51cskipper
New member
Are there significant reasons to choose one over the other?
Depends on what you're going to do with it...
357 or 45 Colt:
Are there significant reasons to choose one over the other?
Well, `same could be said of 45-70 brass ... but no one ever says that now.
Instead they just load it up to near 60,000 psi and run it through Ruger #1s
This sounds so crazy, fun that is. Checked out the website, surprised me how affordable it is.I thought about this kind of thing and ended up selling my .357mag lever gun and my .45colt lever gun and my .44mag levergun and built a Mauser instead. My mauser is chambered to accept .45ACP from 1911 mags (troupsystems.com). Here's where I come out insanely far ahead of the old levergun stuff. I ordered a bunch of .460Rowland brass and cut it all down to the TTL for .45ACP. When so cut the case internal capacities are identical and the only difference is how strong the brass is. Now I can load HOT or not!
For just screwing around I can shoot standard .45acp loads in regular .45acp brass running 230's ~1000fps (remember, this is a rifle with a 16.5" barrel).
For a little more fun I can load to .45super levels in .45acp brass or .460rowland brass and see 230's running ~1300fps. Now you've got real .44mag power levels in a .45acp case. Primer pockets last several firings on .45acp brass and forever on .460 brass.
For a little more power I can load to full .460rowland levels and see 1600-1700fps with 230's.
If I want to get plum nasty about it though, I can load what ends up a nugget of Longshot powder under pretty severe compression with a rifle primer and see over 2000fps with a .230gr. I'm doing this in a Swedish M38 Mauser action that wears a Williams peep rear sight and a fairly tall front sight taken from an old black powder revolver.
Running FMJ bullets I can push one through just about anything. Fuggs up mammals bad. Even FMJ expands at those velocities.
To give some idea of the load, max charge of longshot with a 230 is listed as 12gr. I'm north of that by more than 20% before 2000fps.
And not all chambers are the same and since only Starline states their brass can handle higher pressures, I see no reason not to keep using them as the sole case for my hot .45 Colt loads.
The 45 Colt, and the 44 Magnum, for that matter, can both easily exceed the power of the 30-30 Winchester, at the muzzle, at 50 yards, and perhaps even to 100 yards, or so. At some point after that, the 30-30 will have a flatter trajectory and retain more energy. But at close range, a hot 45 Colt can be more like a 30-'06 than a 30-30. Shoot some steel gongs and you'll see for yourself. The 357 is simply outclassed here.In a rifle, what can .45 Colt do that .357/.38 can't?
??About 12 grains of Unique under a good 45 colt bullet
The deal with my situation is the .45 revolvers I have are awesome and I shoot them well and they're all multiple caliber shooters; the Redhawk also shoots .45 ACP, the Judge also shoots .410, and the 1858's also shoot cap and ball.
My .357's are all Charter's from the 80s and I bought them more because they were cheap, but good quality and I didn't have .357 at the time.
But over time I see how easy it is to get .38 and .357 brass and while it's not like I'm unable or unwilling to buy more new .45 brass, it's not available right now and IDK when it will be again and I'm not one who is willing to buy fired brass given IDK the history of it.
So, it seems that both .357 and .45 are capable of doing what I'd want, but .45 Colt would be able to do more, just that I have no plans to shoot the larger game that .357 could not.
I'll have to see what velocities .357 can get from a 16" barrel because I always try to shoot the cheapest bullets I can buy (cast lead or plated) and they don't seem to like going over a certain velocity while with .45 Colt even the hi pressure stuff seems to be under 1400 fps and all my preferred bullets would be able to do that.
For .357 or .45 Colt? I doubt with either I'd hit that velocity with either out of a 16 inch and from a 16 there'd be about 100-150 fps lost vs a 20.Buffalo Bores offerings seem to be in the 1800-1900 FPS range out of a 20” barrel. I’m sure how that would translate to a 16” but I couldn’t see it being much slower, if at all.
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For .357 or .45 Colt? I doubt with either I'd hit that velocity with either out of a 16 inch and from a 16 there'd be about 100-150 fps lost vs a 20.
I mean, my intention is to use my reloads, which will mostly be using Unique, H110, and Lil' Gun. I believe those are all slow to medium burning powders and gain velocity well with barrel length.Considering the powder type used in pistol cartridges is designed to burn up quick to achieve higher velocities within a much shorter barrel, I dug around a ballistics website and 45 LC saw only a 10 FPS difference 16-20” barrels. A 24” barrel 45 LC was slower then both.
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