.45 Colt/.45 ACP again..............

[Bob Wright]

 

The question apparently never will be settled "Can I fire .45 ACP in my .45 Colt revolver?"  Now, I'm speaking of the Ruger Blackhawk, .45 Colt with auxiliary cylinder.  An unaltered cylinder.  So, here it goes:

 

The .45 ACP will not work in the longer Colt chamber.  Since it has no rim, it will slide down into the chamber too far for the firing pin to reach.  Half moon/full moon clips?  If used, the resulting thickness will be too thick for the cylinder to be inserted into the gun.

So, inserting the ACP cylinder, can I use .45 Auto Rim?  No.  The rim thickness is too thick for the headspace of the revolver.

 

But:

 

Of late, I salvaged some old .45 Colt cases with mouth splits, and cut them to the same length as the .45 ACP.  These work fine in my ACP cylinder, and will work in the .45 Colt cylinder.

 

As to their working:

 

 

While I call my cartridges the .45 Xtra Short, it has already been done as the .45 Special and the .45 Cowboy, and brass is available for loading.  But I chose to just salvage my old .45 Colt brass.

 

Bob Wright

[RED333]

I am guessing the case wall thickness is not an issue or are you thinning the walls? Or a healed boolit?

 

[Bob Wright]

57 minutes ago, RED333 said:

I am guessing the case wall thickness is not an issue or are you thinning the walls? Or a healed boolit?

 

Case wall thickness no problem.

 

Bob Wright

[Jct1911]

5 hours ago, RED333 said:

I am guessing the case wall thickness is not an issue or are you thinning the walls? Or a healed boolit?

 

Non issue, current production brass is all straight walled, as are the chambers. Originally, 45colt had a taper as did the chamber. 

[RED333]

The wall gets thicker at the bottom of most cases. Just depends on how low you cut before you see the thicker wall.

[Bob Wright]

13 hours ago, Jct1911 said:

Non issue, current production brass is all straight walled, as are the chambers. Originally, 45colt had a taper as did the chamber. 

Actually the case walls do thicken near the head of the case.  Here are two .45 Colt cases, one old balloon head case, the other a modern case:

 

As noted, the thickness where I cut doesn't affect bullet seating.

When were the tapered cases used?  Never saw a .45 Colt round tapered.  Here are some vintage .45 rounds, including the ".45 Short Colt", though not so called:

 

 

Bob Wright

[Jct1911]

On 9/29/2017 at 10:34 AM, Bob Wright said:

Actually the case walls do thicken near the head of the case.  Here are two .45 Colt cases, one old balloon head case, the other a modern case:

 

As noted, the thickness where I cut doesn't affect bullet seating.

When were the tapered cases used?  Never saw a .45 Colt round tapered.  Here are some vintage .45 rounds, including the ".45 Short Colt", though not so called:

 

 

Bob Wright

Tapered internally, balloon head cases. 

[Bob Wright]

1 hour ago, Jct1911 said:

Tapered internally, balloon head cases. 

Internal taper should not have required tapered chambers?

 

Bob Wright

[Jct1911]

12 minutes ago, Bob Wright said:

Internal taper should not have required tapered chambers?

 

Bob Wright

No it shouldn't. But the chamber has changed over the years. As has the brass. Just like now it's common to see .452 diameter bullets in the cartridge. 

[Bob Wright]

17 hours ago, Jct1911 said:

No it shouldn't. But the chamber has changed over the years. As has the brass. Just like now it's common to see .452 diameter bullets in the cartridge. 

Which guns have the different chambers, and when?  My New Service had typical .45 Colt dimension, and dates from around 1900.  I have never seen one with odd chamber dimensions.  Maybe a Remington?

H.P. White laboratories make no mention of odd dimensions in their work.  You're not thinking of the .45 M-1909 round, are you?

 

Bob Wright