Little help here...

Will soon be trying out a 410/45LC single shot long gun with rifled barrel.

For plinking around and general good times at the range, can the shorter 45acp be safely fired from a 410/45Colt single shot long gun?

While 410 shells are easily obtianed, 45 Colt rounds (or Long Colt as some would say) are both more expensive and much harder to come by.

I've never used/shot 45 Colts in either long gun or handgun- only 45acp in a handgun. I would NOT try the more powerful/hotter 454 Causul in a firearm designed for the 45 Colt, but the weaker/shorter 45 acp????? Same concept as .38 in a .357 but not vice/versa???

Chime in and show me the error of my ways!!....

The .45 ACP should not be tried in a firearm marked for .45 Colt. These are two totally different cartridges.

I always recommend telling people to shoot the ammunition recommended specifically by the owners manual, or marked on the firearm. If in doubt, request the owners manual if possible, or take it to a qualified gunsmith. Don't believe everything on the internet, as there are plenty of hacks out there that state "if cartridge X fits it a chamber made for cartridge Y, it should work, right?" This is terribly wrong, and the same guy usually loses some fingers in the process!

The .45 ACP is a rimless cartridge and will simply fall down in the chamber of a .45 Colt- there is no way to correctly headspace a .45 ACP cartridge in the firearm of which you speak. .45 Colts headspace on the rim of case, rather than the mouth like that of the .45 ACP. Totally different cartridges designed for different purposes.

Incorrect headspace or incorrect cartridge combinations in any firearm can lead to catastrophic firearm disaster resulting from excessive pressures, incorrect powder burn, wrong bullet diameter...etc.

Just don't do it.

The only single shot rifle chambered in .45 ACP that I could think of that a person could get would be a custom barrel for T/C Contender or Encore. Although, I don't really think it would be practical for anything, and be fairly expensive.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

The .45 Colt is a revolver cartridge with a rim that protrudes beyond the side of the case. The .410 shotgun also has a rim. This rim is used for headspacing the round in the chamber. On the .45 ACP the rim is the same diameter as the case so it does not protrude. If you drop a .45 ACP case into a .45 Colt chamber it will go to0 far in and will not be reachable by the firing pin.

When you see .45 ACP revolvers, there is a ledge machined into each of the chambers, so the cartridge case can headspace on the mouth of the case, just as it does in the automatics. For extraction in swing out cylinder revolvers, the ACP case is usually first loaded into a flat piece of metal called a "moonclip" so the extractor has something to push on and in some cases to support it against the fall of the firing pin. I know of no such "clip" arangement for a single shot firearm.

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Big bang, much smash'em.

Very true. I've seen a .30-06 chamber in a .270. I want to be far, far away if someone pulls the trigger.

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Fast is fine;accurate is final

To continue the .357 mag/.38 special analogy, the shorter version of the .45 Colt is the .45 Schofield. They are even harder to find. If you want .45 Colt ammo for a single shot rifle, the best bet is to take up reloading.

You might get by with an Auto Rim .45, but I've never seen it done, nor tried it? Variations in chambers, breech faces, etc. make many dangerous things "possible" to be tried sometimes. So erring on the side of caution is always the hallmark with firearms. Someone at one time, was the first to try a modern smokeless 12 gauge load in a Damascus barrel too!

The .45 Auto Rim and .454 Casull should NOT fit into the chamber of any modern firearm that is chambered for the .45 Colt. The .45 ACP MIGHT work and would be perfectly safe in a single shot. The firing mechanisms of many modern firearms are severely oversprung and will fire some of the shorter rimless cartridges even if the headspace is not correct. As an example, my (older) 625s will fire .45 GAP without moonclips as long as the cartridges are in the rearwardmost position in the cylinder when struck by the firing pin.

Dave Sinko

Both the 45 Colt and the 45 Auto-Rim headspace on ther rim. Said rim is considerably thicker on the 45 Auto-Rim.

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I think you will find that the .45 Colt ammunition will be very inaccurate in the rifle you describe. The .45 bullet has a very long jump from the .45 case until it finally contacts the rifling and that destroys accuracy. You will also find that the rifling destroys the pattern of the .410 shot shell. There is not a lot good to be said about any guns that shoots .45/.410 in my experience.

What if you placed the .45 ACP on to the moon clip to insert into the .45 Colt?

Would that work or would it be too thick to even close the cylinder?

That would have to be the world's sloppiest .270 chamber!

Too thick, as would be the rims on .45 AR.