THE 45 COLT: OLD BUT STILL USEFUL?

My Vaquero in .45 Colt

I picked up this Smith & Wesson 625 Mountain Gun a little over a week ago. I've only had the chance to put 18 rounds through it and love it. I'll be back at the range in the next week or two with it. It's coming with us this summer when we go on vacation to do some hiking in Wisconsin.

Uberti El Patron (The Boss) in .45 Colt

Ruger Vaquero in 45 Colt.

The bisley is a 44mag. The middle is a Vaquero in 45Colt. The top is a Blackhawk in 45 Colt.

627PCFan said:

Ill post my new Redhawk here shortly. Shes in the process of getting some bead blasting because she came to me looking like Helen Keller finished her at the factory.

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Helen Keller could not help her condition.
That said, I understand your dismay and am glad you are sprucing it up!

This one is nothing special, just a regular Ruger Blackhawk convertible. I bought it new around five or six years ago. It's been a good shooter. With typical loads, 45 colt, 45acp, and 44 special all feel about the same to me. I like them all.

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Another South of the border cowboy in .45C...


I love Ruger firearms..

I HATE the giant lawyer paragraph scrawled across every barrel!

Stay safe!

Freedom Arms Model 97 - 3 1/2" .45 Colt round butt -- picture of .45 Colt cyl -- currently wears .45 acp cyl -- ton of fun -- 320gr at 1,150 fps or 200gr at 800 fps.



Freedom Arms Model 97 - 4 1/4" .45 Colt



Paul

Here are some of my .45 Colt sixguns, five Rugers, a Colt and a Uberti:



And two of my constant companions:




Bob Wright

Not many double actions posted--yet.

Here are my three S&W Model 25-5. The 6" I bought new in the early 1980s, the other two are more recent additions.

45 Colt is so awesome, I skipped right over .44 Special/mag from the .41 mag Blackhawks in my collection!

I carry a Colt New Service in the woods. I got this gun for $350 several years back and it had been re-blued, with most of the markings blurred in the process. It shot 18" high and a foot to the left at 25 yards. I cut the barrel to 5 1/2", put on adjustable sights and Herrett grips.

paul105 said:

Freedom Arms Model 97 - 3 1/2" .45 Colt round butt -- picture of .45 Colt cyl -- currently wears .45 acp cyl -- ton of fun -- 320gr at 1,150 fps or 200gr at 800 fps.

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Freedom Arms Model 97 - 4 1/4" .45 Colt

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Paul

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Are those the 5-shot versions that can be loaded up to pretty much magnum-plus levels?

IMO the 45 Colt is still very useful. Great cartridge.

I didn't realize consideration would be given to double action revolvers, here are two I had at one time, now traded off:



This is a Colt New Service I bought in the fall of 1954:



This Colt was originally a .455 Eley issued to the Canadian Mounties. It had been reamed to .45 Colt when I bought it. After a period as a .45 I had it converted to .44 Special and custom touches done to it. Lost to a theft of my gun shop in 1971.

Bob Wright

Yes, 5 shot, can be loaded with "Ruger Only" but OAL max is 1.600". Heavy bullet loads must be seated deeper than most load data calls for (with some exceptions) and powder charge reduced accordingly. Bottom gun 4 1/4" has over 25,000 rnds with some of those up to 340gr at chronoed 1,150 fps +-. Not for the beginning reloader if using long heavy bullets. I settled on two loads -- 280 Gr RCBS SWC at 900 fps and 320gr Lee Dual Crimp Flat Nose GC at 1,150 fps the 320 hit 1" higher at 25 yds vs the 280 from the 4 1/4" gun. IIRC the 4 1/4" weighs in at 36 oz and is a great "packin pistor" but a bit frisky with the heavy bullet load. Probably more than anyone wanted to know.

Sorry tried to quote Riomouse911, but didn't work.

Of course it is still useful. It can be loaded up or down, and as a bonus, is about the easiest cartridge to handload. You can make powder puff SASS loads for actual period guns, or barnburners that will rock your Super Redhawk. Just don't mix them up! As MaxP has shown, it can take BIG game, or plink tin cans with a pinch of Trail Boss and 255 LRNs.

The .45Colt is such a useless cartridge, I don't know why anyone would want to own nine of them, let along dedicate a Dillon 650 with casefeeder to feeding them. Just seems silly.









Having a spare cylinder in .45Colt for your .454 is just absurd.

Unless they're on fire, nobody's going to thank you for giving them a couple of 255gr. 45s in the chest.

I prefer .44 Magnum/Special for its greater versatility, but there's certainly nothing wrong with .45 Colt.

I recently purchased both my first .45 Colt and my first single action revolver, a Cimarron 7 1/2" pre-war:



Due to weather and work hours issues, I haven't shot it yet. I plan to shoot it when the weather gets better.

Mine makes me happy and goes with me on rides up in the mountains:



One of my favorite guns to shoot and experiment with:

At one time I had seven firearms chambered for .45 Colt, or maybe 6-1/2, and I'm a big fan of the cartridge. I sold a pair of USFA Rodeos with sequential serial numbers a few years ago and just sold a pair of Bisley Blackhawks with sequential serial numbers that also came with .45 ACP cylinders. I didn't use those SA revolvers much at all over the last eight years or so but won't ever be parting with the Redhawk or Bowen Super Redhawk Alaskan (.454 Casull) shown below, or my Marlin 1894 Cowboy. Those three are for keeps. Here are my two revolvers that I carry regularly while hiking, hunting, camping etc. If I'm out on the trails or in the back country I always have one of these with me. The Redhawk will be heading to Mr. Bowen next week for various upgrades to bring it up to a similar level to the SRH. I don't see myself adding anymore .45 Colt revolvers to my collection unless I decide that "one is none" for the two I have. I would like to find a lever action or even bolt action in .454 Casull though.

I'm shooting 300gr to 360gr hardcast bullets in both using H110. Bullets are TrueShot (360gr) from Oregon Trail, Beartooth (345gr) and Montana Bullet Works (300gr & 340gr). I'll be sending Mr. Bowen some .45 Colt handloads so that he can get the sights set up properly.

Freedom Arms Model 97 - 3 1/2" .45 Colt round butt -- picture of .45 Colt cyl -- currently wears .45 acp cyl -- ton of fun -- 320gr at 1,150 fps or 200gr at 800 fps.

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@paul105 , those FA revolvers are something else. A friend was left a .44 Mag FA by his good friend who was killed in Iraq and I was asked to look at it because it wasn't igniting primers. I discovered that he had broken the firing pin by dry firing it a few hundred times when he first received it. The thing that really stood out for me was the incredible machining and tolerances.

Dry firing without snap caps is a no no (and even then limited) with FA guns. I broke a firing pin on a .475 LB. Easy fix if it's a newer gun with the replaceable firing pin. If an older gun, it has to go back to the factory for retrofitting. I keep a couple of firing pins on hand along with trigger, hand and bolt springs for each model.

Paul