With the popularity of the 45 Colt cartridge, is there any interest in a 5-shot, 3" revolver in 45 Colt with fixed sights for concealed carry?

I'd buy one in a heartbeat from S&W.

You are starting off with an assumption that the 45 colt is popular. I guess it is in some circles especially on this forum.

There is a governor 2.75" barrel 45 colt, 45acp and 410. Not exactly an ideal carry gun, but can be done.

The only 5 shot 45 colt I've ever seen was a Taurus model 450 in 2" barrel in total titanium, ultra lite and all stainless steel. From what I've heard people that have them, really like them.

To directly answer your question. Yes I'm sure there would be interest. Although I prefer the 45acp in a short barrel revolver.

Dave

Not sure that's such a hot idea. Here's a photo of a couple of five shot .44 Special. Pretty large handguns. Making such a handgun in .45 Colt caliber would bulk them up further. Tough to conceal.

Note how thin the cylinder wall is on the Ruger variant.

Charter Arms Bulldog .44 Special


Custom Ruger Speed Six in .44 Special caliber

It would make an interesting belt gun. I don't think .45/c is super popular these days, except among cowboy shooters, but I can see the reasonableness of this concept. For me to really want one, though, it would have to be as concealable as a 2 inch Model 10.

***GRJ***

I'd rather see a 3", 6 shot N frame 45 Colt. That would sell a little better I think. To my knowledge S&W made one small run of 625's that way. That would still be a carry gun, but it would be better able to withstand the stouter loads and recoil.

S&W does not manufacture an appropriate frame for a 5 shot .45 Colt. In .44 special the L frame’s forcing cone is just barely thick enough. They could enlarge only the barrel thread diameter but then for yoke clearance they’d have to cut the flat under the forcing cone recreating the K frame’s infamous stress inducer which the L frame was designed to eliminate.

S&W’s only attempts at marketing 5 shot big bore concealment gun were the four models of .44 special L frames. All or them were marketing failures. Those failures are what makes them frequently praised here. They’re choice collector items. .45 Colt sales always were small compared to .44 magnums which in turn are tiny compared to .38 specials or .357 magnums. The small demand for .45 Colts does not justify designing and inventorying a new frame.

As previously posted if you want a small 5 shot DA .45 Colt your choice is a used Taurus. Except for the Judge, even with the niche all to themselves Taurus couldn’t sell enough of any of their 5 shot .45 Colt variations to keep them on the market. That alone would be enough to discourage S&W from trying. They chose to go after some of the successful Judge’s market share instead. Can you blame them?

With a bird's head round butt, of course. I like it.

Already have two of them, Uberti Thunderers, 3 1/2" in .45 Colt. Shot these guys in CASS for five years and never a problem and they still lock up and shoot as well as the day I bought em. And no powder puff loads, these guys shot full power eight grains of Unique with a 250gr RNFP. With the short barrel and birds head grips they are surprisingly compact. If somebody could pull off a quality DA five shooter I would be compelled to own one.

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+1 I'm in and would be using black powder.

I regard the .45 Colt as a very good SD round if loaded correctly but the problem is that a gun that will stoke 5 or 6 rounds of that cartridge has to be big, bulky and heavy. To me those attributes do NOT make a good concealable SD EDC gun.

I know there are fellas here that tout carrying N frames and large Auto's but I like to carry a cartridge that will do what it needs to in a small convenient and relatively lightweight package. That's what the M60's are for IMHO.