Wiley Clapp: The Two-Faced .45 Colt

by
posted on May 26, 2017
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
blackhawk_2.jpg

The .45 Colt cartridge is a wonderful relic of days gone by. Conceived in the immediate post-Civil War era, the old slugger first sent that half-ounce slug lumbering downrange some 144 years past. It served the nation well in the Indian Wars and in the difficulties in the Philippines. Unofficially, it has served police officers from the New York State Troopers to Santa Ana PD. The salient feature of the round was always brute power, a quaint old belief that someone who deserves to be shot deserves to be proper shot. The .45 Colt bullet was massive, the velocity moderate, the effect monumental. Nearly a century and a half later, the .45 Colt—with proper ammo—is as good as you can get when it comes to a combat cartridge. And yes, I am aware that it is exclusively a revolver cartridge. 

This was the cartridge that was most commonly loaded at home in recent years. It needed to be, because the available .45 Colt guns had not kept pace with the improvements in ammo. The last DA/SA Colt revolver was the much-lamented Colt New Service, which went out of print in 1942. Smith & Wesson delighted the big bullet boys by introducing the Model 25-5 in the late 1970s. That big N-frame got a fair amount of attention, but not enough to sell in the numbers that keep guns in their builder's catalogs. So the .45 Colt cartridge hung on for use in the venerable Peacemaker and its clones. These guns simply will not prosper on a regular diet of high-pressure, hig- velocity, heavy-bullet ammo. In reality, the big S&Ws don't do very much better.  The makers of modern commercial ammunition are aware of these limitations, so they will never load high-performance ammunition in .45 Colt. Understandably, the big makers are afraid of serious liability issues when they make high pressure ammo that fits a gun which is identified as being that caliber.

Does this mean that the .45 Colt is commercially dead? Absolutely not! There are large numbers of very strong revolvers that will handle high performance .45 Colt handloads. They are, in effect, .45 Magnums. This fact has long been accepted among the handloading fraternity and the loading manuals often list special loads just for these guns. For decades, the strong Ruger Blackhawks have been loaded to the firewall and stay accurate. The big revolvers from Freedom Arms are even stronger. If you really need super performance in a portable handgun, you might want to consider one of the big Freedoms in .454 Casull.

This situation suggests that the .45 Colt is “two-faced” in the sense that it has two useful natures. One is ammo with traditional performance—big bullet, low-velocityor anything that says “.45 Colt” on the barrel. The other is ammo put up in brass marked .45 Colt, for use in selected guns of known strength by advanced handloaders who are experienced and extremely cautious.         

Latest

Hopkins & Allen Gunmaker
Hopkins & Allen Gunmaker

Hopkins & Allen: The Armsmaking Giant That Didn't Survive

Founded in 1868 in the northeast U.S., Hopkins & Allen grew from a friendly business venture into a prolific maker of affordable guns for brand names such as Merwin & Hulbert and Forehand & Wadsworth.

Burris Optics Celebrates 50 Years Of Fullfield Riflescopes

Firearms and ammunition ballistics have changed greatly over the last half-century, but one of the biggest leaps in performance hit the scene five decades ago, when Burris Optics introduced its Fullfield line of riflesopes.

I Have This Old Gun: Heckler & Koch P7

In the mid-1970s, the German federal police sought a replacement for its existing World War II-era sidearms and put out stringent guidelines for what it wanted in a handgun. The result was the Heckler & Koch P7.

New For 2025: Smith & Wesson Shield X

Smith & Wesson's new Shield X micro-compact handgun combines elements from the company's M&P Shield Plus with some cues from its smaller Bodyguard 2.0 design.

Review: Tisas PX-5.7 FO

The idea that a faster-moving, lightweight projectile can do the same work as a heavier, slower-moving slug has been around for ages, and the math clearly supports it, even if some in the general public don’t.

NRA Awards Grand Scholarships To 2024 Y.E.S. Students

The Y.E.S. program—which launched in 1996—is held each summer in Washington, D.C., and brings together high-achieving high school students from across the country for a week of immersive learning focused on the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and American government.

Interests



Get the best of American Rifleman delivered to your inbox.