that question is the one where you blow your head off.get a manual and use it.colts are not as strong as rugers.you dont want to ask how much can you put in as no one is going to tell you.find what a good accurate load is.and again read the directions when all else fails. we dont want to lose you.
I shoot a 255 gr hard cast bullet with unique. I'll let you find the load in just about any manual. I really enjoy it. Not too much recoil, shoots good, yet I know I'm shooting a full fledged handgun.
With a .45, you can't do much better than modern equivalents of the old blackpowder loads--750-800 fps with a 255 grain bullet, if memory serves--but that'll do any job you send it to do, just as it did in the 19th century. It's and old design; anything heavier and you take a chance on blowing up the gun. I can't imagine anyone handloading for anything without a manual. Get one and follow the recommendations carefully--and be careful about using loads published in magazines. I once destroyed a perfectly good AMT Hardballer .45 using a load I got from a magazine. If you're lucky enough to have a SAA in .44 Special, though, you're in luck. In that caliber the old Colt can take some very heavy loads (still, though, use a manual--they're in there). The late Elmer Keith pioneered what later became the .44 Magnum with heavy loads in .44 Colts and S & W Triple Locks.
