.454 .45 and .45 acp interchangability

[psalm69]

I looked and looked, but couldn't find any info on this. Let's say I bought a Ruger SRH in .454. I know I can run .45's through it, but can I run .45 ACP through it? Scott

BTW great board!

[Tom C.]

Wild West Guns does a moon clip conversion to the Ruger Super Redhawk so that you can use .45 ACP, .454 and .45 Colt in the same gun. I have no experience with it. I have several New Model Blackhawks in .45 Colt with spare .45 ACP cylinders. They work fine.

[unspellable]

One caveat: The 454 chamber is held to much tighter tolerances.  You wll occasionally encounter a 45 Colt cartridge that will not chamber in it.  This most likely to happen if you are loading cast bullets in your 45 Colt brass.

[psalm69]

Well that's good news about the moon clip. I'm one of these guys who thinks that one gun can do it all. And I can tell you that I wouldn't want to plink with that .454, but if the same gun can be made to (without a sacrifice in accuracy or reliability) fire the 45 and 45 ACP all the better. Now if it would just chamber .44 mag we would really have something:-)

[Redhawk1]

I looked and looked, but couldn't find any info on this. Let's say I bought a Ruger SRH in .454. I know I can run .45's through it, but can I run .45 ACP through it? Scott

BTW great board!

I have a Super Redhawk in 454 casull. It was modified by Jack Huntington to accept moon clips. I can shoot 454 Casull, 45 Long Colts, 45 Win Mag and 45ACP, without doing anything except use moon clips for the 45ACP and 45 Win MAG. I do have to use Starline brass with the moon clips in the 45 Win Mag. The Winchester brass does not fit the moon clips. The barrel in the 454 was also shortened to 3 inches. It is a great gun to shoot.  

[psalm69]

Interesting stuff. Approximately what does it cost to modify a gun to except a moon clip. I mean if its half the cost of the gun it wouldn't be worth it to me. Scott

[Redhawk1]

You would have to contact Jack Huntington  or any other gunsmith to get the cost. My gun had more than just the conversion to the cylinder. No matter what you will have to pay a little for the modification. Shipping, Gunsmiths time. But the best thing is to contact them. My total conversion cost were about $500.00.  :-D

[jhm]

If you look real hard you might be able to locate some 45 auto rim ammo and it is the revolver cartridge that needs no half moon clips, but I havent seen any for many years but I am sure it is still around.    JIM

[psalm69]

But I'm guessing that .45 acp and factory .45 are pretty close power right? So, would it even be worth it? Scott

[psalm69]

jhm,
     Is the auto rim ammo the same as the winchester magmum? Scott

[Thebear_78]

http://www.wildwestguns.com/Pistolsmithing/body_pistolsmithing.html
Wild west guns will do the moon clip conversion on pretty much any revovler for around 80 dollars.

[psalm69]

fantastic, thanks for all the help guys. Scott

[Redhawk1]

http://www.wildwestguns.com/Pistolsmithing/body_pistolsmithing.html
Wild west guns will do the moon clip conversion on pretty much any revovler for around 80 dollars.

Thanks for the gunsmith site. $80.00 plus shipping is a great deal for the conversion. The reason my conversion was so high was, the barrel was shortened, inverted muzzle crown, trigger job, action job, cylinder conversion, ghost gray finish was bead blasted to bring out the gloss stainless finish. And a different front sight installed and ring mount holes welded and refinished. You cannot tell the gun had ring mount holes.  

[psalm69]

I do have one question about shooting the shorter .45 and .45 acp. There was an assertion in an earlier post that upon shooting the shorter ammo there was a risk of erosion at the throat. Any comments?

[Redhawk1]

I have run several hundred 45ACP rounds through my gun and have not see any signs of erosion.

[psalm69]

Alrighty then I think I'm making a wise move. Thanks again for all the help. I'll let ya'll know what transpires. Scott