Cowboy Loads ?

[Twogun1975]

Am thinking of either converting one of my cap and ball revolvers to a cartridge pistol, getting a Richards-Mason conversion or both, will the Schofield round work in the 45 Colt chamber. If so wouldn't that be a better option for loading smokeless powder rounds for lighter loads in these makes of revolvers? Wouldn't that allow for even compression of the powder? Any thoughts? Thanks! Twogun

 

[Funshooter45]

Yeah, the Schofield cases work just fine in .45 Colt chambers. For Cowboy loads you can load the .45 Colt cases down or use the Schofield cases and you'll get identical power. The advantage is that often it is nearly impossible to find .45 Colt brass made by Starline (my favorite pistol brass), but you can almost always buy Schofield brass made by Starline. The only downside is that sometimes if you go out and shoot say 100 rounds of Schofield brass, and your powder is kind of sooty, you will build up a ring of carbon between the mouth of the brass and the throat of the chamber that would normally be covered by the longer .45 Colt brass. No big deal, as it will clean out when you clean your revolver. But if you happen to try to put in a normal length .45 Colt cartridge before you clean your cylinder, it might not fit at all or it might squeeze it at least. No big deal, but something to remember.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

If so wouldn't that be a better option for loading smokeless powder rounds for lighter loads in these makes of revolvers? Wouldn't that allow for even compression of the powder? Any thoughts? Thanks! Twogun

Modern smokeless powder is so efficient compared to black powder there is no way to safely fill the case let alone compress most smokeless powders even in the slightly shorter 45 Schofield case. Even with that shorter case you can probably triple charge most smokeless powder with the exception of Trail Boss. Trail Boss was created for Cowboy Action shooting and it closely mimics black powder in that you can fill the old large cases without causing high pressures. I tried Trail Boss and after finishing a full jar I'm not all that convinced it's worth loading. My favorite powder for the .45 Colt is W231. (like most other handgun calibers I load)