I made a mistake. Ruger 45 Flattop

I'm not a professional (professionals get paid! :rolleyes:)
but here's my experience, it depends entirely on how the dies are made.

Generally speaking for straight wall cases where the only difference is case length, using a die set for a shorter cartridge to load a longer one is simple. You simply don't adjust the die in the press all the way "down" to compensate for the length difference.

The reverse MAY not be possible. Sizer, no problem. Expander, usually no problem, there's enough adjustment in the expander stem. Seating? probably no problem, but crimping, might be.

That depend on where the crimp shoulder is in the die body, relative to the bottom of the die body.

As an example, I have a die set (older) for .45 Colt. I can size, expand, and even seat bullets in the shorter .45 Schofield brass, but I cannot crimp the shorter case with that die, the bottom of the die hits the shellholder before the shorter case reaches the crimp shoulder.

This COULD be what happens with a .454 die loading .45 Colt. It might not be, it all depends on how the die you're using is made.
 
I used to load jacketed bullets for a 45 Colt Blackhawk I had with Lee 45 ACP dies, crimped'em and everything. Worked great.
 
I used to load jacketed bullets for a 45 Colt Blackhawk I had with Lee 45 ACP dies, crimped'em and everything. Worked great.
Click to expand...

That works because dies for a shorter case can easily be backed out for a longer case.

you were, however, working your brass more than you would have with .45 Colt dies.
 
Not sure it was a mistake. Ruger doesn’t make a large frame 45 Colt Blackhawk of any kind according to their website.

I have one. I also have a bunch of rounds that i need to pull to salvage the components. I consider those rounds unbearable and they beat the gun too hard. I would much rather shoot my 265 gr cast around 1100 fps…..which is still fast!
 
The Ruger Blackhawk in 45Colt was what got me interested in the cartridge back in 60s. I had owned Colt & S&W DAs and Colt SAA clones in 45 but were all fixed sight guns. I only ended up with Ruger 45 because I set out to have one of every caliber SA Ruger made. I quit Ruger when the New Model came out. Their model names are confusing because neither of the FTs discussed are the original Flat Top of early Ruger Blackhawks.
Futher more Ruger made the 44 magnum in the Blackhawk with fluted cylinder back in late 50s and early 60s.
I’ve never been one to want to shoot extreme loads for the cartridge. I just buy next bigger gun. I can tell you one thing I found, and this is based on experience with 3 screw models.
The 45Colt and 44mg models did not have enough adjustments in sights for practical ranges.
They were fine for 100yds. The back sights bottomed out and front sight wasn’t high enough to do like 50yds. So if a guy is shooting iron sights and you are going extreme before you waste your time see if sights will handle it. I don’t like to hold off to hit , you can adjust load in some cases to put gun in zone that can be adjusted for.
 
Check the serial number and the rear sight "ears"

There are indeed 2 frame sizes in the current production 45 Colt Blackhawks. Short of actually measuring the cylinder and cylinder window, the 2 easier, observational methods I've been told to use in determining which frame size is which are:

1) The current large frame 45 Colt Blackhawks have a 2 digit prefix (before the dash) in the serial number. The current production medium frame guns have a 3-digit prefix (before the dash) in the serial number.

2) The current production large frame 45 Colt Blackhawks have "ears" on the sides of the rear sights. Therefore, those Blackhawks are by definition, not "flattop Blackhawks." It is the current production "flattop" Blackhawks that are actually built on the medium frame.

I have examined several of the current production 45 Colt Blackhawks at local retailers, and the above 2 criteria have consistently held true. All of the medium frames were flattops with 3-digit SN prefixes, and all of the current production large frame 45 Colt Blackhawks had "ears" and 2-digit SN prefixes.

FWIW, I have a recent production large frame Blackhawk convertible in 45 Colt with an additional factory 45 ACP cylinder. It has both the "ears" on the rear sight and the 2 digit serial number.

I believe the current production medium frame "flattop" 45 Colt Blackhawks were originally special runs for one of the large national distributers. At least the convertible variants were. However, I don't know if that is still true.

To add to the confusion, the current production 45 convertibles (45 Colt & ACP) are made in both the medium and large frames.

Regards,
Colt.
 
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