[mrming]

Anyone carry a short to medium length barrel (under 4" or so) 45lc for ccw? How is the recoil and muzzle flip?

I've never had the opportunity to fire one, and am curious about its potential. I'm not much of a fan of full house 357 loads in medium frames, and am rather hoping the lower pressures of this round would make it more to my liking.

[10-Ring]

I've only shot the 45 lc from single action revolvers but I bet it would make a nice SD round :scrutiny:

[J Miller]

Ive carried a S&W 25-5 4" for over 20 years. Not concealed, but with the proper holster it's doable.
As for recoil, it's not bad at all. I normally carry Win 225 ST HP's and the are mild feeling, but effective.

Love it. To bad they don't make them anymore.

[Jim March]

The ballistics are fine as a self defense round. ProLoad has a 230grain Gold Dot JHP that equals 45ACP power levels, the Winchester Silvertip 225 as mentioned above works well, and Cor-Bon has a 200grain JHP. Any of those will work well. In a 2" barrel Taurus, I'd consider the Cor-Bon 200 first, as it has more speed. These rounds perform well without extreme pressure, and can be fired in any non-break-top 45LC gun.

In Single Action wheelguns, that's all that needs saying. The Vaquero Bird's-Head with a 3.75" barrel is actually a fine CCW gun :). Especially if you're twisted enough to put a Tritium front sight on it :D.

In a DA gun, the 45LC has...well, a downside. The rim is narrow, and on ejection the ejector star can slip past a rim, get out ahead of the rim, and tie the gun up something fierce.

So, in a DA, it's not my first choice...the 44Spl was invented to fill the same role but in a full-width rim designed for ejector stars. In an SA, both work great.

[mrming]

thanks guys, wasn't aware of the ejection problems. I'm not oddball enough to want to carry a SA.. am just trying to avoid the muzzle blast of the magnums out of short barrels.

[Vern Humphrey]

The rim isn't a problem if you practice a proper manual of arms. The revolver should be turned straight up when ejecting rounds, so they fall free under the influence of gravity.

There is a similar problem with top-break revolvers -- if broken the "normal" way, cartridges can tilt and fall back into the charge holes under the star. So they should be turned upside down when breaking them.

[SoDFW Jason]

I had a Taurus Titanium 450(I think it was) and it was a great carry piece and a fine shooter. They are really cheap also.

[mrstang01]

I love my 624 Lew Horton in .44 Special.

[ElToro]

sorry, cant get with this posting pictures thing but heres a link
http://members.aol.com/ready4666/photos3/SW255.htm
to a cool gun

[Fel]

Colt SAA in 45 Colt (Daily carry open and CCW)
4-3/4 barrel
Winchester Silvertips

Very controllable yet authoritative.

[Johnny Guest]

- - -But a little heavy for me. No matter how much I ever weighed, I always had a kinda slender rear end. Makes it difficult to carry a heavy handgun, even with a fairly wide belt, unless I wear suspenders.

That said, I sometimes wear my S&W .45 Colt Mountain Gun with Wilson Mikuleck stocks, concealed in either a home built belt slide or a Ky-Tac. The latter hangs straight up-and-down, so I normally only wear it for matches.

On occasion I get a wild hair and carry this revolver to work, stoked with Black Hills 250 SWC factory ammo: 800 fps, better bullet shape and a bit more velocity than Cowboy Action ammo. I don't care for the lighter bullet factory loads - - - they are not significantly better than .45 ACP, IMO. My field-and-hunting ammo is a cast 255 or 276 gr SWC at about 900 fps. Authoritative, accurate and controlable.

Best,
Johnny

[jjmorgan64]

Bought a Taurus 450 2" just for that reason, The muzzle flip and recoil are not bad at all, no slower to shoot than my snub 38's.

Very enjoyable to shoot, also fairly accurate.

[WonderNine]

I've wanted a double action or single action .45LC for a long time! Kinda looking at the Blackhawks cuz you can shoot the high pressure .45LC magnums in it no problems.

I hear about it all the time, but is there anybody out there with double action Colt's or S&W's that have actually experienced an extraction problem first hand???? Please tell your tale.

I still got this thing for a Colt Anaconda w' 4" barrel in .45LC!

[Vern Humphrey]

You just missed a 4" Anaconda in .45 Colt on Gunsamerica.com -- and it went pretty cheap, too.

My favorite is my Colt New Service, which has a 7 1/2 inch barrel, making it a bit much for concealed carry.

[Majic]

WonderNine,
I have a 6" Anaconda in .45 Colt and it has never hung up ejecting cases. That could change tomorrow, but no problems after many years so far. It has also taken some heavy loadings rather well with no sticky cases or undue recoil. The .44mag version, which has excellent accuracy, has outsold it over the years, but I think with the correct sized bullets the .45 Colt model is every bit as good.