Range Report - Rossi Ranch Hand (.45 Colt)

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Netpackrat
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Re: Range Report - Rossi Ranch Hand (.45 Colt)

Post by Netpackrat »

Image

The pic is not new, but I finally put 40 rounds of American Eagle .45 Colt through this with the Octane 45HD pistol can installed using a .578-28 piston and fixed barrel spacer. It's absolutely giggle worthy... The gun is fun enough to shoot unsuppressed, but the can really makes it. It has a bit more thump to it than 300 Blackout subs do, but it's still fairly quiet.
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Frankingun
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Re: Range Report - Rossi Ranch Hand (.45 Colt)

Post by Frankingun »

Nice! Other than fun, do you have some other uses for it in mind?
Buy ammunition and magazines.

You'll shoot your eye out!

Another blog.
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First Shirt
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Re: Range Report - Rossi Ranch Hand (.45 Colt)

Post by First Shirt »

Wonder what it would do with a 300 gr. bullet at 1500 fps? I've never been very interested in suppressors, but now you've got me wondering.....
But there ain't many troubles that a man caint fix, with seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six."
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Netpackrat
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Re: Range Report - Rossi Ranch Hand (.45 Colt)

Post by Netpackrat »

First Shirt wrote:Wonder what it would do with a 300 gr. bullet at 1500 fps? I've never been very interested in suppressors, but now you've got me wondering.....
Probably blow out the can, although the rifle would most likely take it. The Octane is only rated for standard pressure loads out of that short a barrel. If it were a full 16" barrel it might be OK.
Frankingun wrote:Nice! Other than fun, do you have some other uses for it in mind?
No, it is pretty much just a grin generator.
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First Shirt
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Re: Range Report - Rossi Ranch Hand (.45 Colt)

Post by First Shirt »

Netpackrat wrote:
First Shirt wrote:Wonder what it would do with a 300 gr. bullet at 1500 fps? I've never been very interested in suppressors, but now you've got me wondering.....
Probably blow out the can, although the rifle would most likely take it. The Octane is only rated for standard pressure loads out of that short a barrel. If it were a full 16" barrel it might be OK.
No worries about the rifle taking it. My go-to load for my 20-inch Rossi gets the 300 gr. bullet to nearly 2000 fps, and the rifle runs them like a champ, I was just wondering if the can to take it. Thanks for the info, guess I'll keep the suppressor on the back burner for now.
But there ain't many troubles that a man caint fix, with seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six."
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Netpackrat
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Re: Range Report - Rossi Ranch Hand (.45 Colt)

Post by Netpackrat »

Keep in mind that the Octane is a pistol can, and the longer the barrel, the lower the pressure at the blast baffle, and therefore the more it can take. IIRC, Silencerco has gone on record that it is fine at 16" on a .44 Magnum rifle. You'd want to ask Silencerco about it first, but it would very likely be okay on your 20" gun with full power ammo. Failing that, they also sell a "Hybrid" can that is a pistol can but is also rated for a bunch of rifle calibers, including .45-70 down to 16" but it is a sealed (welded) can, and can't be disassembled for cleaning. That may be a big deal if you are running cast bullets or shooting a lot of dirty subsonic ammo.

Mostly, I bought the Octane because it will handle 10mm. I didn't get the idea for the .45 Colt SBR until after I had ordered it.

Edit to add; another possible issue is whether there is enough barrel thickness at the muzzle for threading. I seem to recall that the Ranch Hand was .650" or so, which was barely enough for .578-28 (normally used with .45ACP pistols). Your 20" rifle might not have that much meat at the muzzle.
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First Shirt
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Re: Range Report - Rossi Ranch Hand (.45 Colt)

Post by First Shirt »

Thanks, you're a helluva salesman!!!!

But it's just not worth the effort and aggravation. Besides, I like my '92 clone, and have a lot of fun with it, so I'd have to buy another one if I started down the suppressor's Yellow Brick Road.

But seriously, thanks for your advice, and I'll keep it in mind, should I ever run out of Minion-related projects :lol:
But there ain't many troubles that a man caint fix, with seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six."
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Netpackrat
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Re: Range Report - Rossi Ranch Hand (.45 Colt)

Post by Netpackrat »

Had this at the range today; the RSO and his trainee were drooling over it when they stopped by on their rounds, so I let them each take a couple shots with it. The trainee had to be instructed on how to load it, didn't realize that you have to close the action first. I commented that it must be kind of like a manual transmission in terms of being an anti-tampering device for millenials. :lol:
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Netpackrat
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Re: Range Report - Rossi Ranch Hand (.45 Colt)

Post by Netpackrat »

Update with more results.... So this rifle has ended up probably having the best grin to dollar ratio of anything in my armory, but one thing I have noted is a distinct crack in spite of using a can on it. The American Eagle ammo I am using is rated at 860fps from a pistol barrel, but the SBR barrel is twice as long, so it seemed possible that they were at least getting up into the transonic range.

Last week I finally got around to running 10 rounds of my last box of that ammo over the chronograph and the results were about what I expected. The temperature according to the airport next to the range was 66.2F, making the speed of sound about 1124fps. The highest velocity measured was 1123fps, with a low of 1061. Median velocity was 1109, with the average being 1105fps.

So it’s pretty clear that even standard pressure .45 Colt is pushing going supersonic out of the SBR length barrel. As I had previously expected, I am going to need to handload to get the subsonic performance I am after. There are cowboy loads that are probably slow enough, but I don’t want to run cast lead through my can, and all factory .45 Colt ammo is pretty expensive anyway.

I bought a package of 500 255gr plated flat points a while back and using Trailboss powder I probably won’t be able to make them go supersonic even if I want to. Will report back whenever I get some results from that.
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HTRN
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Re: Range Report - Rossi Ranch Hand (.45 Colt)

Post by HTRN »

Iirc one of my silencer books mentions that its generally a good idea to keep the muzzle velocity at 90% of mach 1 for max noise reduction, as even though the projectile may be below the speed of sound, the escaping gas once free of the barrel may not be.. Hence the "crack" even though it's nominally subsonic.
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