Is 45LC making a comeback?

The .45Colt cartridge has always been in style, with me anyway. Since 1972 my outdoorsy-hiking-camping gun has been my Colt New Service Target (made in 1920). Now that they're collectible, I'm glad it spent 99+% of that time holstered, and it's still in excellent condition.

Few calibers compare with the .45Colt's history, mystique and lore, and fewer yet can match it's versatility - from mild and fun cowboy loads, to Buffalo Bore rounds suitable for The Land That Time Forgot.
 
The .45LC and the .41 Mag are the only two big-bore revolver cartridges I need, and the only ones I own.

Comeback? They never left. :)
 
EDIT: Savit, that sure does look like a Simply Rugged holster. Do you love it? I love mine.
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Yup, it sure is. Yes, I do love it, and the 5 or 6 other Simply Rugged Holsters I have. .

Great product made by a great guy.

As soon as I get off my duff, I'll be ordering up another one for my 5 1/2" Redhawk.
 
I haven't had any problem obtaining .45 Colt components or boxed ammo. (until recently of course). I have 2 Ruger Vaqueros, a Bond derringer, a '94 Winchester, a Uberti Walker and a Uberti 1st generation Dragoon. All chambered in .45 Colt. Very versatile and fun to shoot. If this is a niche, then leave me in it.....:D
 
I have several guns chambered in 45 Colt... most are admittedly for Cowboy sports, but my CCW gun ( a custom snubbie Montado ) is chambered in 45 Colt, as well as my primary deer hunting handgun ( a Contender ) which I load pretty hot for... my CCW gun uses Buffalo Bore Gold Dots in the summer, & a Buffalo Bore "Keith type" hard cast bullet in the winter months I made my holster for my custom snubbie, & thinned the areas where the cylinder sits, to keep the package as thin as the big cylinder allows, with the transfer bar safety, I can safely carry 6 with that gun...

I honestly see the cartridge steadily increasing in popularity, especially with the Judge / Governor revolvers selling like hot cakes...

My CCW... reasonably light, compact, only limiting factor, is the cylinder width, which as mentioned, by thinning the holster in that area, it's not much thicker than a normal 357 in a good rig... oh... & it's still a single action, which might put some off, but I shoot enough of, that I'm plenty comfortable with it...

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A few years ago, I realized I wasn't much of a revolver guy as I prefer the ergos and capacity of semi-autos, so I sold the few .357 mag/.38 Spl's I had and moved on. However, I had to have one revolver, a USFA SAA in .45 Colt. I reload for the cartridge, and just find it a joy to shoot, especially in the SAA.

I think cowboy action shooting helped make it very popular again, but I just use mine for punching paper and occasional woods carry. As others have said, if you want to work up heavy loads for use in the larger Rugers, and others, you can push .44 Mag energy.
 
And the Colt Single Action, in .45 Colt (besides being iconic in and of itself) is actually the reason the .44 Magnum exists. After Elmer blew up his third .45 SAA (if I remember it right), he switched to the .44 SAA, because the thicker cylinder walls let him reach the levels he desired, which eventually resulted in the .44 Magnum cartridge.
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I'm convinced that if Elmer Keith had a Ruger Blackhawk or Redhawk to conduct his experiments with, we would never have heard of the .44 Mag.
 
.45 Colt making a comeback? God I hope not. It is a worthless round with no power. ..Would be like the .30 carbine avail in an AR package. What the hell for?
But if you are playing cowboys and indians or some sort of mountain man grizzly adams thing, then by all means, go a head.
What if the .41 colt made an appearance at my local store? I would think the end is truly near!
 
I love my 45C guns, it is the one I would pick if you could only have one centerfire round. From mild to wild, it is the reason I got into reloading.:D
 

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j3hill,
Really? " a worthless round with no power"? I am sorry sir but you don't know what you are talking about. Maybe you should read through the thread.
 
j3hill said:
.45 Colt making a comeback? God I hope not. It is a worthless round with no power. ..
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If you had bothered to look past cowboy action loads and powderpuff factory loads that companies like Federal put out you would see that the .45 Colt heavy loads by companies like Buffalo Bore are in league with even the hottest .44 Magnum loads. Note that these should only be used in the correct revolvers per the advice of Buffalo Bore.

Blackhawk, Super Blackhawk, all pre-2005 Vaquero, Bisley, Redhawk

Heavy .45 Colt +P - 325 gr. L.B.T.-L.F.N.(1,325fps/M.E.1,267 ft.lbs.)

Heavy .45 Colt +P - 260 gr. J.H.P. (1,450 fps/M.E. 1,214 ft. lbs.)

If these rounds are underpowered, I don't want to know what your idea of a powerful load is.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by j3hill
.45 Colt making a comeback? God I hope not. It is a worthless round with no power. ..
If you had bothered to look past cowboy action loads and powderpuff factory loads that companies like Federal put out you would see that the .45 Colt heavy loads by companies like Buffalo Bore are in league with even the hottest .44 Magnum loads. Note that these should only be used in the correct revolvers per the advice of Buffalo Bore.

Blackhawk, Super Blackhawk, all pre-2005 Vaquero, Bisley, Redhawk

Heavy .45 Colt +P - 325 gr. L.B.T.-L.F.N.(1,325fps/M.E.1,267 ft.lbs.)

Heavy .45 Colt +P - 260 gr. J.H.P. (1,450 fps/M.E. 1,214 ft. lbs.)

If these rounds are underpowered, I don't want to know what your idea of a powerful load is.
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Even the nuclear stuff notwithstanding, .45 Long Colt is a very useful cartridge. In today's world of ultra high velocity with super heavy bullets, I think people often short sell how useful a medium heavy bullet at moderate velocity can be. A 250-260gr bullet at 900-1000fps seems to me like it would be useful for a great many things without being particularly hard on the gun or shooter.

The main thing that I begrudge the .45LC is that its smallish rim doesn't mesh as well with DA revolvers as the larger rim of .44 Special and .44 Magnum do. However, a trip to a good smith for a moonclip conversion would remedy that issue quite easily.
 
The main thing that I begrudge the .45LC is that its smallish rim doesn't mesh as well with DA revolvers as the larger rim of .44 Special and .44 Magnum do.
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You know I always wondered why we don't see more DA revolvers in .45 Colt and I guess that's why. I have still yet to see a Redhawk in .45 Colt in any of the shops.
 
I disagree also that the 45 Colt is a niche or hobbyist round. It is big with revolver fans. Likely the 3rd most popular centerfire revolver round after 357/38 and 44 mag. I expect the popularity of the 454 gave the Colt a small boost. Hard to argue with all that volume and a king sized slug. I'll be buying more 45 Colts before I am done.
 
I expect the popularity of the 454 gave the Colt a small boost.
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Not only that but the Taurus Judge and S&W Governor chamber not only shot shells but .45 Colt as well, probably the only good thing about those two guns is that it helped boost 45 Colt sales and made it slightly more available on the shelves.
 
Quote:
The main thing that I begrudge the .45LC is that its smallish rim doesn't mesh as well with DA revolvers as the larger rim of .44 Special and .44 Magnum do.

You know I always wondered why we don't see more DA revolvers in .45 Colt and I guess that's why. I have still yet to see a Redhawk in .45 Colt in any of the shops.
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It makes sense when you think about it. The .45 Long Colt was originally designed to be used in the Colt Single Action Army, a gate-loading revolver which accomplished extraction with a rod poking the cases out individually from the inside. For this platform, the only thing that the rim needs to accomplish is headspacing and even the .45 LC's small rim is more than sufficient for that.

The .44 Magnum and .44 Special, on the other hand, are descendants of the .44 Russian which was originally designed for the S&W Model 3, a revolver that accomplishes simultaneous extraction not all that dissimilar to the swing-out cylinder DA revolvers of today. As such, the rim had to both provide for headspacing and bear against the extractor and thus needed a larger surface area. Similarly, the .45 Schofield cartridge and the .45 Government cartridges used in the short-lived Colt M1909 revolver had wider rims than that of the standard .45 LC in order to avoid extraction problems with revolvers that extract simultaneously.
 
Still would have been nice to have a bit thicker rim on the .45 Colt cartridge. More like the Auto Rim. Mine tend to get plenty 'beat up' after reloading them so many time. The .44s don't seem to have that problem. Guess it is just one of the 'little' things one has to 'live' with when shooting the grand o' .45 Colt!
 
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