.45colt or .45 LC?

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Electricmo

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I had a polite conversation with a long time gun owner the other day about .45 Long Colt revolvers. He was convinced Long Colt was different from .45 Colt. I told him he was wrong . He told me I was wrong. Problem is I’m right. Thanks to the ammo manufacturers there is a lot of misinformation out there. This confusion is only going to get worse with the first time gun owner and the ammo shortage. Not all .45 calibers are created equal. The ammo and gun manufacturers are clouding the issue with their stamping also. Here’s a case in point. .45 colt stamped on the barrels of Uberti pistols is correct. However it will chamber .45 long colt ammo . Why they started marketing ammo as such is beyond me.
 
The same chambering will chamber .45 scholfield and .45 acp if set up for moon clips or set up for it also. Very versatile chambering.
 
You had to open the can. I am very forgiving, either works for me. They are one and the same.

Except for his friend thinks they are different, which they are not.

It would be different if his friend simply thinks the correct terminology is 45 Long Colt.

I agree with you that who cares whether one calls it 45 Long Colt or 45 Colt
 
However it will chamber .45 long colt ammo. Why they started marketing ammo as such is beyond me.

Because of confusion. Language is an odd thing that warps constantly. If enough people say the incorrect term over a long enough period of time, it becomes accepted. Another example is calling the part of a cartridge that holds the bullet, primer, and powder a casing. The correct term is CASE. Sausages have casings, cartridges have cases. But in every cop show going back to the dawn of radio you will hear the term "shell casings". Also, what do cartridges have to do with mollusks?

It was always interesting when I was on the stand discussing evidence found at a shooting crime scene and I used correct terminology and had to explain that to a jury, especially if the prosecutor or defense used an incorrect term.
 
Well, the US Cavalry had .45 Colt and .45 Schofield revolvers and two types of ammo. The Colt revolver could shoot the Schofield cartridge but not vice versa. They solved that problem with a .45 Army cartridge with the length of the .45 Schofield cartridge and rim diameter of the .45 Colt. We need to dump this .45 Long Colt nonsense and go back to three different cartridges for the Colt revolver. Return to simpler times.
 
Well, the US Cavalry had .45 Colt and .45 Schofield revolvers and two types of ammo. The Colt revolver could shoot the Schofield cartridge but not vice versa. They solved that problem with a .45 Army cartridge with the length of the .45 Schofield cartridge and rim diameter of the .45 Colt. We need to dump this .45 Long Colt nonsense and go back to three different cartridges for the Colt revolver. Return to simpler times.

I don't understand what cartridges you mean when you say "three different cartridges for the Colt revolver." And am I right in assuming you mean the Colt SAA? Thanks for any help!
 
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Use to hear old timers call it .45 Long Colt but I have always thought that .45 Colt was sufficient enough to go by.

Besides it's not like there was a .45 Long S&W cartridge to get it confused with now was there?
 
Years ago I called Dillon and ordered .45 Colt reloading dies. The gent on the phone asked me, "Do you mean .45 Long Colt dies?"

I relied, "No, I want .45 Colt dies."

So then he said, "You don't mean .45 ACP do you?"

I explained that if I wanted .45 ACP I would have asked for them, and I indeed wanted .45 Colt dies.

He said he was just being careful as many who place such an order don't know the difference between .45 Automatic Colt Pistol and .45 Colt. They added the "Long" into the name of their dies to obviate people buying the wrong ones. Seems to me if you don't know the difference, maybe reloading isn't for you.
 
45 Colt
The.45 Colt, also referred to as.45 Long Colt,.45 LC, or 11.43×33mmR, is a rimmed straight-walled handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It was originally a black-powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1873 and served as an official US military handgun cartridge for 14 years.
:)While it is sometimes referred to as.45 Long Colt or.45 LC, to differentiate it from the very popular.45 ACP, and historically, the shorter.45 S&W Schofield, it was only an unofficial designation by Army quartermasters. Current catalog listings of compatible handguns list the caliber as.45 LC and.45 Colt. Both the Schofield and the.45 Colt were used by the Army at the same period of time prior to the adoption of the M1882 Government version of the.45 Schofield cartridge.
Blame the Army Quartermasters ;)
 
A 45 Long Colt is a tall glass of Colt 45.
And a 45 Short Colt is an average glass of Colt 45.

But heavens, why is there a discussion of malt liquor
in the Revolver section of THR?


Between the virus crises and the snowpocalypse folks are cooped up and bored.
 
As to the origin of the term ".45 Long Colt" as near as I have been able to determine the term originated in the 1920s or so. Commercially, prior to that, there was the .45 Colt and the .45 Smith & Wesson on dealer's selves.

About 1920, give or take a couple of years, the Union Metallic Cartridge Co. tried to consolidate the two rounds, using the bullet and loading performance of the .45 Colt but using the .45 S&W cases. This resulted in the ".45 Colt, short cased" ammunition. To further confuse the issue Colt insisted on using the term ".45 Colt Gov't" (Government) on ammunition, thus eliminating the need to roll mark the New Service barrels as taking .45 S&W ammunition.

The short cased ammunition was sold, and headstamped, ".45 Colt."

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Bob Wright
 
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