THE 45 COLT: OLD BUT STILL USEFUL?

IS THE 45 COLT STILL USEFUL?
The 45 Colt designed in 1872, makes this one old cartridge. The granddad of the Old West at one time was one of the most venerable cartridges known to man. Along came the magnums 357, 44 and then the colossal big bores 454, 460 and 500. With the advent and popularity of the big bore magnums surely the 45 Colt would die a slow painful death. Moving away from the original loads of blackpowder to the new smokeless powders the granddaddy of big bore cartridges Mr. 45 Colt demanded to extend its legacy of one of the most versatile big bores to date.

NEW AMMUNITION EXTENDS ITS CAPABILITY
With shops like Buffalo Bore improving upon this cartridge with the 225gr full wadcutter that hits like Thor's hammer, surely to crush any bone or flesh in its way. To loads like the Sig Sauer 230gr V Crown Hollow Point designed for self defense. If you are into reloading and own a modern firearm like a Blackhawk or Redhawk you can experience the sinister side of the 45 Colt reaching 1000ft pounds of energy. Though one must be very careful and knowledgeable about this endeavor as the heavy loads will grenade older firearms like the Colt Single Action Army.

DIVERSE AND STILL RELEVANT
One can see that the 45 Colt is still very capable after 147 years of service and remains relevant to this day. Hunting, Self Defense and Cowboy Shooting it doesn't matter, the 45 Colt is the softest shooting, versatile big bore of the 20th Century.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR-Ntgvx2mw

Great bullet test on the .45 Colt and thanks for posting!

I like my ol' 45's and they still get the job done. My all around load is a 255 gr. SWC with 8-9 gr. of Unique powder.

Here's a good SD load I tried using the 250 gr. Hornady XTP bullet loaded over 20 gr. of Alliant 2400.
I loaded these especially for my Alaskan and was seeing 1100 FPS and 5 jug penetration with good expansion.
https://youtu.be/YtW3Dyzs1GI

Now this is interesting....https://youtu.be/dMfh89H9s_0
This guy tested same 250 gr. XTP bullet but at a much hotter load and thru a rifle.
The bullet stopped in the 4th jug and had come apart.
Looks like a greater impact of energy but due to over powering the bullet the penetration was one jug
less than my test. Maybe he was using hard water??? :mrgreen: Or just a balance of speed and expansion in my test.
Either one makes a mess!

Thank you for the load info. I have some 45 Schofield cases on the way and will be doing some accuracy testing with them. To see if using regular 45 Colt loads in a shorter case will help with standard deviation and improve accuracy.

mr.revolverguy said:

Thank you for the load info. I have some 45 Schofield cases on the way and will be doing some accuracy testing with them. To see if using regular 45 Colt loads in a shorter case will help with standard deviation and improve accuracy.

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I have done some testing like that using the Starline Cowboy .45 Special.
This is a case same length as .45 ACP but has the standard thickness .45 Colt rim.

My chrono testing revealed same FPS as the typical 8 gr. Unique standard .45 Colt load using same 255 gr. bullet but with 6.0 gr. of Unique!

Glad to see some are still 'discovering' what we always knew about the .45 Colt cartridge all along . Great reloader cartridge.

Great information here, as with the other 45 Colt Posts
here on RugerForum, Thank You.

I really like the 45 Colt, of course. I like to shoot Lead
Bullets, and Reload for. Very accurate when Cylinder
and Barrel correct diameter, easy to Reload, plenty of
Reloading Data, and Comfortable to Shoot.

My current 45 Colt reload is:
250gr RNFP round nose flat point Oregon Trail,
SWC semi wad cutter works also the same.
6.0 grs Alliant Red Dot.
CCI LP large pistol.
Medium roll crimp (what I think is medium).
Approx. 800fps. An accurate reload for me.
From Brian Pearce in Handloading Magazine.

For Lead free performance I Tumble Lube bullets with
Ben's Liquid Lube formula (Topic over on Castboolits).

Good luck in your endeavors.

The 45 Colt might be old but with new Starline brass, a modern Blackhawk or Redhawk & some slow burning 2400, AA9, Lil Gun, or H110 & a 300-350 gr bullet you are pretty well armed to shoot just about any thing on the planet. With the heavy bullets it will easily out do the famous 44 magnum & do it with less pressure. What's not to like about the great old 45 Colt.

Dick

Mus408 said:

My chrono testing revealed same FPS as the typical 8 gr. Unique standard .45 Colt load using same 255 gr. bullet but with 6.0 gr. of Unique!

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That's the bummer about the .45Colt and standard pressure loads. Way too much unused powder space. Shorter cases like the .45ACP (or Cowboy Special) and .44Spl are much more efficient.

sixshot said:

With the heavy bullets it will easily out do the famous 44 magnum & do it with less pressure.

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I haven't found a "Ruger only" .45Colt load yet that "easily out does" the .44Mag. In fact, the reverse is true. Due to its greater operating pressure, the .44Mag easily out does anything possible in a standard six-shot .45Colt. If anyone has such a load, I'm all ears.

CraigC, if you happen to have Handloader #205, June 2000 take a look at Ross Seyfried's article "New Muscle for the 45 Colt" pay special attention to paragraph 3,4 &5 on page 29, I think he explains it pretty well. Not sure that will satisfy you but if it doesn't read them twice, slowly.

Dick

sixshot said:

CraigC, if you happen to have Handloader #205, June 2000 take a look at Ross Seyfried's article "New Muscle for the 45 Colt" pay special attention to paragraph 3,4 &5 on page 29, I think he explains it pretty well. Not sure that will satisfy you but if it doesn't read them twice, slowly.

Dick

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Sigh. I have the utmost respect for Seyfried and his work. He's among my very favorite writers. However, a lot of the information in that 19yr old article is twice as old. I'm going to ignore the unnecessary snark and ask a simple question. Do you have a .45Colt load that exceeds the .44Mag heavy bullet data printed in the Hodgdon manual? I don't make this stuff up. It's right there in black & white in the Hodgdon data. Seyfried references Hodgdon data and a 325gr .45 at "over 1200fps". Out of this same Hodgdon data, chronographed out of my pair of 4 5/8" Rugers, we see that same 325gr .45 at 1240fps. We also see a 320gr .44 at 1280fps and a 330gr at 1226fps. Then there's the 360gr .45 that only managed 1060fps, while the 355gr .44 reached 1130fps. No cherry-picking, just testing the best, most comparable data I could find.

Of course, I've had this "conversation" many times but have yet to see anyone provide any actual data to refute it. You'd be the first but unlike those who oppose my views on this, I'm actually interested in the truth.



I have a reading recommendation of my own and would direct you to page 80 of Max Prasac's "Gun Digest Book of Hunting Revolvers", where you'll find my extensive write-up and test results. Of course, I've read virtually everything Seyfried has written but have a sneaking suspicion that you do not own Prasac's book.

https://www.amazon.com/Gun-Digest-Book-Hunting-Revolvers/dp/1440246076

Looking forward to more post of beautiful 45 Colt's and loads to go along with them.

Used to be my favorite Ruger .45 was this one.



But I let it go after getting this one.



My FA 83 will probably see more use with its .45Colt cylinder than the .454.



Most of my .45's are more of this flavor.

Another load I like is 11 grs HS-6 with a 250 gr Bullet.