Ruger big bore, but....uh...

[alan in ga]

I'm going to guess and say I'm the only one on this forum with a.....45ACP rifle?
Ruger 77 Mark II, 1.150" BULL barrel, 25" long?
: )
Wanting to hear what all the other 45ACP rifle owners experiences are...... ha!
Going to target test this thing with factory ammo, got dies and bullets ready for later.

Before you ask, the answer is: "because". : )

Well, the other answer is "because Green Mountain offered some 25" 1.250" od barrel blanks in .45ACP for only $69 shipped. Bore looks EXCELLENT, but only a target test will tell....

[drdougrx]

Go ahead....rub it in......

[kevinsmith5]

Hi-Point makes a 45 ACP carbine.....never seen one in bolt action before though.

[huntswithdogs]

45ACP in a bolt gun sounds interesting. Is this gonna be a single shot or do ya have some kind of insert for the magazine? What kind of velocities do ya expect to get out of it?


HWD

[alan in ga]

A company makes ad adaptor for a Mauser conversion to 45ACP. I have several switch barrel bolt rifles and always thought it would be fun to have a single shot 'pethunker' in .45ACP.
The idea came after reading an old RIFLE magazine about this same idea. I think he called his the Argentine Plunker. Plunk was the sound of a firecracker going off in a 55 gallon drum, and he thought the .45ACP in a rifle length barrel sounded just like that.
I've 'plunked' a few rounds off in this Ruger and it's about like a subsonic 22LR round going off in a rifle barrel...best I can describe it.
25" of barrel probably gets all the powder burned pretty well : )
I have no worries about bullets sticking in the bore - there is PLENTY of inertia in a 230 gr bullet started out at 850 plus fps. I'll always keep an eye, and an ear out for that, though!
I'm very anxious to get this rifle on a bench and see what 45s will really do at 50 yards, maybe even 100~!

[alan in ga]

By the way, Green Mountain NOW has this same barrel in a 20" length on special right now for $33~! a DEAL if you want to make your own .45ACP Plunker!

[Flynmoose]

I have a 16" 45ACP barrel for my Encore carbine. I call it the gongbuster, takes
a while to cover the 100 yards but delivers a satisfying whack on arrival. I load
200gr Laser Cast SWCs. Hard to beat for low cost gong work.
FM

[bill439]

you are a little late, springfield made up a couple of 1903's in a carbine config. inbetween the wars and used them to shoot 1000 inch targets.  They were really cute.  30 years or so I did a 45 on a jap action for a friend who wanted something to take care of varmits in the yard.  I never could get the thing to feed right, but with peep sights you could single load and shoot cans at 100 yds all day.  I remember shooting the test shots at 50 yds and it put all shots in the same hole.  Back then only place i found the barrel was from numrich and I think cost was 12 bucks and was 30 or 32" long. I still have the leftover piece in my tool box.  Goodluck, bill439

[SHOOTALL]

Does a Thompson carbine with a 16 inch bbl count ?  If so mine goes bang 30 times before reloading  and to 50 yards its very accurate ( haven't shot with it any farther) . And well for the cool factor nothing beats the look of a Thompson . And the simi version has been made since 1928 ( I didn't realize that either until I got one  ).

[kynardsj]

Sounds like a cool toy. Let us know how it shoots. I loaded 45 ACP's sometime back when I had my Ruger BH in 45 LC with the spare ACP cylinder. I was casting 200 gr SWC's and sitting them over 7.0 gr of Unique for 1000 fps. Very accurate load. Got me kinda wishing I could find that caliber in about a 16" or so stainless Encore barrel that someone wanted to do some trading on. I'd play with it some more.

[kombi1976]

Would it be possible to load with a fast rifle powder so you could use the bbl length a tad more and gain some more velocity?

[kynardsj]

Maybe some info out there somewhere. Just gonna get so much from a round that short and fat but I checked after I started this reply and modified the answer. I found some loads over 14.0 gr of 2400 with some heavy bullets that were designed for revolvers chambered for the 45 ACP. Go to your search engine and put in " Hot 45 ACP Loads." The loads in Handloads.com will come up. 2400 should gain some speed with a longer barrel and give you something to work with.

[alan in ga]

I'm sure there are some best powders for long barrels, but I'm not trying for highest velocity (yet). If I were I might have reamed to 45 Win Mag.