45 colt

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44 AMP

Staff
Some years back, local indoor range had bowling pin shoots once in a while. It was a 50ft range, and the pins were about half way down, so call it 25 ft.

5 pins, on a table, with about a foot between each. All pins have to be off the table to count. One pin left on the table was a fail.

Ruger new model Blackhawk, .45 Colt 7.5" barrel. 250gr LSWC over 10.0gr Unique. (not a light load)

My best time was 7.02 seconds to clear the table. About a dozen people shot in the "Crank & Yank" class (SA revolver) that day. I didn't even place 3rd....

5 shots, 5 hits (I didn't miss any), 5 different aiming points. 25 ft. 7 seconds, SA revolver, and there were 3 guys that were faster than I was!
Which was not surprising, they practiced, I didn't. I shot my Blackhawk a lot, but the only time I ever played shooting my SA fast was at the pin shoots, which happened once a month or so back then. and due to my work schedule always happened on a Sunday after I worked the graveyard shift.
I went for fun, and just to see how I could do. Wasn't seriously trying to compete or win.

Point here, don't despair if some ignorant fool sneers at the .45 Colt SA revolver for self defense. Over the last 149 years there have been a lot of people who did, ....once...:rolleyes:
 
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Drm50

New member
If you can shoot a SA you should be able to shoot anything else. I might agree in 22 a good auto is easiest to shoot. Center fire not so much, a good DA revolver is easier for most. A 45 Colt is a good cartridge and versatile. I SA revolver isn’t best choice for carry regardless of cartridge.
 
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JustJake

New member
a good DA revolver is easier for most. A 45 Colt is a good cartridge and versatile.
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Agree. The .45LC is a solid defensive cartridge.

SA revolver isn’t best choice for carry regardless of cartridge.
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No kidding … as a go-to defense weapon the Colt Peacemaker and similar “cowboy” SA revolvers were passé after the O.K. Corral and obsolete after 1911 (one guess what showed up that year). :rolleyes:

That’s not to say SA wheelguns have no use.

Today they are popular as (1) Sunday afternoon range toys and (2) period-correct props for all the Wyatt-Earp wannabes who populate the Cowboy Action Leagues around the country, where their period-correct “Old West” clothes are actually far more expensive than their cowboy guns. :eek:
 
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44 AMP

Staff
as a go-to defense weapon the Colt Peacemaker and similar “cowboy” SA revolvers were passé after the O.K. Corral and obsolete after 1911
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The OK Corral shootout was in 1881. And more than a few lawmen in the rural west were still horse mounted and carrying SAAs several decades later and some even beyond that.

The online dictionary my computer searched gives the definition of "obsolete" as "no longer produced or used; out of date"

Out of date the SA revolver certainly is. Still produced and used though. Just no longer the most practical choice for duty/service use, or defensive carry.

Someone carrying an SA revolver for personal defense today. by choice, when they could have chosen something better suited for that, just might have a good reason. It might be they use it better than anything else, and accept the drawbacks it has compared to more modern designs.
 
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Webleymkv

New member
As far as the cartridge goes, .45 Long Colt (I always add the Long to irritate the semantics gestapo) should be at least as effective as .45 ACP as it will propel bullets of the same diameter and equal or greater weight at equal or greater velocity. The only caveat is that I'd consider cartridges like .44 Special or .45 Auto Rim slightly better from a DA revolver but that's because of rim dimension rather than ballistics.

As to the choice of a SA revolver, I really don't question or criticize people's handgun choices anymore barring the ridiculous or absurd (I can't think of any good reason to carry a matchlock). While a SA revolver might not be my choice, that doesn't make someone else's reason for choosing one invalid. While we can pontificate about all the scenarios in which a SA revolver will "get you killed in the streets" the fact remains that a SA revolver in the hand of someone who knows how to use it will be sufficient for the vast majority of situations and that's not a bad side of the bell curve to start on.
 
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44 AMP

Staff
I always figured that the word "long" became associated with the .45 Colt round after the Army adopted the .45 Govt/.45 Schoefield.

I can easily envisage a guy going to draw ammo for his pistol, being asked "long or short?" and replying, "Long, for the Colt." And over time and sloppy usage that becomine "Long, Colt" and finally just being called "Long Colt".

I don't think there is an actual "wrong" done if you say .45 Long Colt, I have seen factory ammo boxes marked that way. Not many, not modern but they have done it, so its not improper to say either one as far as I'm concerned.

What the manufacturer calls their product is what it is, even if the rest of the world calls it something else.
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
"I don't think there is an actual "wrong" done if you say .45 Long Colt, I have seen factory ammo boxes marked that way. Not many, not modern but they have done it, so its not improper to say either one as far as I'm concerned."

The last time the "There's no such thing as a .45 Long Colt so I don't know what cartridge you're talking about!" butt hurt crowd kicked off I posted a number of photographs of recent manufacture ammunition with the dreaded, and mysterious, appellation...

https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=613072&highlight=long+colt

.30-30 Winchester? Happy as a clam.

.38-55 Winchester? What a wonderful cartridge!

9mm Luger? I have a bunch of handguns chambered for it!

.45 Long Colt? A POX UPON YOUR HOUSE, YOU VARLET! YOUR FATHER WAS A HAMSTER AND YOUR MOTHER SMELT OF ELDERBERRIES!
 
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Drm50

New member
I’ve shot SAs my whole life. My first new CF handgun was a Ruger SBH in 1964. When I was a kid in 60s I had one of each Ruger SA that they made ( calibers ). That same SBH is still my designated deer shooter. A Single-6 was my first quality new 22 handgun also. Still have both these. Having said that I have no problem shooting them but would not want them for serious carry. I think a lot of people are fooling themselves when talking about SAs in todays situations. Usually bad guy gets first move and you are already at disadvantage. I carry nothing but revolvers in the woods. Didn’t even own anything for CCW for years. Didn’t feel I needed one. When this social engineering started to flare up I bought a 1911 Commander.
I’m not worried about limited capacity or even extra mags. I know it will go bang and at the SD type ranges it’s all you need.
 
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Webleymkv

New member
I once pointed out to another poster here that, at the time, ".45 Long Colt" was the name listed for the cartridge on Colt's website and that I'd think Colt would know what to call their own cartridge. I was then informed that the Colt of today is but a shell of the Colt of the past and had bowed to the lazy and uninformed and thus not an authority on the name of the cartridge. I think I replied with something along the lines of "Loooooong Colt" and I've made a point to always call it ".45 Long Colt" since. Nobody has tried to correct me for a while so I guess they've found something else to have heartburn over
 
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Savvy_Jack

New member
There never was a 45 Long Colt and just because someone worked at Colt that was just as ignorant, doesn't mean there was or is one now.
 
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zeke

New member
Prefer the 45 LC with adjustable sights. In my experience, there is a substantial difference between poi with weights that vary from 200gn to 250 or 300 grains. Adjustable sights allows you to shoot loads with varying purposes or degrees of umph.

Would certainly be able to use a sa for defensive purposes, and as some have said it is what you're used to/frequently practice with.

CC carrying a sa is another story, at least for me.
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
"For EDC, a S&W M25-5 with a 4” tube would be the ideal platform but for the gun’s scarcity."

I searched for my 4" 25-5 for over 10 years before I finally found it.

Paid a LOT for it, too.





"There never was a 45 Long Colt and just because someone worked at Colt that was just as ignorant, doesn't mean there was or is one now."

There was never a 9mm Luger, either.

Until there was.

Fortunately, people actually understand exactly what cartridge people are talking about...



F45LCCA_1_HR.jpg
 
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Hawg

New member
I don't shoot a lot of .45 Colt but I've never seen a 45LC head stamp. I get it tho, it's like the magazine vs clip thing. I'm cool with that.
 
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44 AMP

Staff
I get it tho, it's like the magazine vs clip thing. I'm cool with that.
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Not quite the same thing. Magazines and clips can be different things. Or they can be two terms people apply to the same thing. .45 Long Colt vs. .45 Colt is always two different names applied to the same thing.
 
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