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The 45 variants
First there was the 45 Colt.
Next came the 45 Smith & Wesson, also known as the 45 Schofield.
The there was a problem. You could only put three 45 S&Ws in the Colt SAA due to the wider rim.
The government then came up with the 45 Government, a cartridge with the length of the 45 S&W but the narrow rim of the 45 Colt. This at the risk of getting them under the extractor in the S&W revolver. This cartridge was then placed on the civilian market by the ammo manufacturers where it was know as the 45 Short Colt and so labeled on the box. It's NOT the same as the 45 S&W or 45 Schofield. This cartridge was available on the civilian up until maybe the 1930’s. It was this cartridge that resulted in the 45 Colt being nicknamed the 45 Long Colt in the 1980s or so.
Then the military took up the 38 Colt. Results were not spectacular in the Philippine insurrection.
By this time the military had already decided on a 45 Self loader and while in the drawing board stage the specs called for a 45 cartridge with identical bullet weight and velocity of the 45 Government or 45 Short Colt.
Meanwhile back in the Philippines the old 45 Colts went back into service but were in short supply. As a stop gap the military adopted the Colt New Service Model of 1909 which was NOT chambered for 45 Colt. The cartridge was the 1909 Colt 45 which had a case just slightly longer than a 45 Colt and a wide rim like the 45 S&W for the stra extractor. These revolvers were meant to be bale to use the 45 Colt as a bacxk up cartridge in the event the 1909 Colt 45 was in short supply. A little over 2000 of these revolvers were made and almost all of them went to the Philippines and saw service in tropical conditions so really really nice ones are quite rare.
There was a dirty little secret. The 45s did not do very well at stopping the Moros either. The 30-40 Krag also did poorly. Bottom line is that non-expanding bullets just don’t do very well, regardless of caliber.
There was a 45 Luger which never got beyond the testing stage.
And finally the 45 ACP.
(Unless you want to continue on to the 45 Winchester magnum etc.)
First there was the 45 Colt.
Next came the 45 Smith & Wesson, also known as the 45 Schofield.
The there was a problem. You could only put three 45 S&Ws in the Colt SAA due to the wider rim.
The government then came up with the 45 Government, a cartridge with the length of the 45 S&W but the narrow rim of the 45 Colt. This at the risk of getting them under the extractor in the S&W revolver. This cartridge was then placed on the civilian market by the ammo manufacturers where it was know as the 45 Short Colt and so labeled on the box. It's NOT the same as the 45 S&W or 45 Schofield. This cartridge was available on the civilian up until maybe the 1930’s. It was this cartridge that resulted in the 45 Colt being nicknamed the 45 Long Colt in the 1980s or so.
Then the military took up the 38 Colt. Results were not spectacular in the Philippine insurrection.
By this time the military had already decided on a 45 Self loader and while in the drawing board stage the specs called for a 45 cartridge with identical bullet weight and velocity of the 45 Government or 45 Short Colt.
Meanwhile back in the Philippines the old 45 Colts went back into service but were in short supply. As a stop gap the military adopted the Colt New Service Model of 1909 which was NOT chambered for 45 Colt. The cartridge was the 1909 Colt 45 which had a case just slightly longer than a 45 Colt and a wide rim like the 45 S&W for the stra extractor. These revolvers were meant to be bale to use the 45 Colt as a bacxk up cartridge in the event the 1909 Colt 45 was in short supply. A little over 2000 of these revolvers were made and almost all of them went to the Philippines and saw service in tropical conditions so really really nice ones are quite rare.
There was a dirty little secret. The 45s did not do very well at stopping the Moros either. The 30-40 Krag also did poorly. Bottom line is that non-expanding bullets just don’t do very well, regardless of caliber.
There was a 45 Luger which never got beyond the testing stage.
And finally the 45 ACP.
(Unless you want to continue on to the 45 Winchester magnum etc.)