.45acp and the Governor

H

haymaker

New member
Thinking it would make a good back country cartridge I purchased some Double Tap .45acp+p 255gr. swc hardcast ammo. The first thing I discovered was that it would not cycle in my Ruger P90 or either one of my Colt 1911's. I thought no problem, I'll just shoot it in my Blackhawk .45 Convertible. Then I discovered that with the shoulder on the hardcast bullets they would not fit all the way into the .45acp cylinder of the Blackhawk. The solution to my dilemma was to buy a Smith & Wesson Governor. With the moon clips I can stuff any and all .45acp ammo into the cylinder.

I don't have much use for a .410 handgun but a double action revolver that shoots both .45Colt and .45acp is very handy and versatile. I would like to see Smith&Wesson, Ruger, and Taurus offer DA revolvers that chamber .45 Colt with cylinders machined to take moon clips for .45acp and skip the .410 part.

Would anyone else like to see that combo?
 
Sure!
Ditch the .410 bore and concentrate on a quality .45acp./45Colt gun.

From the tests done with the Governer/Judge/Jury/whatever, they don't seem to do well with with .45 auto or Colt.
 
At 25 or 30 yards I'm as accurate with the Governor as I am with my Blackhawk in either .45Colt or .45acp. The Governor is a fine gun but I just don't need that extra long cylinder.
 
I'd like to see a revolver that size chambered for 30/30, :). Put that extra long cylinder to a good use. Ed
 
The solution to my dilemma was to buy a Smith & Wesson Governor
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Buying a new revolver to fit a box of ammo? Sorta' like buying a new car to fit the floor mats you bought. I like it. :D
 
I'd like to know it he Governor can handle 460 Rowland Pressure in it's chamber. That cartridge packs a heck of a punch!;)

If so I just might take the dust cover off the old reloading press and grab a larger .45 mold, fire up the Pot,cast some, coat them and order some brass!:D
 
Thinking it would make a good back country cartridge I purchased some Double Tap .45acp+p 255gr. swc hardcast ammo
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Got a picture of those rounds, esp. in comparison to a standard 230 gr round nose .45 ACP?

Then I discovered that with the shoulder on the hardcast bullets they would not fit all the way into the .45acp cylinder of the Blackhawk.
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Lead of the bullet bite the rifling before it's fully seated?

Buying a new revolver to fit a box of ammo?
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Worse than that. Doubletap's and Midway's site show these as coming in 20 round boxes.

Myself, I think I'd have tried harder to get it to work in the Ruger P90.
 
I thought about that too, but considering it's only got a 2.75" barrel AND a barrel-cylinder gap, that's big velocity loss considering the large size of the gun. Look up velocity figures for it, they're quite low. If not having 410 wasn't a big deal then a Ruger .45 Colt/ACP convertible would be a much better choice since you could shoot high level .45 Colt, .45 ACP and even .45 Super from it. The Governor has VERY thin cylinder walls so high pressure loads would be a no no from it.
 
My Governor seems to be just as accurate as any of my other 45s. Next time I'll put it across the chrono to compare to my 1911 and SAA.
 
What kind of dangerous animals might you be running into?

From what I have seen of people chronographing, Buffalo Bore's ammo seems to be more true to their velocities than DoubleTap.
 
The best reason to get a Governor/Judge is the ability to fire the Lehigh Defense Maximum Expansion rounds. Otherwise, I don't see much benefit over a regular .45 Colt, like the Redhawk.
 
To answer some of your questions and comments:

I tried several times to get the Ruger P90 and both my Colt 1911's to feed the hardcast bullets and they just wouldn't do it. Since it is +p ammo maybe I need different recoil springs. The slides would jam so tight I would have to push against my welding table to get the slides free. The hardcast bullets also would not fit the .45acp cylinder of my Blackhawk. I also had some lead reloads that would not work in any of my autos or the Blackhawk.

The sensible thing to do would be to take a bullet puller and reload the Double Tap ammo and the other reloads. The Governor was an impulse buy, but I can feed it anything and it works.

My farm borders thousands of acres of state game land. There are a lot of coyotes and there have been cougars sighted and just recently a wolf. If I carry a wheelgun it is usually a .45Colt and if it's an auto .45acp.

I don't have a way of posting pictures but if you go to the Double Tap website you can see a picture of their 255 gr. +p hardcast semi wadcutters.

Since .45acp is rimless the only way it will fit a wheelgun without moonclips is to have a shoulder in the cylinder for the case mouth to catch. These hardcast bullets have a shoulder that catches that shoulder in the cylinder before the case mouth can reach it.

The Governor is a compromise gun but it does it fairly well. It would be ideal if Ruger would machine the cylinders of the Redhawk .45Colt to accept moonclips for .45acp. Smith 645's cost too much and are to hard to find.

When I get back to reloading for .45acp I will experiment with some different loads for the P90. Do you guys have any suggestions for what type of loads to use for my nature walks with my dogs? What bullet type?
 
I tried several times to get the Ruger P90 and both my Colt 1911's to feed the hardcast bullets and they just wouldn't do it. Since it is +p ammo maybe I need different recoil springs. The slides would jam so tight I would have to push against my welding table to get the slides free.

These hardcast bullets have a shoulder that catches that shoulder in the cylinder before the case mouth can reach it.
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It's not a recoil spring issue. It's a bullet seating depth problem. The bullet is biting the rifling and hanging up, before the cartridge case is fully seated. I've run into this before with some of my handloads. The fix is to seat the bullet more deeply, which may not be possible or advisable with this bullet and load.
 
It's not a recoil spring issue. It's a bullet seating depth problem. The bullet is biting the rifling and hanging up, before the cartridge case is fully seated. I've run into this before with some of my handloads. The fix is to seat the bullet more deeply, which may not be possible or advisable with this bullet and load.

I hadn't thought of that I should have checked the OAL on that ammo. I should call Double Tap and tell them what my problem was. Maybe they produced some out-of-speck ammo.
 
The slides would jam so tight I would have to push against my welding table to get the slides free.
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This sounds a whole lot like what I got once, when I seated a box full of .45 handloads with the bullet too high.

I bet you, if you try to feed one, and it hangs, once you get it freed up you will see bite marks from the rifling on the lead shoulder of the bullet, just ahead of the case mouth.

Or, do the "plunk test". Take the barrel out of one of your .45s, and drop a round in. Do the same with a round of factory loaded basic round nose .45 230 grain FMJ. I'm guessing the Double Tap round won't sit as deep.

Found this w/ a G00gle image search:

q7G0i.jpg
 
I think I will order another box from Double Tap and see how the bullets fit the barrels. I'm thinking you are right, especially when they wouldn't headspace properly in the Blackhawk. Thanks for the help.
 
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