The .45 Colt and accuracy in revolvers

[Mr.RevolverGuy]

45 Colt Has Become my favorite Cartridge

45 Colt has become my favorite round and it is because of this weapon and it capabilities.

I have been shooting and reloading for 18 years thanks to my dear old Dad and Grandpa. Being a youngster most of those years I was really attracted to the magnum cartridges, 357magnum, 44, magnum even now I have a 454, 460 and S&W500 yeap call me nuts.

There has been many heated debates over 45 Colt vs 45 Long Colt as well as if standard loads have the capability. I am not sure why all of a sudden when you hear tale of 45 colt everyone is speaking of hot rodding them and putting them in Ruger Blackhawks. The 45 colt standard load has taken many species on God's green earth and has also taken many lives. I know I would hate to be shot by a 255grain 45 slug moving gradually along at 800 to 900 fps

It pains me to see everyone when they speak of 45 colt loads speak about how anemic they are and not to use Smith and Wesson firearms on the hot rods. Though I agree you shouldn't put Ruger Only loads through a beautiful Smith I question why the Ruger loads are even needed. If I needed something with more FPS I move to 44magnum, 454 or 460 even. A few years back a good friend of mine took a nice 10point buck with 255grain loads which over a chrono from the S&W you see above clocks out at 890fps. That slug went all the way through broad side this shot was about 68yards away according to the range finder. Out of the 20in octagonal barrel Lever Action it clocks in at 1145fps.

Having said all that I would and do not feel undermanned with 45colt on my hip as a self defense cartridge, but I would not try and deploy it on Grizzly or Moose and some would even argue that.

To answer your question I have no accuracy problems with any of my firearms and 45 colt. I wrote a review on the weapon you see above here http://www.dayattherange.com/?p=827

I also hope to finish up the review on the Alaskan 454 using 45 colt loads which I was just amazed with it's accuracy considering the sight radius of a snub nose.

Hope this helps.

 

[rodfac]

Good cartridge for most anything in the lower 48. I've owned three of them to date.

The first was a S&W 25 in the late 70's. Cylinder throats on those early S&W's were way over bore...mine miked 457-459...the bore miked .452". Accuracy, compared to any S&W I'd owned to that date, was abominable...4-5" at 25 yds from a solid rest and believe me...I tried nearly every bullet available...I even went back to S&W's gunshop, personally to show them...the smiths told me that was the way they were building them and nothing could be done.

The 2nd was a Colt SAA of about the same vintage...this one had a 7-1/2" barrel and was accurate right out of the box...I'd bought it new, in unfired condition...it would and still does shoot any quality lead alloy bullet into less than 2" at 25 yds on demand. It shot so well that I fitted a .45 ACP cylinder to it which shoots even better. Groups with this shorter bullet print just below pt of aim at 25 yds. The heavier 255 gr SWC's and semi-round noses a cpl of inches higher.

The most current is a "New" Vaquero bought last year. Throats on this Ruger were undersize, miking at .450-451". I had "cylindersmith.com" open them up to .4525" and groups immediately shrank by 50%...it's now my favorite .45 mostly due to its excellent trigger and short 4-5/8" barrel...a great carry piece for chores here on the farm. Cylindersmith, btw, is cheap fast and very accurate. I had the piece back in under two weeks at cost of about $40 if memory serves.

I really like the caliber, love those fat powerful hulls stuffed in a gunbelt or bumping authoritatively in a jeans pocket. The old standard load of 8.0 gr of Unique behind a 250-255 gr semi-wadcutter for about 850 fps, shoots well in any well fitted revolver I've come across....my pick if I were you...get the Ruger and have the throats opened if you need to...

Here's the Ruger with a pair of Crab Apple grips I made for it. Best Regards, Rodfac

 

[Doodlebugger45]

There is nothing inherently inaccurate about the cartridge. It should shoot just as accurately as a 44 mag for instance. Howewver, there were some revolvers that didn't shoot so well. A little bit of that is because of the history of the cartridge. Many years ago, the standard diameter for .45 Colt was .454". Eventually, it became stardardized at .452". But some barrels were still larger bore. And for a time, some revolvers went to .452" bores but still used larger throats.

My very firat .45 Colt was an older Blackhawk. I couldn't get that sucker to shoot for anything. It was terrible. That was before I knew anything about Rugers and the early throat issues, so I simply got rid of it. Since then I have obtained 3 different SA revolvers in .45 Colt. All 3 of them shoot extremely well. None of those are Rugers, but that isn't the point. Since that first Blackhawk, I have acquired an old model Vaquero in .44 mag and a Blackhawk in .357. Both of those shoot very well indeed.

I typically load my .45 Colts with a 250 gr hard cast bullet for a velocity of 850-900 fps. Recoil is pretty mild. For shooting cans, it does the trick very well. If for some reason I wanted to shoot a critter with it, it can do that with authority as well. If I still had a Ruger in .45 Colt, I reckon I could get the same accuracy and power as I can get with my .44 mag. In fact, when I firsst got my BFR in .454 Casull, I just had to test out some of the Super-hot .45 Colt loads that John Linebaugh touts. Sure enough, if you get a super tough jacketed bullet, you can push 240 gr .45 bullets out of a .45 Colt case at velocities of 1700 fps or so with good accuracy. That actually exceeds .44 mag load power. Note that those power levels are even above the Ruger-only levels. They are only for the super tough 5 shot revolvers made for .454 level loads. No matter the power level though, the BFR revolver is exceptionally accurate with .45 Colt loads.

So like I said at the outset, there is nothing inherently accurate or inaccurate about .45 Colts in general. It will depend on the individual revolver, just like any other chambering will depend on the individual revolver. I focused mainly on the SA revolvers, but I truly lust after a S&W mod 25-5. Hopefully it would be similar to my 629 in function and performance.

 

[temmi]

Ruger Red Hawk or Black Hawk

I have a black Hawk.... but you may want the double action od a Red hawk

 

[oldcars]

Well, I hate to bring an old thread back from a the dead but I ordered a new 4 5/8" blued Blackhawk and finally got out to shoot it and I guess it's a keeper!!! with my mild handload I got a 4 shot group of 1.18" at 25 yards and with my stout 260 grain HP load it did a 1.34" group. I Like this Gun!!!!!!!! Ruger must have figured out the throat problem. I realize this accuracy might not be impressive to alot of people but I was very happy for an out of the box gun off sand bags on a folding table in a gravel pit.