Sigh. I promised myself I was not going to chime in on this thread.
Schofield cartridge rims never had to be made smaller to fit into a Single Action Army.
Here is a photo of a 2nd Gen Colt cylinder with two original Benet primed, copper cased, folded rim cartridges Schofield rounds, along with four of my reloads in modern Starline brass.
Current rim diameter specification for 45 Schofield rims is .520. (vs .512 for 45 Colt). I have loaded oodles of 45 Schofield in modern Starline brass. Rim diameters tend to run .517 -.519. The rim diameters of the two original copper cased Schofield rounds are .517
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As can be seen in this photo, everything fits nicely in the Colt cylinder.
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Close, but not quite. Major Schofield modified a S&W American Model (Let's not forget, there were five distinct Top Break revolvers that S&W built on the large #3 frame.) His patented modification was to the latch to allow a mounted trooper to load and unload the revolver with one hand. The latching mechanism for the earlier American and Russian models pretty much takes two hands to open. Yes, I can do it in a pinch with one hand, but it is easier with one hand grasping the frame and shoving the latch up with my thumb and the other hand rotating the barrel down. Schofield's latch was a serpentine affair attached to the frame, rather than the barrel, like the other models. It was fairly simple for a mounted trooper to hold the revolver with one hand while operating the latch with his thumb, and brush the barrel against his leg to open it. I'm doing it sitting in a chair right now with a Schofield, but it is beyond me how a mounted trooper could control his horse with one hand on the reins, hold onto the revolver, and reload all at the same time, unless he had three hands. Personally I can't tell the front end of a horse from the rear end, so what do I know. As an aside, crafty old Daniel Wesson directed his engineers to find a way around Schofield's patent, but the Schofield model was only in production from 1875 until 1877 and they never found a way around Schofield's patent in that time. S&W had to pay a royalty to Schofield for all the revolvers they made using his patented latch.
This is a S&W New Model Number Three with the same style of barrel latch that S&W was using before Schofield patented his improvement.
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This is how you operate the latch to open the revolver.
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This is a Schofield Model. The serpentine shaped piece mounted to the frame near the hammer is the barrel latch.
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This is how it is opened. Easy enough to do with one hand while brushing the barrel against one's leg in order to open the revolver. But I clearly do not have the skill to do this and reload while riding a horse. But mounted riders in 1875 did.
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Anyway, in 1875 S&W did not want to be left out of potentially lucrative government contracts. Colt had already won contracts with the Army for the Single Action Army in 1873. At the time S&W was heavily involved making what eventually amounted to 150,000 Russian models, mostly for sale to Russia, Japan, and Turkey. The standard length cylinder that S&W had been using for all their large frame Top Break revolvers since 1869 was 1 7/16" long. This worked very well with the 44 S&W American and 44 Russian cartridges which are fairly short. However the 45 Colt cartridge was too long to fit into a 1 7/16" cylinder. S&W was not about to modify their tooling for a longer cartridge
and frame that would accommodate the 45 Colt cartridge while they were so heavily involved producing a zillion Russian models. The government specified that revolvers purchased for the Army had to be 45 Caliber. So a compromise was struck where S&W would open up the bore slightly on the new revolvers from 44 to 45, but keep the short 1 7/16" cylinder. The Schofield model was the result, and the Schofield cartridge was developed specifically for it. Nothing to do with patents for the change to 45, just what the Army was specifying.
Regarding official nomenclature for the early 45 Colt and 45 Schofield revolvers, I am taking the liberty to post here information from Jerry Kuhnhausen's
The Colt Single Action Revolvers A Shop Manual, Volumes 1 & 2. I always like to turn to Kuhnhausen because in my experience he has the most relevant infomation.
"Colt’s Revolver Cartridge, Caliber .45, M1873 (original
long configuration)
Load Data: 250 grain min/255 grain max hollow base, lubricated bullet and 30 grains of FFg Black Powder. Copper cased and Benet system primed.
Commercial .45 Colt Black Powder Cartridge (with reloadable commercial case)
Load data: 250-255 grain hollow base, lubricated lead bullet, black powder load: 37-38 grains FFg Black Powder in a reloadable boxer primed case. 40 grains of FFg black powder in early folded/rolled head type cases.
Revolver Ball Cartridge, Caliber .45, M1875 (shorter M1873 ctg. revision)
Load data: 230 grain min/235 grain max hollow based, lubricated bullet and 28 grains of FFg black powder. Copper cased and Benet system primed.
Revolver Ball Cartridge, Caliber .45, M1882 and M1890 (reloadable version)
Load data: 230 grain min/235 grain max. hollow base, lubricated bullet and 28 grains of FFg black powder.
Revolver Ball Cartridge, Caliber .45, M1896 (Short M1890 ctg. revision)
Load data: 230 grain min/235 grain max hollow base, lubricated bullet and 28 grains of FFg black powder."
Funny you should ask. I have a reprint of the ARMY REVOLVERS and GATLING GUNS rules for inspection,originally published by the National Armory in Springfield Mass in 1875.(The same year the Schofield model was accepted by the Army.) So you can see for yourself what the Army was calling the Schofield model in 1875.
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Finally, regarding 45 Colt vs 45
Long Colt, it has been a long time since I bought any commercially loaded 45 Colt ammo. I do remember one time though when I asked for a box of 45 Colt, the guy behind the counter asked me if I meant 45
Long Colt. Clearly, he had never heard of the Schofield cartridge, he just wanted to make sure I did not want some of that stubby, short, 45 ACP ammo. I am a die hard believer that the proper name for the cartridge is 45 Colt, but I have mellowed a bit in my old age and no longer get into knock down, drag out arguments about it.
