.45 Colt and .45 acp Accuracy

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shottist

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I have a 625 Mtn Gun in .45 Colt. I am contemplating having TK Customs convert the the Cylinder to use Moon Clips and the .45 acp. I am concerned that this may not be a good decision in regard to accuracy of the .45acp. Bore diameters are slightly different, (.451 vs .452), and the Bullet "free travel" in the cylinder is considerably increased with the .45acp. Can those with experience with this combo please share their experiences with me. Thanks
 
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I think you'd be farther ahead to sell the .45 Colt MG and replace it with whatever example of a 625 in .45 ACP you prefer. You would certainly be ahead monetarily. Mountain Guns in .45 Colt don't exactly grow on trees and command pretty good prices these days.

Roe
 
I have been thinking about doing the same thing...
and I have one of both 45acp & 45lc..
love the moon clips... love the idea of dual calibers..
and the way I shoot... a thousanth won't make much difference
 
I have a Model 25-13 Mountain Gun that I had machined to accept moon clips. To be honest, I have yet to shoot it and it was converted about two years ago.

I will say that I had it machined without reservation for several reasons: 1) This is probably one of the most prolific conversions that TK does. If there was something inherently wrong with it, it would be all over the Internet and TK would probably stop doing them. 2) Additional lead of the .45 ACP/.45Colt is essentially identical (.39") to that of the .38 Short Colt/.357 Mag which is used by hundreds of USPSA & ICORE competitors with no complaints of degraded accuracy. 3) You are not converting the gun to exclusively .45 ACP - you can still use .45 Colt with the added benefit of using the .45 Colt ammunition in moon clips.

It's an inexpensive conversion that adds a lot of versatility to your firearm. Go for it.

vfwk15.jpg


Adios,

Pizza Bob
 
Some where , recently , I read a review of a revolver that would shoot 45 Colt and 45 acp in the same cylinder. I don't remember make or model number. But , In theory the longer 45 Colt should have been more accurate....In actual shooting the better groups were turned in with 45 acp ammo, so much for that theory.
My thought is maybe the moon clips may have something to do with holding the shorter 45 acp in alignment with the throat.

Regardless , accuracy between the two should not be affected that much and if I'm not mistaken the new 45 Colt barrels are the same size as for 45 acp chambered guns. I say go for it .
Talk to TK Customs about the success or problems of the conversion.
Gary
 
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Well if you think about this logically the .45 Colt is way more versatile than the .45 acp IMHO from a Revolver. You can load up a .45 Colt to .44 Magnum ballistics (assuming a S&W will handle that - but I would think so) or load way down to get some really mild Range loads. You can use a plethora of different bullets, weights, shapes etc. and the .45 Colt cases are pretty tough if you are reloading.

Nothing wrong with the .45 acp either but you do not have the same versatility with loads, bullet weights, shapes, etc. and have to rely on the Moon Clips of course. Personally I'd stick with the .45 Colt and I have always had great accuracy with them.
 
chief38 said:
Well if you think about this logically the .45 Colt is way more versatile than the .45 acp IMHO from a Revolver. You can load up a .45 Colt to .44 Magnum ballistics (assuming a S&W will handle that - but I would think so)
Click to expand...

You might want to re-think that. The cylinder walls might be a hair thin with that kind of pressure. I'm no metallurgist, mind you, so you probably want to chat with a gunsmith or someone at one of the reloading companies about that.

In a Ruger Blackhawk, maybe so.
 
Dave Workman said:
You might want to re-think that. The cylinder walls might be a hair thin with that kind of pressure. I'm no metallurgist, mind you, so you probably want to chat with a gunsmith or someone at one of the reloading companies about that.

In a Ruger Blackhawk, maybe so.
Click to expand...

If you log onto Hodgdon's reloading data website and look at the 250 JHP loads for the .45 Colt they exceed the .44 Magnums they list. I am not a metallurgist either but have read their loading data and am just posting what Hodgdon states.

With H110 under a 250 grain JHP .45 Colt bullet they say their Max load reaches 1455 fps. (29,800 cpu). YES you are correct they list it for a Ruger however the same gun is also chambered for the .44 Magnum which generates just shy of 40,000 cpu. That is why I would think the gun is MORE than capable of shooting a load that is 10,000 cpu less. Is my logic flawed??
 
chief38 said:
With H110 under a 250 grain JHP .45 Colt bullet they say their Max load reaches 1455 fps. (29,800 cpu). YES you are correct they list it for a Ruger however the same gun is also chambered for the .44 Magnum which generates just shy of 40,000 cpu. That is why I would think the gun is MORE than capable of shooting a load that is 10,000 cpu less. Is my logic flawed??
Click to expand...

Yes, it is flawed. For one thing the .45 case diameter is larger than the .44 by .023", meaning that the cylinder wall is thinner by .0115". We also don't know if the metallurgy or heat treatment between the two guns differs. As I recall - and I am going by memory - loads listed for Ruger Single Actions are to be used ONLY in those guns. While the 25's and 625's chambered in .45C are more robust than the Colt SAA, they are not on par with the Ruger Blackhawks.

If you want magnum performance, buy a gun that was designed to shoot magnums. In the 25/625 you can juice the .45C up to performance levels capable of taking all but the largest North American game, but still stay within safe parameters.

Adios,

Pizza Bob
 
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In theory you'd think the 45 Colt would have more accuracy potential due to the ACP bullet having the long cylinder travel, but the two Ruger convertibles I owned showed more accuracy on average from the ACP loads than the 45 Colt loads.
 
I have many handguns chambered in .45 ACP. I also have many revolvers chambered in .45 Colt. One of them is a Ruger Blackhawk that has a second ACP cylinder.

I mounted the ACP cylinder twice and shot it. No problem with accuracy or function, but each time I thought to myself "why bother?"

I find the .45 Colt to be much easier to reload, plus I can duplicate the ACP ballistics pretty close. So I save all my ACPs for my 1911s.
 
chief38 said:
Well if you think about this logically the .45 Colt is way more versatile than the .45 acp IMHO from a Revolver. You can load up a .45 Colt to .44 Magnum ballistics (assuming a S&W will handle that - but I would think so) or load way down to get some really mild Range loads. You can use a plethora of different bullets, weights, shapes etc. and the .45 Colt cases are pretty tough if you are reloading.

Nothing wrong with the .45 acp either but you do not have the same versatility with loads, bullet weights, shapes, etc. and have to rely on the Moon Clips of course. Personally I'd stick with the .45 Colt and I have always had great accuracy with them.
Click to expand...

But if you have a gun that will shoot both, from the same cylinder , eliminating the need for changing out cylinders, then how versatile is that ! And some people like that full moon clip loading feature also.
I remember the gun being reviewed in the artcle was a new one made by Ruger, based on a Redhawk .
Gary
 
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I am a customer of TK Custom and they do great work. However, I would not convert your 625 Mountain Gun to 45 ACP. The Mountain guns are quite collectable and in demand so cutting it would affect resale value. I personally guarantee you S&W 45 ACP and 45 Colt bores are the same! There are lots of 625s chambered for 45 ACP available since S&W began making them in 1988 and still does. If you want a conversion done sell your 625 MG and buy a 625 45 ACP and have TK convert it to 45 Colt. You'll be money ahead.
 
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