The 45 Colt, often referred to as the 45 Colt's in it's early days, lived a short and tortured life as a military cartridge. On the other hand, as a civilian round it had a storied and even historic life and coupled with the civilian version of the Colt Single Action Army revolver, became known as the Peacemaker.
According to Graham, Kopec, and Moore in A Study of the 1873 Colt Single Action Army Revolver the original cartridge in late 1873 was the much talked about 40g of black powder behind a 255g conical bullet with a small flat point (RNFP). But as early as December of '73 and certainly by 1874 the Ordnance Department had changed the load to 30g of powder behind a 250g RNFP. G, K, & M make no mention of it but I've read numerous times that this was because the troops, used to firing cap n ball revolvers, had a lot of trouble with the violent recoil of that first 45 Colt cartridge. I'll address that in Part 2 but for now this reduced load was the Army's standard issue cartridge until 1875 and the Schofield debacle.
The Army took delivery of 3000 S&W No 3 Schofield revolvers, approximately 2000 of which actually made it into the hands of cavalry troopers. By then the military had taken delivery of some 30,000 Colt SAAs. The Schofield could not chamber the standard 45 Colt round, it being chambered for the 45 S&W cartridge, a shorter case holding 28g of black powder behnd a 230g RNFP projectile.
When supply shipments of 45 Colt ended up at the units issued the Schofield Ordnance decided to cater to the 2000 S&Ws in service since the SAA would fire either round. The above mention reference, A Study of the 1873..., shows an Ordnance Dept letter dated August of 1874 instructing Frankfort Arsenal to stop manufacture of the 45 Colt cartridge and only produce the shortened 45 S&W round, still loaded with 28g of powder and a 230g bullet. That was the issue ammunition until 1892 and adoption of the Colt 38 DA revolver. The 45 Ball round was re-issued during the Spanish American War to units who got re-conditioned SAAs, the so called Artillery Model.
On the civilian side, I have seen a UMC catalog dated 1880 that list the 45 Colt cartridge as being loaded with 40g of black powder behind a 250g RNFP. I used to have a print out of a REM-UMC catalog dated to 1888, showing the same loading. The No1 and No5 Ideal Handbooks list the 45 Colt being loaded with 35g of powder and a 250g bullet. I have a copy of the Winchester catalog dated 1899 that lists in its ammunition section the 45 Colt cartridge being loaded with 38g of black powder behind a 255g RNFP.
I've seen several references stating black powder loadings of the 45 Colt (along with other cartridges from the BP era) still being available up to at least WWI. In Elmer Keith's 1936 Six-gun Cartridges & Loads he makes numerous references to the Remington 45 Colt load being 40g of black powder under a 250g soft lead slug. He touts it to be the most powerful factory round available until the introduction of the S&W 357 Magnum in 1935. Keith has nothing but praise for the old Colt round except for the venerable RNFP. He much preferred a semi-wadcutter of his own design as a projectile.
Unlike the military the civilian market never completely gutted the performance of the 45 Colt. The lightest load I could find reference to was 35g. Winchester was loading 38g at the turn of the century and Remington seems to have loaded 40g of black powder well into the 20th Century.
Interestingly enough as recently as the 1990s I've seen Remington 45 Colt rounds with 250g bullets while Winchester's factory ammo for this caliber is always loaded with 255g projectiles. Those two bullet weights for this grand old cartridge remained the same for the respective companies from the 1880s up until almost the 21 Century.
Dave
According to Graham, Kopec, and Moore in A Study of the 1873 Colt Single Action Army Revolver the original cartridge in late 1873 was the much talked about 40g of black powder behind a 255g conical bullet with a small flat point (RNFP). But as early as December of '73 and certainly by 1874 the Ordnance Department had changed the load to 30g of powder behind a 250g RNFP. G, K, & M make no mention of it but I've read numerous times that this was because the troops, used to firing cap n ball revolvers, had a lot of trouble with the violent recoil of that first 45 Colt cartridge. I'll address that in Part 2 but for now this reduced load was the Army's standard issue cartridge until 1875 and the Schofield debacle.
The Army took delivery of 3000 S&W No 3 Schofield revolvers, approximately 2000 of which actually made it into the hands of cavalry troopers. By then the military had taken delivery of some 30,000 Colt SAAs. The Schofield could not chamber the standard 45 Colt round, it being chambered for the 45 S&W cartridge, a shorter case holding 28g of black powder behnd a 230g RNFP projectile.
When supply shipments of 45 Colt ended up at the units issued the Schofield Ordnance decided to cater to the 2000 S&Ws in service since the SAA would fire either round. The above mention reference, A Study of the 1873..., shows an Ordnance Dept letter dated August of 1874 instructing Frankfort Arsenal to stop manufacture of the 45 Colt cartridge and only produce the shortened 45 S&W round, still loaded with 28g of powder and a 230g bullet. That was the issue ammunition until 1892 and adoption of the Colt 38 DA revolver. The 45 Ball round was re-issued during the Spanish American War to units who got re-conditioned SAAs, the so called Artillery Model.
On the civilian side, I have seen a UMC catalog dated 1880 that list the 45 Colt cartridge as being loaded with 40g of black powder behind a 250g RNFP. I used to have a print out of a REM-UMC catalog dated to 1888, showing the same loading. The No1 and No5 Ideal Handbooks list the 45 Colt being loaded with 35g of powder and a 250g bullet. I have a copy of the Winchester catalog dated 1899 that lists in its ammunition section the 45 Colt cartridge being loaded with 38g of black powder behind a 255g RNFP.
I've seen several references stating black powder loadings of the 45 Colt (along with other cartridges from the BP era) still being available up to at least WWI. In Elmer Keith's 1936 Six-gun Cartridges & Loads he makes numerous references to the Remington 45 Colt load being 40g of black powder under a 250g soft lead slug. He touts it to be the most powerful factory round available until the introduction of the S&W 357 Magnum in 1935. Keith has nothing but praise for the old Colt round except for the venerable RNFP. He much preferred a semi-wadcutter of his own design as a projectile.
Unlike the military the civilian market never completely gutted the performance of the 45 Colt. The lightest load I could find reference to was 35g. Winchester was loading 38g at the turn of the century and Remington seems to have loaded 40g of black powder well into the 20th Century.
Interestingly enough as recently as the 1990s I've seen Remington 45 Colt rounds with 250g bullets while Winchester's factory ammo for this caliber is always loaded with 255g projectiles. Those two bullet weights for this grand old cartridge remained the same for the respective companies from the 1880s up until almost the 21 Century.
Dave
