45colt=45 long colt?

[oklahoma caveman]

iv always been told that 45 colt is 45 long colt. the designation of long was to distinguish between 45 scofield and 45 colt. if thats true then why does the ruger websites site search have a listing for both 45 colt and 45 long colt?

can somebody clarify this for me

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. They are names for the same cartridge.

Best.

 

[SaxonPig]

In the 19th century when the army used the Colt revolver and the Schofield revolver they had two ammo types. Both were 45 caliber but the Colt used a longer cartridge and the Long Colt moniker was born to differentiate the two.

It stuck.

 

[oklahoma caveman]

thats what i thought. just making sure. it confused me because ruger has both listed in their search

 

[rcmodel]

There actually was a .45 Colt Short government loading.

The rim diameter is the same as the .45 long Colt, which is smaller than the Schofield rim diameter and wouldn't extract reliably in a Scofield, although they could be fired in them.

.45 Scofield had too big a rim to work in the Colt SAA unless you skipped every other chamber.

The .45 Colt Short ammo could be used in either gun, but the Scofield ammo could not.

Today, either .45 Colt, or .45 LC are common & interchangable names for the same round.

Here's more:
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/taylor/45_short_colt.htm

I have also heard that during the time the .45 ACP and .45 Colt where both used concurrently by the military, some folks would ask for the short Colt ammo if they wanted .45 ACP?

rcmodel

 

[Jim K]

I have heard that explanation, but I suspect that in more recent years the distinction was for .45 Colt vs .45 ACP.

Actually, there was never any ".45 Schofield" as distinct from the "combination" cartridge. When the Army adopted the Schofield, they adopted the cartridge also, calling it simply the ".45 Revolver cartridge." There was no confusion in service, since from that point it was the only .45 revolver cartridge issued as long as the .45 revolvers were in service.

As rcmodel says, the rim was the same as for the .45 Colt, but the case was shortened for use in the Schofield.

The round that made a "three shooter" out of the SAA was the Model 1909 cartridge. The Model 1909 swing-cylinder revolver (New Service) was made for .45 Colt, but the army found that the .45 Colt rim was too small for reliable extraction, so they made their own ammunition with a larger rim. That was the only ammo ever issued with that revolver, and it was never made except by Frankford Arsenal.

Jim