this point.

I have several of these guns and I have not seen any sort of problem making them shoot.

So I’m very interested in how you might make progress.