45 "Long Colt" (rant)

B

burrhead

New member
I know this is a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things but this drives me crazy. THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A 45 LONG COLT!! Or 45 LC, for that matter. The round is called a 45 Colt, period. For those that don't belive me, try and find just one reloading manual with data for a 45 "Long Colt" or a box of factory ammo for the same. Folks that use that term just show their ignorance.
OK, rant mode off. I feel better all ready.
 
J

Jbar4Ranch

New member
The .45 colt was indeed a ".45 colt short" originally and the round we today call the .45 colt did indeed start out life as the ".45 long colt" to differentiate between the two during the short period when they co-existed together. Since the .45 colt short round is now loooong obsolete, the "long" has pretty much been dropped from the ".45 long colt" designation. There was also another short colt round called the ".45 parlor colt". And the .45 S&W or .45 Schofield was also commonly called the ".45 short colt" or .45 colt short". Either designation, .45 colt or .45 long colt, is correct and todays .45 colt was definitely named the .45 long colt originally. I can show you an original box of factory .45's designated ".45 Colt, long", but it will have to wait til after 3-1-04 when this fun & entertaining probation thing is over with.
http://www.singleaction45.com/colt45.htm
http://www.davidwoolsey.com/asmrb/ammunition_stats.html
 
F

Fred

New member
No 45 Long Colt?

Thought the same as you, but a Mike Venturino article in Shooting Times a couple of years ago, pretty much echos JBar's comments about there being a 45 Long Colt at one time...
 
M

Marauder

New member
I also own guns (plural) that are rollmarked with the designation 45LC. I have seen ammo boxes marked Long Colt. Rant all you want, but it is apropriate to refer to the round this way.

"Folks that use that term just show their ignorance. " Folks that jump on other folks for using the term are the ignorant ones.
 
B

BigG

New member
The Army had the SAA model and also the S&W Schofield which used a shorter .45 round because the cylinder was shorter. The Army ordered the shorter round because it could fit and fire in either "revolving pistol." Bet ya don't like that term, either! ;)
 
G

Gewehr98

New member
Knew I'd seen that description somewhere, JBar!

Sorry about the probation thing, but thanks for the definitive word, countering those SASS folks who get bent out of shape over the nomenclature...;)
 
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S

swifter...

New member
:rolleyes: HooBoy, periodically someone has to...

Item: I, too have seen old ammo boxes marked ".45 Long Colt".

Item: When the above-mentioned US Army .45 Colt/*&* Schofield situation, the Schofield ammo would fit either. The civilian market, not wanting the (marginally) weaker-loaded Schofield load, took to specifying ".45 LONG Colt".

Item: Until I read Jbar's comments, I had never heard of a ".45 Short Colt", the lack of which is generall cited as why there is no ".45 LONG Colt"

But you will go on calling it what the hell you want, as will I. :D
And under any name, its one fine cartridge!

Tom
 
B

burrhead

New member
Just goes to show ya learn something new everyday. I knew about the 45 Schofield and the government having to deal with two different lengths of 45 ammo but I did't know there was actually a 45 Short Colt. Mea culpa. :eek:
 
K

KSFreeman

New member
Everyone relax. If I call a horse an orange that doesn't make it so. However, a horse is a horse and an orange is an orange even though I give it the wrong label.

Geez. And people think I get excited when gun shop commandos babble on about "Class 3" weapons!!!

Like the guy said above, get cartridge and everyone knows what you are talking about if you say .45LC.
 
M

Mike Irwin

Staff
Yep, JBar is certainly correct...

In addition, Colt also had:

.32 Short and Long

.38 Short and Long

.41 Short and Long

I'm kind of hazy whether Colt ever had a .44 Short and Long.

The .44 Colt was the ORIGINAL US Army handgun cartridge, adopted in, I believe, 1869, and was "standard" for about 3 years.\

The .38 Long Colt was also the military standard for a number of years, replacing the .45 Long Colt until the unpleasantness in the Philippines brought the .45 out of retirement, and eventually led to the adoption of the .45 ACP.

Smith & Wesson also used the .38 Long Colt was the basis for the .38 Smith & Wesson Special.
 
P

PreserveFreedom

Guest
The problem with referring to 45LC as just "45 Colt" is that some will confuse it with "45ACP" (Automatic Colt Pistol).
 
O

orlando5

New member
I agree a lot of people think that .45 colt is .45ACP. I prefer to call the .45 Colt as .45 Long Colt to prevent any misunderstanding.
 
L

lonegunman

New member
What was the round called when it was originally invented? Thats its real name, folks.

45 "long" colt may be a more descriptive term, and eliminate confusion with other cartridges, but it is not its real name, no matter how many guns or ammo boxes you see that are stamped otherwise.
 
M

Mike Irwin

Staff
Many cartridges are known by different names. Even the factories change the names of their cartridges at times, such as the .280 Remington to 7mm Express back to .280 Remington, or .244 Remington to 6mm Remington.

Or, how about cartridges that have been called TWO different names by the factory at the same time, such as the .30 Winchester Center Fire, and the .30-30 Winchester Center Fire. Winchester advertised both names at the same time.

Or, how about when a cartridge starts out life in one guise, such as a military round, and then becomes a commercial round?

Is it .30 US Government, .30 Krag, or .30-40 Krag?

In the case of the .30-06, is it .30 US Government, Model of 1906, .30-06, .30 Springfield, etc. etc. etc.

The "first is ALWAYS it" doesn't really mean much, to tell you the truth.

It's what people know the cartridge as that is important.

You can likely go into ANY gun store in this country and ask for .45 Colt or .45 Long Colt, and you're going to be handed the same box of ammo.

Same with .30 WCF, or .30-30, .38 Smith & Wesson Special or .38 Special, 9mm Luger, 9x19, or 9mm Parabellum...

You get the idea.
 
B

Bart Noir

New member
Never was .45 Short Colt

Went to that .45 website, and all I see is either .45 S&W (Schofield) and .45 Colt. These were both .45 Government loads when they came out, and the commercial people had to invent some names to put on their box labels. I guess the Army got confused by the Government ammo labelling, since there were times when soldiers were issued .45 Colt to use in the Schofield and they didn't fit. We certainly can't call the .44 Colt by the name of .45 Short Colt since it has its own name.

Bart Noir
The only Government I need is a .45/70 Government.
 
N

Nanaimo Barr

New member
a couple of years ago I made the rounds of my local stores to buy some .303 Enfield... no one knew what that was untill someone asked if it might be .303 British, I consulted Skip Stratton (local Enfield Guru) and yes, in British Empire countries (where I was born and raised and learned to shoot) it was .303 Enfield, here it was .303 British.

which one is the correct name?

(does it really matter?)

NB
 
K

KPS

New member
When I went into the shop to buy my usual Blazer 230 grain and asked the kid for 2 boxes, he gave me 2 boxes of Blazer .45 Long Colt.I opened it up and it was much longer than the .45 automatic I shoot out of my Sistema.If their is no such thing as Long Colt then what was that I saw at the shop?
 
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