Jayhawker
Member
Given all things equal, including quality of the gun and the reload, if you put both in a Ransom Rest at 25 yards, which revolver will be the more accurate?
On the contrary, newer chamberings tend to be far more consistent. Few manufacturers can seem to get their .45Colt dimensions right.Both calibers are over 100 years old so any issues were worked out decades ago.
+1Assume same revolver type and barrel, the .45 LC has a theoretical advantage in the typical cylinder length of a revolver for there is less travel (free bore) of the bullet prior to making contact with the rifling of the barrel.
Even if you used an ideal length .45 ACP cylinder, you still have to deal with head space. In a hand ejector or top break you'll need a moon clip to eject the cartridges, unless you do something weird like the S&W 547 system. Either way, without some serious work you may not get the .45 ACP cases to head space perfectly. In a single action with gate loading & ejection (like a Ruger Blackhawk) you should be able to get the ACP cases to head space on the case mouth consistently. Clear as mud, right?Assume same revolver type and barrel, the .45 LC has a theoretical advantage in the typical cylinder length of a revolver for there is less travel (free bore) of the bullet prior to making contact with the rifling of the barrel. In real life it would be interesting to see this tested to see if there is a practical different
Agreed, 100%.All things being equal; all things are never equal. But the smaller case size of the .45 ACP tends to give it a slight edge in uniformity of ignition over the .45 Colt, but you would need an extensive study using something like a Ransom Rest to prove anything, and then the margin would probably be pretty small.
If anyone would like to send me a Ransom rest, and both a .45 ACP & .45 Colt barrel for a T/C Contender I'll be happy to use my Contender to do the testing. I'll even do the hand loading & buy the factory ammo myself.All things being equal; all things are never equal. But the smaller case size of the .45 ACP tends to give it a slight edge in uniformity of ignition over the .45 Colt, but you would need an extensive study using something like a Ransom Rest to prove anything, and then the margin would probably be pretty small.
You have to use the same barrel or at least barrels cut from the same length of a longer rifle barrel and even then the barrels might not be the same. The other solution is to use many barrels and then one has to decide on the loads to be used. In a revolver the .45 ACP has the advantage of being cheaper to purchase and the .45LC can take greater charges. Both are accurate enough for field shooting and very few shooters use the revolver for bullseye shooting where a slight increase accuracy would be greatly beneficial.If anyone would like to send me a Ransom rest, and both a .45 ACP & .45 Colt barrel for a T/C Contender I'll be happy to use my Contender to do the testing. I'll even do the hand loading & buy the factory ammo myself.