Why the 45 long colt

[Dr_2_B]

We don't really hear that much about the 45 long colt, but it seems when people are discussing the need for a really powerful pistol cartridge, the 45 long colt usually comes up.

I'd love to hear from you long colt guys... what do you love about it? Is it versatile too? And what are the downsides... I'm assuming it's not that concealable.

 

[Jeff H]

but it seems when people are discussing the need for a really powerful pistol cartridge, the 45 long colt usually comes up.

They are usually referring to the Ruger revolvers when discussing "really powerful" and "45 Colt" in the same sentence, not any run of the mill 45 Colt.

 

[P97]

The reason the round keeps popping up is that it took care of the shooters needs, for both defense and hunting, long before todays calibers were available. It is easy to Cast and Reload for, and will still work for handgun hunting.

 

[wheelgunslinger]

It depends on where you stand in the gun community's big party.
If you stand around the SASS shooters, wheelgun enthusiasts, handgun hunters, and nostalgia buffs, the 45 Colt is a mainstay.
If you spend your time around the techno geeks, then you never hear of it among the tupperware with dooflotchie crowd. And, that's okay. It's a big campire and there's room for us all.

The 45 Colt can be loaded down to a basic vermin killer weezer lazily shoving a lead bullet out the barrel roughly the same speed as Bruce Jenner's current sprint speed. On the flip side, it can shove a 300+ grain projectile at deadly velocities that make a sixgun buck and belch fire like something from a cartoon outrunning and outpowering a 44 magnum. For self defense, it offers a number of positives with very few negatives.
Quite a few people carry double and single actions chambered in 45 long colt as a personal defense weapon, including the stubby Taurus 450 which makes one heck of a good concealed weapon.

The case has plenty of room for powder AND gargantuan projectiles. It's easy for noobs to clean and wander through the reloading process. It has less calories. It's low in carbohydrates. It's fat free. It makes you more attractive to the gender of your choice. It works as a talisman against evil. It can help you win the lottery. And, tastes great on a cracker.
The 45 Colt is the best round in the world. Ever.

 

[Quoheleth]

The case has plenty of room for powder AND gargantuan projectiles. It's easy for noobs to clean and wander through the reloading process. It has less calories. It's low in carbohydrates. It's fat free. It makes you more attractive to the gender of your choice. It works as a talisman against evil. It can help you win the lottery. And, tastes great on a cracker. The 45 Colt is the best round in the world. Ever.

Now, that's funny right there.

Don't forget it has a great history that goes back even longer than Bruce Jenner's plastic surgery records. It's versatility makes it more flexible than Bruce Jenner's face, too!

Full disclosure: I don't yet have a .45 Colt sixgun, but if I ever stumble across one for an affordable-to-me price, I'll pick one up. The Blackhawk can be made into a thunder-n-lightning gun, but a Vaquero has a more classic appeal. Can't be quite as much of a thumper, but still a gun of consequence.

Q

 

[Dr_2_B]

Wow... informative and amusing to boot! More than I bargained for.

 

[MCgunner]

Pure logic with some illogical personal reasons thrown in.

Okay, for the logic part, it'll do anything the .44 mag can do and do it at lower pressures. Okay, that's fine and good, not enough reason to get one I suppose. I do handload and that makes things a lot easier with the .45 Colt. If you don't handload, you're far better off with a .44 mag IMHO for power. I also like to cast my own and .45 just seems to like to cast accurate bullets. I don't know about .44 as I've never messed with .44.

Okay, for the totally subjective reason, it's kind of sort of a cult caliber, sorta, at least with the Ruger loads and for hunting. It's not quite in the cult category that .41 mag is, but it's not your run of the mill .44 mag and I just kinda like that and I don't really know why. I will probably get the .41 mag, too, some day. Don't really need it what with the .45 Colt, though. And, heck, I load 7mm TCU, even have to fire form the brass for it. Talk about cult.....

And, hell, it's just fun, those big ol' bullets from that big ol' brass and I AM Texan, after all........

 

[Vonderek]

I don't need a gun in .45 Colt but I sure want one!

 

[rcmodel]

What made the .45 Colt a classic favorite over 100 years ago still makes it the same today.

The Colt SAA was / is the most powerful sixgun you can carry all day comfortably.
It's 250 grain bullet at 900+ FPS wil kill anything that needs killing in the lower 48 states.

And it has none of the ear splitting muzzle blast of the magnums unless loaded to magnum levels in Ruger Only loads..

rc

 

[Water-Man]

People have been trying, unsuccessfully, to talk me out of my Taurus 450 for awhile.

 

[HoosierQ]

It makes a great lever action cartridge due to the simple fact that it very much resembles the cartridges that lever guns were originally designed for. Ironcially, back in the 19th century there were no .45 LC lever guns IIRC. They were 44-40 and 38-40. and some others.

I'd love to have a large frame S&W Double Action, a SAA-type, and Marlin Lever action in .45 LC. What a package deal that would be.

 

[Guy de Loimbard]

Is it versatile? It is, whether it is versatile enough depends on what you want and the gun you have. Concealabillity depends on the gun as well. My .45 Colt is a Ruger Blackhawk, it conceals just fine under a jacket, and can fire loads the girliest of girly men would use for target shooting all the way up to something you could hunt bear or moose with.

 

[Gryffydd]

I'm assuming it's not that concealable.

I can fit at least 10 cartridges in my front pockets, so the .45 Colt is pretty concealable.
Guns that fire it on the other hand, typically aren't that concealable

I currently have 1 .45 Colt, a Ruger Bisley Blackhawk with a 5.5" barrel.
What made me go the .45 Colt route rather than its nearest competitor:

I'll likely never need more power. Anything the .44 Mag can do it can do with less pressure. It's more comfortable with heavier bullets. I can also shoot .45 ACP using the swap out cylinder. I reload, so it's no more expensive to shoot than my .45 ACP.

Some good reading:
http://customsixguns.com/writings/dissolving_the_myth.htm

And it has none of the ear splitting muzzle blast of the magnums unless loaded to magnum levels in Ruger Only loads..

+1 It's nice to be able to load those Ruger Only loads if you want, and it's nicer to not need to if you don't want to.

 

[cfendley]

For those who say it equals a 44 mag

For the record I'm a fan of the 45 colt, its the old cowboy gun mainstay and one of my favorite rounds.

That said it may get the job done in the field just as good as a 44 mag but to say it equals the power of a 44 is stretching it a bit. A good friend of mine hot rods his 45 blackhawk to the point of being very close to my 44 rounds but his loads can not be found in any loading data. I don't stand too close when he shoots.

Can anyone point me to printed data from a reputable source that shows even the Ruger Contender loadings to equal the performance of the 44 mag? The Speer manuals even warn people not to do this as the 45 colt case is not designed for this. If you want to hot rod a 45 colt why not play it safe and use a 454? That's why the 454 came into being.

Example, my 44 mag 250 grain Keith bullets or 240 grain gold dot loads have a muzzle velocity of just under 1450 fps. This is crony checked out of two different guns with 7 1/2 inch barrels and these loads are taken right out of the Speer manual. I can barely get within a 100 fps of that with even with much lighter 200 grain bullets in any 45 colt loading I've tried.

 

[Black Knight]

rcmodel, are you related to "Wild Bill" Hiccock? The statement about killing anything that needs to be killed sounds like something he would have said. I don't have one but would love to get a pre-lock 4" S&W model 25 in 45 Colt.

 

[Gryffydd]

Hodgdon's max load in .45 Colt at 250gr shows 1455fps out of a 7.5" barrel. For that matter, it shows 1240fps with a 335gr bullet with only 28k CUP.
You're just looking at the wrong loading manuals
FWIW, Hodgdon's data shows a small fps advantage for the .44 Mag in most bullet weights, but with roughly 8-10k more in pressure, and an extra inch of barrel length.

 

[rcmodel]

Whether it is or not, the fact is that no game animal could tell the differance between getting shot with a max .44 mag load and a max .45 Colt load.

Either one will shoot through one side and out the other, and expend whatever little differance there is in the dirt.

The .45 will just make a little bigger hole is all.

rc

 

[RonC133]

MCgunner wrote "Okay, for the logic part, it'll do anything the .44 mag can do and do it at lower pressures."

Not hardly. 240 grains at 1500 fps trumps 250 gr at 900 fps any day of the week even at 0.02 inches smaller in diameter (0.429 vs 0.451.) You must be thinking of the big brother, 454 Casull or the bigger brother 460 XVR.

 

[Gryffydd]

Not hardly. 240 grains at 1500 fps trumps 250 gr at 900 fps any day of the week

Funny thing though, 240 grains at 1500 doesn't trump......240 grains at 1500 with less pressure You must not be familiar with typical .45 Colt Ruger Only loads

 

[MCgunner]

Whether it is or not, the fact is that no game animal could tell the differance between getting shot with a max .44 mag load and a max .45 Colt load.

+1

Not hardly. 240 grains at 1500 fps trumps 250 gr at 900 fps any day of the week even at 0.02 inches smaller in diameter (0.429 vs 0.451.) You must be thinking of the big brother, 454 Casull or the bigger brother 460 XVR.

I shoot a 300 grain XTP at 1200 fps from a 7" barrel. That's 100 fps slower than some of the max loads I've looked over, but this level of power will do anything I need doin' from bear to hogs to deer. I'm loading a healthy charge of Alliant 2400. I've been thinkin' of trying Lil' Gun, but I honestly don't think I need any more than this.

If you've been asleep for 30 years, you might not know that the .45 Colt can be loaded to the SAAMI imposed level of 25,000 CUP in Rugers and TC Contenders. My two .45s happen to be a Ruger and a TC Contender.

If you don't believe me, check out Buffalo Bore's FACTORY loads.....

http://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=8

 

[Gryffydd]

If you don't believe me, check out Buffalo Bore's FACTORY loads.....

Speaking of which....I'm pretty sure 325gr @ 1325fps trumps 240@1500

 

[rcmodel]

The fact of the matter is, with identical bullet weights, loaded to the same exact pressure, the .45 Colt will give higher velocity then the .44 Magnum.

Just like a big-block chevy, it has a bigger piston to push on with the same pressure.

Identical bullet weights & shapes also give a shorter bearing surface & less bore friction in the bigger bore.

rc

 

[MCgunner]

One thing, too, 95 percent of the shooting I do with my .45 Colts is with a 255 grain cast (Lee mold) flat nose over 8.3 grains Unique for 950 fps from the Ruger. It's a mild load to shoot, very accurate, and still puts up near 500 ft lbs with a BIG chunk-a-lead. I reserve the hot stuff for hogs/deer or hiking in bear country which I've done a few times. Both loads will shoot into an inch at 25 from the bench. My sight is marked for each load, 6 clicks elevation difference in POI.

 

[Dirty Bob]

Even mild .45 Colt loads can do the job! I cooked up a load for a 250 grain SWC bullet, trying for about 900 fps. This load is very easy to shoot in my Blackhawk, but it went through seven gallon jugs of water (I didn't have more with me) and kept going! It was stopped by the backstop. That's 42 inches of water penetration, and the bullet held together beautifully. I suspect this simple load would work just fine on deer, javelina, pig or any other critter one could find here in South Texas.

I love shooting a round with over 125 years of history behind it. There are other rounds available, but I just like the .45 Colt!

Regards,
Dirty Bob

 

[sw282]

John Linebaugh says S&W 25-5s will take 24,000 psi loads ALL day. ALL Smith "N" frames are heat treated the same. John's word is good enough for me