45 Colt Loaded With 185gr Everglades Competition JHP

I have been shooting the Everglades Ammo 9mm 125gr Competition JHP for some time in the Magnum Research/IWI Baby Eagle that I use for club matches and have been very happy with them. The Everglades Competition JHP is a very close clone of the Hornady Action Pistol JHP with some dimensional differences; quite sufficient for club matches and general steel ringing. I recently picked up some of Everglades 185gr Competition JHP intended for .45 ACP and found them to be very nice shooters in my Taurus Judge Magnum with the 3″ chamber.

I put together this video of me loading 50 rounds, and talk about my challenges loading 45 Colt, originally a black powder cartridge, with modern high pressure smokeless cartridge powders in the relative absence of old school smokeless powders. I laid hands on some Bullseye powder locally, but have been unable to find Unique or Universal that I was seeking. Claydot as recommended by my LGS was a poor performer.

The Range Squirrel

I owned a Marlin 60 since 1987, but never really got ‘into’ guns until 2011 when I bought my first 9mm pistol. That was soon followed by a .380 and a 12 guage pump, and I was all in. I had done some 20 guage reloading growing up, and threw myself into 9mm and .223 reloading in 2017,  .380 in 2019, 7.62×39 in 2020 and my first revolver in 45 Colt in 2022. It is so satisfying to go to the range and string together ever improving groups with ammo I loaded myself; it doesn’t hurt that I’m a little OCD about technical things, the tangible/visible rewards are really gratifying.
I have a nagging but as yet unattained ‘want’ for a .358 Yeti unloader, it just looks like a really cool caliber. My next learning curve, space permitting, is casting and coating.