.45 Cowboy Special

[coyotejoe]

 Lots of cowboy shooters insist on using the .45 Colt revolvers because that was the "real cowboy gun"  but they want .38 special wadcutter recoil. Loading the Long Colt down with tiny powder charges and light bullets does pose a problem. The powder gets lost in that huge case and chamber pressures are so low that the powder does not burn consistently, sometimes not at all and sometimes with disastrous detonation!
 A "solution" has been proposed, that being a sort of .45 Short Colt, a cartridge with the head of a .45 Colt but the length of a .45 ACP. That greatly reduces the powder capacity and can be loaded with standard .45 ACP dies using .45 ACP data.  I tried it and found it is not a "solution" but just exchanges one problem for another.
 I ordered 100 cases from "Adirondack Jack's Trading Post". The price was reasonable, $25.00 with shipping included, and the brass was good quality, headstamped ".45 Cowboy Special". I loaded up 20 rounds, five each of four different powders with .45 auto rim starting loads, and went shooting. I got holes all over the place, five shot groups went six to ten inches at 25 yards.
  Well I should have thought before ordering. We all know that for a revolver to shoot well the bullet must well fit the chamber throat. Using the short cases in a .45 long Colt chamber leaves more than 3/8" of empty chamber for the bullet to rattle through before it even reaches the chamber throat. The 200 grain bullets I was using have only 1/4" of bearing surface. There was no chance they would enter the throat straight and centered and thus no chance they could shoot accurately.
  This would be a fine cartridge in a revolver chambered expressly for it, although a Ruger in .45 ACP would probably be even better. When fired from a .45 Colt chamber the accuracy may be good enough for the cowboy who values low recoil over accuracy, though why they can't just shoot .38's is beyond me. For a general field and plinking round I find the "cowboy special" to be totally worthless.

[mcwoodduck]

Already made.  I shoot them in my Schofield.  it is called .... Wait for it....  45 S&W or 45 Schofield

[kitchawan kid]

Use Trail Boss,a 5.5gr.and a 200gr.bullet have mild recoil and it fills the case half full.Never had any problems after hundreds of rounds.

[stimpylu32]

Lets also not forget the little step-child of the 45 acp , the 45 Auto Rim , it is making a comeback and this is one of the reasons why .

CJ does make a very valid point , down loading the colt to dangerous levels with out using the proper powder is a BAD thing , the biggest reason Trail Boss was made .

stimpy

[mcwoodduck]

Yes but the auto rim will not fit in a colt SAA chambered for 45 LC.  And it will not allow me to close the top break with out having some of the cylinder shaved.

[coyotejoe]

Already made.  I shoot them in my Schofield.  it is called .... Wait for it....  45 S&W or 45 Schofield

No, totally different case, as I think I made clear in my post if you had read it. The .45 S&W is only .190" shorter than the .45 Colt. The "cowboy special" is .392" shorter, big difference. It is the same length as the .45 auto rim but with the smaller and thinner.45 Colt rim. I have no doubt they would work just fine in the top break revolver but see no reason to think they would be accurate from any revolver unless the chambers were sleeved to properly fit the shorter case. You can't expect a bullet to straighten and center itself after it has had no guidance for almost four tenths of an inch of travel. That was apparent from a few bullets I dug out of the backstop, the rifling marks extended much farther up the bullet on one side than on the other and some  plated bullets had the plating torn away on one side.

[mcwoodduck]

Sorry,
I missunderstood.
I have shot 38 S&W out of my 357mag and for short range it works.  the only problem you will have is cleaning the chambers before you go back to 45 S&W or Long Colt.  Much like shooting shorts in a Long rifle 22 pistol.  The longer cases tend to stick with the ring of crud where the mouth of the case is.
It would turn a 10shot lever gun into either a nighmare and not feed, or would make you have almost twice the ammo in the same tube.
Why not load the long case with a little powder charge a fiber wad and a 180 to 200 grain bullet?

[stimpylu32]

mcwoodduck

Your right about the rim on the auto rim , I just didn't think about as all the revolvers that I shoot them in have a flat faced cyl , not recessed and the rim diffrence has never been a issue so I just never even considered it . 

Kinda like that assume thing . 

stimpy

[mcwoodduck]

Not a problem.
Hey you have corrected a lot of the stupid things i have just typed and not thought through.
But actuall the only reason i know is I bought 1/2 moon clips to shoot 45 acp in my schofield and found that they will not allow the gun to close.  Also had my buddy mike ask if he could try a couple of his auto rims in my schofield and they too would not close.  We then tried them in a colt SAA clone I had that had a second cylinder in 45 ACP and we had to take the cylinder out in both cases to get the auto rim out.

[fastbike]

I'm with you. Why not just shoot 38 special. Even better, how about shooting "authentic" loads?

FWIW, I have a Blackhawk convertible in .45Colt / .45acp. This is a very fun gun. Accuracy in  .45 acp is equivalent to .45 Colt.

although a Ruger in .45 ACP would probably be even better. When fired from a .45 Colt chamber the accuracy may be good enough for the cowboy who values low recoil over accuracy, though why they can't just shoot .38's is beyond me. For a general field and plinking round I find the "cowboy special" to be totally worthless.