Help me decide on a .45 ACP revolver
- Thread starter WVGunman
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Do Nott buy a 45 ACP revolver!
Buy a 45 Long Colt
Even better get yourself 460 or 454 Casull.
Why would anyone want to shoot 45 ACP from a revolver?
If you want something like that for personal carry get a 357 you'll be much happier
Buy a 45 Long Colt
Even better get yourself 460 or 454 Casull.
Why would anyone want to shoot 45 ACP from a revolver?
If you want something like that for personal carry get a 357 you'll be much happier
Because it is one of the better cartridges available for a variety of purposes. If you miss your target with an ACP revolver you have to accept the blame. Can’t blame recoil or muzzle blast.
Granted, it is not a 500 yard shooter but neither am I. I learned my limitations years ago.
Kevin
mcb
Member
Nothing against 45 Colt, 454 Casull or 460S&W but a 45 ACP revolver is a very different animal for very different uses than those long more powerful cartridges (assuming we are loading 45 Colt hot not traditional). It certainly is not as powerful as those cartridges but is has its uses and advantages
I would like to see you take your 454 Casull, from a holster, draw and shoot 6 rounds (2 each on three different targets) reload and shoot 6 rounds (2 each on three different targets) and do that in under 8 seconds. Does anyone even make a 6-shot 460S&W.
Driftwood Johnson
Member
I understand the reasons why you want to go with 45ACP, but you are wrong about the versatility of 45 Colt. It has to be one of the most versatile rounds on the face of the earth. Everything from pipsqueak loads using a .454 round ball to loads that rival the 44 Magnum in power. But of course you are correct about it not being chambered in semi-automatic pistols.
Rockrivr1
Member
Another vote for a S&W M22. It's a great shooter that handles the recoil very well. I think I read that the OP isn't fond of moon clips, but I'd have to disagree. Speeds up reloads dramatically and isn't all that hard to carry a spare moon clip. I luckily picked up this Thunder Ranch M22 for $600. Deals are out there if you look.
kBob
Member
I think the Ruger pervertible Blackhawk is a good way to go. I use mine primarily with .45ACP as I reloaded that a lot. During college it was my glove box gun as commuting to the next town over five or six times a week frequently in the dark meant I needed something to dispatch the occasional unattentive deer, hog, or dog that got in an argument with someone's car.
Later a bud had a M25 dash something and I liked it a lot, but school teachers don't make much. When the Carmon Miranda S&W 1917 Special were first coming in an FFL friend had three and I picked the ugliest one....which had the best trigger in both modes and locked up best and according to a friend set about ruining it. my crime? I opened the rear sight notch a hair on one side to correct a windage issue and make things easier to see. I then touched up that shiny notch with the dreaded 44/40 cold blue...oh the horror. Bubba unchained!
Shoots great and used it in some revolver only plate shoots in my old club. Likes lead bullets best. 215 SWC and up. But shoots most whatever .45ACP gets put in it.
When I first got it I had only half moons so when it was used defensivly I would have the load in the gun .45 Auto Rim to insure function and clean ejection. Since I have started using full moons I have seen no reason to worry about a bent clip or half the shells failing to fall free of the gun.
based on when I bought those revolvers and inflation rates that's my 14 cents worth and I am sticking to it.
-kBob
Later a bud had a M25 dash something and I liked it a lot, but school teachers don't make much. When the Carmon Miranda S&W 1917 Special were first coming in an FFL friend had three and I picked the ugliest one....which had the best trigger in both modes and locked up best and according to a friend set about ruining it. my crime? I opened the rear sight notch a hair on one side to correct a windage issue and make things easier to see. I then touched up that shiny notch with the dreaded 44/40 cold blue...oh the horror. Bubba unchained!
Shoots great and used it in some revolver only plate shoots in my old club. Likes lead bullets best. 215 SWC and up. But shoots most whatever .45ACP gets put in it.
When I first got it I had only half moons so when it was used defensivly I would have the load in the gun .45 Auto Rim to insure function and clean ejection. Since I have started using full moons I have seen no reason to worry about a bent clip or half the shells failing to fall free of the gun.
based on when I bought those revolvers and inflation rates that's my 14 cents worth and I am sticking to it.
-kBob
Okay, I get wanting “a one load fits all” because I used to have different levels of loads for different rifles chambered for the same cartridge. I knew my system and it was fool proof. Until it wasn’t. A friend and I were shooting and he grabbed a box of atomic loads but the stone ax rifle. I caught the mistake right after he chambered the round. He heard my yelling and did not squeeze the trigger. When I got home I tore down the heavy loads and until I got rid of the various rifles I never loaded anything heavier than for the least of the rifles. In my opinion, same thing applies to handguns. If you have a 1911 and a 625, I recommend that all the loads be suitable for the 1911 UNLESS they are put up in 45 AR brass that can not chamber in the 1911. The revolvers in my photographs span nearly 1 century of age. The 22-4s, 25-2, and the 625 can all use the 45 Super round (260 grain bullet +/- 1000 fps) but the 1917, 1917 Commercials and maybe the 1950 Military would not tolerate that round so those loads are not even considered.
Folks are free to do as they like, I like my way. Besides a 260 grain bullet at 800 fps is pretty impressive.
Kevin
I shoot the same ammunition in my M1911's as I do in my 45 ACP revolvers, 230 RN bullets. They are accurate in both.
I'm planning to load up a bunch of 180-200 gr SWC's for my Gold Cup. I'm sure I will try them in my 45 ACP revolvers, particularly the 625 and the 25-2 that I have. I'm sure these will shoot better than I can in the revolvers.
I have a BMT Equipped moon clip loader/unloader. It's the cat's meow but it is pricey. I bought a few half moon clips for my 45 ACP revolvers. They are a bit more convenient to carry than moon clips for circumstances where you are not at home.
200gr Hi Tek coated semi wadcutters, 3.8gr Clays
FL-NC
Member
I have both 1917 revolvers (Colt and S&W). I think the S&W looks nicer, but the Colt feels better and shoots better for me.
You must have large hands. In my hands, the Colt feels clubish. That may be from nearly six decades of handling S&Ws!
Not to veer the thread, the parts for the Colt and gunsmiths that can fix them are equally scarce. Be gentle with the old warhorse.
Kevin
35 Whelen
Member
The Colts look large and club-ish to me as well. I guess I'm a little partial to S&W's because their internal mechanism, at least to me, are more user-friendly than Colts.
35W
kBob
Member
Back in the 1970's I had a Bud that got commissioned in the USMC. He could not shoot a 1911 for love or money but wanted a handgun,
I located one of each of the 1917s thinking he could choose for himself. He did not. He bought both. Went ashore all over the Med as a Beach Control Officer with one in a shoulder holster and one on a belt holster on his LBE and balanced that one with a large version of the Randell #2 so big the Italians dubbed it a Gladius.
He shot both quite well but mainly they served as ballast. No actually what they did was break the ice with the Host Officers everywhere he went so they would remember him as a good guy for the rest of his 20 plus year service.
He grew up shooting his Dad's S&W M&P USN revolver. His Dad was a Navy carrier pilot in WWII. Oddly is Dad had attended UF and was about to be commissioned as an Army Artillery Officer when he got the opportunity to become a Navy Aviator just before US involvement in WWII.
-kBob
I located one of each of the 1917s thinking he could choose for himself. He did not. He bought both. Went ashore all over the Med as a Beach Control Officer with one in a shoulder holster and one on a belt holster on his LBE and balanced that one with a large version of the Randell #2 so big the Italians dubbed it a Gladius.
He shot both quite well but mainly they served as ballast. No actually what they did was break the ice with the Host Officers everywhere he went so they would remember him as a good guy for the rest of his 20 plus year service.
He grew up shooting his Dad's S&W M&P USN revolver. His Dad was a Navy carrier pilot in WWII. Oddly is Dad had attended UF and was about to be commissioned as an Army Artillery Officer when he got the opportunity to become a Navy Aviator just before US involvement in WWII.
-kBob
OP
OP
WVGunman
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That's a valid point. Truth is, unless I get the Blackhawk (I'm leaning in that direction), loading anything much more than slightly hotter than GI Ball wouldn't agree with either gun. I would probably be loading down in power more than up. I like big bullets, but I DON'T like recoil, another reason why the .45 ACP is good (well, better at least) for my purpose.
Your story is another good reason why I prefer to shoot alone!
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