45 colt revived with cowboy45special brass

[buckbeans]

there was a thread recently on modifying a 45 colt 25-5 cylinder to accept 45 acp. I was told by a couple of CAS shooters to try the shorter cowboy45special (shorted 45colt brass cut to acp length).
I went ahead and got some and loaded it with 700X powder.
I am glad to say that it is very accurate in all my 45 colts including both ruger blackhawk and SW 25-5. It shot well with both regular and oversized throated smiths.
It is just like shootng a 25-2 with auto rims!

 

[buckbeans]

there was a thread recently on modifying a 45 colt 25-5 cylinder to accept 45 acp. I was told by a couple of CAS shooters to try the shorter cowboy45special (shorted 45colt brass cut to acp length).
I went ahead and got some and loaded it with 700X powder.
I am glad to say that it is very accurate in all my 45 colts including both ruger blackhawk and SW 25-5. It shot well with both regular and oversized throated smiths.
It is just like shootng a 25-2 with auto rims!

 

[Douglas Haig]

Why don't you just use Schofield brass?

 

[31 Pump]

What is the advantage of using this shorter brass in your long colt.

Glenn

 

[buckbeans]

doug I am getting some schofield brass next week to see if it is any better.

glenn
I wanted to shoot my 45acp type loads in my colt.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

IMO cutting expensive .45 Colt brass down is a little hard to accept. (and a lot of cutting too) Have you though about using .45 Auto Rim brass?

 

[lebomm]

Auto Rim brass won't work in the .45 Colt chamber. Rims are too thick.

 

[Calaveras Slim]

45 Cowboy Special brass is not cut down 45 Colt brass. Feller has Starline do a huge run of this stuff and it was made this way and has the correct headstamp. You loaded it to 45acp specs

It was made for the CAS shooter who wanted a low powered 45 Colt round trying to get a little more edge on the competition.

It never really caught on. I have always felt that using 45 Schofield for a light load.

 

[buckbeans]

Archangelcd
lebomm is correct. Autorim brass's rim is too thick for the 45 colt chamber.
The cowboy 45 special is not a cut down 45 colt case. If you measure the thickness of the 45colt base, you will find it to be much thicker than the case mouth thus making the use of the common .452 diameter cast bullets almost difficult to seat and almost impossible to chamber. So the case was born with the same case mouth thickness as the colt but at 45acp length.

 

[Paul5388]

If you're interested, here's the thread where Adirondakjack introduced the new Cowboy .45 Special. http://forums.handloads.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=10022&KW=Cowboy+.45+Special

He said he had to buy 50,000 cases to get Starline to make and head stamp them.

 

[Dale53]

I was loading some .45 Cowboy Specials a few minutes ago. It is still cold here (supposed to warm up tomorrow) and I plan to shoot indoors, tomorrow.

I loaded up a light target load with the 200 gr Big Lube bullets. If they shoot to the point of aim in my Ruger Bisley Vaquero at fifty feet I'll take them out of doors when the weather moderates.

Their real utility value lies in mild loads of black powder. Reportedly, full charge with these short cases is 15.0 grs. Together with the Big Lube bullets they should represent a nice comfortable load. I don't shoot Cowboy but had these cases left from another project and wanted to give them a thorough test in my Bisley Vaquero 5.5".

I'll load them up, shoot them and if it is interesting, will report further.

Dale53

 

[lafayne]

In my 7.5 inch Ruger Bisley .45 Colt, 200 grain RNFP bullets and 5.0 grains of TB shoot to nearly the same point of impact at 20 yards as the 265 or 270 grain with 20.0 grains of IMR 4227.

I zero for the heavier load and the TB load is close enough for informal practice.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Thanks for clearing that up for me guys, I was way off I see!