Double Action .45 Colt

[WheelGunRealGun]

They still show this on their web site.

Yeah but I never see em for sale anywhere

 

[gyvel]

I see that Dan Wesson has chosen to mark their guns with the misnomer ".45 Long Colt."

 

[DWFan]

quote:
Or you could just buy a Dan Wesson model 45 (blue) or 745 (stainless), which are chambered for .45 Colt already.

.44 Magnum Dan Wessons are fairly easy to find; factory .45 Colt's aren't and are much more expensive.
There actually is a .45 Short Colt cartridge. Paco Kelly has a box of them manufactured in 1883.

 

[ltc444]

I have a S&W 45cal 1955 with a 5in barrell. It is brushed crome. Someone left it in a wet location and the finish is pitted.

Looks rough but shoots like a dream.

Check out the used market. You can come up with an outstanding shooter for 1/3 of the cost of a new model.

 

[Chesster]

The best DA .45C shooter I have is a .455 Eley bored Colt New Service with a 5.5" BBL. Cost $250 in a pawnshop, had been parkerized with Pachmayr grips. Years ago I had an Arminius .45C that was a good shooter. The Smith Thunder Ranch is a good .45 ACP revolver.

 

[robctwo]

I've been buying some S&W 45s this past couple of years. bought the 25 Classic, nickel, .45 Colt. Mim, lock and all. Throats are in spec. Tack driver. I put a new spring kit in it and slicked up the innards and have an excellent trigger.

I bought the 27-7. wonderful gun. Older gun w/o the lock. Very accurate. throats are in spec.

I recently bought two 25-2s. 6 1/2" all steel. One from 1975, one from 1980. The 1980 throats are perfect. The 1975 has one throat not as tight, but still will not let a .452 lead swc drop straight through. both are very accurate and fun to shoot.

I have a 25-13 4" Mountain Gun in .45 colt. Has the lock. Has good throats and is very accurate. I bought a 625 JM used. somewhat disappointed with the accuracy, probably why it was sold.

 

[chris in va]

I'm probably way off base here, but can't you shoot 45 Colt out of a 454 Casull?

 

[BillCA]

Not all of the Model 25's had throat dimension problems.

Early Model 25's were built with loose throats. This was definitely corrected for the .45 ACP in the Model 25-2 variant. The .45 Colt throat dimensions were correct after 1976 (-2, -3, -4). IIRC, some number of the early 25's had barrels mounted that were .454 (.45 Colt) spec but marked as .45 ACP. In these early models it didn't help that the throats were oversize even for .45 Colt. All this contributed to a spotty reputation for the early M25. The .45 ACP models that mounted the correct barrel were prized target guns.

The pictured 6.5" Model 25-2 is capable of putting all six into nearly one ragged hole at 25 yards. The gun is, not always the owner! At the top, the 3" Jovino Effector snubby was made from a Model 25-2 by John Jovino gun shop, NYC. For a 3-inch it's still plenty accurate.

The recoil of the .45 ACP in the 6.5" (or later 5" 625JM) is so light as to be negligible. Even with some pretty stout loads. This gun seems to like almost any ammo you throw at it, even the light 165gr +P stuff.

 

[temmi]

Ruger Red Hawk

Nuff said.

Snake

 

[wdelack]

I'm probably way off base here, but can't you shoot 45 Colt out of a 454 Casull?

Yes, you can.

 

[CajunBass]

I vote for the S&W Model 25, ...You'll be hard pressed to find a nicer DA .45 Colt although I wouldn't plan on hot rodding your ammo for it. Seems to me this revolver would be a good carry gun with a 3-4" barrel although you'd have to be fairly large to conceal it (I doubt I'd have an issue with it). I've been on the lookout for one with a shorter barrel for years but one hasn't turned up locally yet.

I'll second this. I've got one of the 4", 25-5's, made in 1980 and although I haven't shot it a lot, it is a great shooter. While I don't hot load, it's either factory or "cowboy" loads, it is a hoot to shoot. Thos big rounds look artillery shells when I load them. The empties look like trash cans when they hit the bench.

And it reminds me of Hellboy's pistol.

 

[stu925]

I'll second this. I've got one of the 4", 25-5's, made in 1980 and although I haven't shot it a lot, it is a great shooter. While I don't hot load, it's either factory or "cowboy" loads, it is a hoot to shoot. Thos big rounds look artillery shells when I load them. The empties look like trash cans when they hit the bench.

I run my handloads a bit on the warm side, not hot, but warm. I carry mine while hunting so a little warm is ok with me. I also don't shoot a lot of them, I tame it down a bit for general target. I will add there has been no signs of over pressure in my hunting loads. I did notice the other day that Winchester is now loading personal defense ammo for the .45 Colt with a 225gr JHP @ 850fps. That would work pretty good in that 4" 25-5.

Stu

 

[Slamfire]

Smith and Wesson 45LC's prior to 1989 had .455 chamber mouths. S&W changed the dimensions to 0.452" with this M25-7 model of 1989.

This M625-9 has the tighter chamber mouths and is a very accurate pistol. I have shot thousands of 250 LRN 8.5 grains Unique. I have lots of .454 diameter bullets for the older 45's and they shoot very well in this smaller chamber mouth.

[SIZE="3"]M625-9 Mountain Gun 4" Barrel 



250 JHP 8.5 grs Unique thrown, W-W cases, WLP primers 
18-Mar-07 T = 55 °F V, accurate 
Ave Vel = 830 
Std Dev = 30 
ES= 103.5 
High= 893.4 
Low= 789.8 
Number Shots= 12 


250 Nosler JHP 17.5 grs 2400 thrown, Master cases, Fed150 primers 
18-Mar-07 T = 55 °F V, accurate uncomfortable recoil 
Ave Vel = 971 
Std Dev = 25 
ES= 69.47 
High= 1003 
Low= 933.5 
Number Shots= 11 



250 LRN (.454") Valiant 8.5 grs Unique thrown lot 5471, 4/3/06, R-P cases, WLP primers

25-Mar-07 T = 80 °F accurate 
Ave Vel = 891 
Std Dev = 17 
ES 61.31 
High 921.1 
Low 859.8 
Number Shots 27

[/SIZE]

 

[Edward429451]

That is good useful data slam, thanks. It's right in line with mine. Nice guns too! I'll add some of my data.

Ruger BH 5.5"
45 Colt
255 gr SWC (plain base)
Unique 8.0 gr / 830 FPS / 7 AVG DEV / 33 ES (Accurate/ Sooted cases)
2400 15.3 gr / 846 FPS / 25 AVG DEV / 115 ES (managable recoil/sooted cases)
WW-231 6.5 gr. / 717 FPS / 18 AVG DEV / 83 ES (looks promising/ sooted cases)
Trailboss 6.2 gr / 717 FPS / 28 AVG DEV / 119 ES (Not so good/ soots cases)
PowerPistol 8.0 gr / 813 FPS / 21 AVG DEV / 120 ES (looks promising / soots)

 

[stevelyn]

I want a Double Action .45 Colt (or maybe 45 ACP) revolver. I want it to be all steel and be able to last a life time, although I wouldn't be shooting heavy loads through it, mostly 255 grainers going 900 fps.

I've read about the S&W M25's having problems with oversized throats, so that's out.

I heard Ruger made Redhawks in .45 Colt, but I've never seen one for sale and it just doesn't appeal to me that much.

I don't like Taurus, either.

Any ideas?

Looks like you're pretty much stuck with either a S&W or a Ruger Redhawk or Super Redhawk then. AFAIK, Ruger is only making the .45 Colt Redhawk with a 4" barrel. They dropped the 5.5" for now.

Don't know much about the Smith's, but Rugers do tend to have tight throats. Not too much of an issue with jacketed bullets, but a PITA when you shoot cast. One of my buds and I both own 4" Redhawks in .45 Colt. We just recently opened up the throats on ours to .452 with a throat reamer. Mine took the .4510 pilot which wasn't too bad as the bore slugged out to .451. But my bud's Redhawk was tight and needed the .4480 pilot. With the throats opened up a .452 cast gas checked boolit goes through with light finger pressure.

Our guns are woods utility and tent/sleeping bag guns and we carry pretty hot loads in them.

My current business load is a 335gr Cast Performance WFNGC over 24gr of H110 lit with CCI 350 magnum sparkplugs. It's max book "Ruger Only" in the Hodgdon manual and gets your attention when it goes off.

I'm still experimenting with my loads using cast gas check boolits ranging from 325-335gr. I'm also experimenting with H4227 and Lil Gun due to H110s issues in cold weather.

I'd like to try Alliant's new powder 300-MP since they say it's temperature stable and has a similar burn rate as H110, but they don't have any .45 Colt data at all yet. I suppose I could play with the .44 Magnum data and start with it, but bullet weights for the .44 data doesn't go that high. So I don't have a starting point to work with.

BTW you wouldn't want to run these in a Smith, but one of these days I'd like to get a Mountain Gun in .45 Colt. A 300gr Keith@ 1000fps would take care of most things that need shot and would be plenty safe in a Smif.