.45 Win Mag?

D

Denezin

New member
I came across ammo recently ive never heard of before. .45 Win Mag. I cant find any info on it can someone fill in the blanks for me.
 
The 45 Win Mag is a forgotten cartridge. It is a stretched out 45 acp that launches it's 230 gr bullets in excess of 1200 fps! Who wouldn't like that? Why it never caught on is beyond me.

Apparently the only guns chambered for it are the LAR Grizzly Win Mag, and perhaps the Wildey. If someone would come out with a short carbine in 45 Win Mag I for sure would get one. Something like a Mini-14 chambered in 45WM would outclass all the golden M4's out there.
 
Winchester 260gr. JSP's chronographed at 1290 FPS avg. from my AMT Automag IV in 45 Win Mag.
Powerwise, it's the same as a 44 Mag.

For a while, Freedom Arms offered an extra cylinder in 45 Win Mag for their 454 revolvers.

Jim
 
I wonder if anyone has ever extended the chamber in an ACP cylinder for a Blackhawk convertible? I always thought that would be a neat conversion.
 
Thanks for the info. I couldnt find much on it on google at first but now i got some info. Thanks again folks!
 
I began shooting .45 win mag back in 1995. I was trolling a local gun store and found an LAR Grizzly win mag pistol for 650.00. Except for a cosmetic barrel issue, it was perfect. I took it to the range and instantly loved the pistol/ammo combination. Since then I have accumulated all of the caliber conversion kits.

mk23021.jpg


mk23019.jpg


North American Arms made a magnum revolver called the Eagle IIRC. It was chambered in 450 Express Magnum and came with a 45 Win Mag cylinder. It was an impressive gun born out of a dispute between Dick Casull and the original owner of NAA. The 450 Express was to compete with the 454 Casull, but sales were slow and the revolver was dropped. All of the remaining 450 Express ammo and brass in stock was disposed of.

Anyway, the 45wm cartridge competed with the 44 mag cartridge, but lost the popularity contest. It is still available, but can be pricey. I prefer the .45wm over the 44 mag. It is relatively cheap to reload and the cases can be formed from .308 cases if need be. It is literally a blast to shoot. I think the Wildey pistol was also chambered for 45wm back in the day.
 
perhaps the Wildey
Click to expand...

Definitely the Wildey.

It works very nicely, even if the Wildey is a handful (huge grip to hold the magazine).

the .45 Win mag is at the lower end of Wildey capability.

It does shred up 230 grain hollow points designed to expand at .45 ACP velocities though.

Terminal ballistics includes loss of core and very well expanded jackets (often broken into pieces).
 
Muzzle blast 45 win mag from LAR Grizzly


raw


Parenthetically, I took my Grizzly to an indoor range the other day to let a friend shoot it. Hehe. You should see the flinching and jiving the first time someone lights one of these puppies off....:p
 
Last edited:
At the height of my yearning for an LAR Grizzly, I watched a movie called Shakedown, and Sam Elliott made me want one all the more. I'd still love to have one, but I could never justify the price for what would amount to me as novelty.
 
The 45 win mag is a great candidate for reloading. Use the same dies and bullets as the 45acp. Brass is still available from Starline. Blue Dot is the powder of choice. I cast 260 gr gas checked SWC and push them up to 1500 fps out of my 12" Contender. Great for exploding cinder blocks. I'm just starting to load for a 7" Wildey I recently acquired.
 
Was also offered in the TC hand cannon, have one in the 14" model, was as close to the 454 you could get back then, and is a fine hog smacker, buddy has one in 10", ammo is hard to find in my AO, and virgin brass is getting that way.

All ways wanted one of the M1 carbines a company in Canada was converting to win mag, made great sense to me
 
there is a LAR GRIZZLY in 45 win mag at a gun store near me...its a bit pricy but i am so tempted to buy it or put it on layaway...they even have boxes of ammo for it at the store...very tempting...
 
One can get more power than they can use by loading the 45acp hot.

With good case support, the problem is recoil.


So the 45 Win Mag provided more case volume, but the problem is recoil, not case volume.
 
So the 45 Win Mag provided more case volume, but the problem is recoil, not case volume.
Click to expand...

The Wildey I have in .45 Win Mag has a 10 inch barrel.

It is big and heavy, recoil is stout but not a real problem.

It is definitely a two hand gun though.

With h110 it works well, with a nice blue ring of fire from the gas metering piston in dim light and a huge impact using 230 gr FMJs.

I purchased it originally for a pig hunt, but have used it on deer a few times.

Even with 230 gr FMJs they are very dead on the spot, with exit wounds from through and through shoulder shots on about half the kills (6 of 13 so far).

I have never needed a second shot or had to search for a deer more than about 50 feet.

I figured it was good enough for deer from a tree stand in heavy woods, and it ha worked every time.
I have found pieces of jacket in off side shoulders on through and through shots.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top