Question about Uberti open top conversions

G

gokyo

New member
I was looking at Open top conversions and foudn that in the 1860 army they make them in .38 spcl and 45 colt.

Does this mean you can use modern, buy off the shelf at Walmart sort of .38 spcl.

As for the 45 colt do you have to use BP or can you use modern powder in the 45 colt (for more then one shot, that is)

The reason I ask

I was looking at some ballistics on 45 colt and found that people load up a
200 grain bullet to go about 1000 fps. I am having a hard time believing that a open top is going to handle a load like this well.

While 38 spcl I know is about 120 grain at about 950 fps

I can believe a open top can handle 38 spcl but it seems impossible to think that it can handle 45 colt.
 
The Uberti open tops are made a lot beefier than the percussion guns. They will handle SAAMI spec .45 Colt loads (with lead bullets) just fine.
 
Not to hijack...

...but i was looking at getting one of these in .38sp and was wondering if FMJ ammo would work in these or is only lead roundnose and wadcutter?
 
If it's factory-produced in .45Colt then it's safe for any SAAMI spec standard pressure factory load. It has to be. Personally, I like mine in .44Colt. ;)
 
Or even if it's produced in .45 Long Colt...
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There is no official .45 Long Colt. It's just .45 Colt. People originally started calling it Long Colt to avoid confusion with the .45 Schofield.
 
Maybe .45 "Long" Colt discussion should be kept to the appropriate thread, rather than polluting a completely unrelated thread???

...and I'm the one that catches hell. :rolleyes:
 
I thought it was to avoid confusion with the short .45 Colt (most definitely NOT the .45 Schofield round), as loaded by Winchester and Remington:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/ta...short_colt.htm
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I've seen that article before and I've heard of the .45 Colt Government but I have no idea how widespread it's use was or indeed if it was a common cartridge at all which I kind of doubt. You may be right but the most common reasoning is that it was called long to distinguish it from the common .45 Schofield cartridge or .45 S&W if you prefer to call it that. Bottom line is it's commonly called the .45 Long Colt and has been for a very long time and while it's not an official name it's one that's not going away.

Don't worry Craig, I'll take the heat for this one.
 
>>>...but i was looking at getting one of these in .38sp and was wondering if FMJ ammo would work in these or is only lead roundnose and wadcutter?<<<

If it's produced and chamber marked in .38 Special then I'm sure they'll work just fine (to avoid huge liability issues they'd have to) but I have read reviews that found that hollow base bullets and hollow base wad cutters gave the best accuracy out of these guns.

Cheers,
Oly
 
They should work fine in the factory guns but in the owner converted guns they won't. The .36 bore is .375 and the .38 spcl is .357 so you'll need hollow based bullets that expand to fill the bore. Pure lead may hump up enough to fill it but I wouldn't count on it.
 
>>>They should work fine in the factory guns but in the owner converted guns they won't. The .36 bore is .375 and the .38 spcl is .357 so you'll need hollow based bullets that expand to fill the bore. Pure lead may hump up enough to fill it but I wouldn't count on it.<<<

Which is a key reason why I'll never convert a .36 to smokeless. I wouldn't mind having one of these in a factory conversion though.

Cheers,
Oly
 
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