zxcvbob
Member
I was looking thru Cartridges of the World and I think I might have figured out how this controversy may have gotten started. There isn't a cartridge officially named ".45 Long Colt", but there was a short version of the .45 Colt from 1870's to about 1930. It was the ".45 Colt Government", and it was like a .45 Colt case shortened to 1.10", or a .45 S&W with the same rim as a .45 Colt.
The shorter case with the small rim would chamber in either gun, but it was sort of the worst of both worlds; it reportedly didn't work all that well in the Schofield revolvers because it suffered from poor extraction, and it was loaded wimpier than real .45 Colts. No wonder people asked specifically for "Long Colts", and some boxes of ammo may have even been labeled that way.
The shorter case with the small rim would chamber in either gun, but it was sort of the worst of both worlds; it reportedly didn't work all that well in the Schofield revolvers because it suffered from poor extraction, and it was loaded wimpier than real .45 Colts. No wonder people asked specifically for "Long Colts", and some boxes of ammo may have even been labeled that way.