45 long colt

[glowe]

. . . the 45 LC is a caliber that somehow i have not had in all these years. i got a little ammo in trade and am looking to buy more. question is how much higher is 45 ammo compared to pre shortage. finding a little, but they are really proud of it. just curios about price before shortage. thanks. krs/kenny ray

I think that 45 Colt ammunition was always high compared to other calibers and sold for $30 to $50 a box. Winchester was the cheapest at around $38 and Black Hills was over $50. It seems that Cowboy loads were higher than standard ammo, but do not know what this caliber is selling for now. If you are going to shoot much, this is definitely a great caliber to load yourself. Lots of options for rifle and revolver.

You might notice that I call this caliber 45 Colt, since there never was a round labeled as 45 Short Colt. The term 45 Colt goes back to 1873. The US Army adopted a shorter 45 Schofield for use in both Colt and S&W revolvers in the mid to late 1870s. The Schofield round was never called a Short Colt, but when the Army got rid of its Schofields and went back to the longer Colt round, there was some confusion, so someone somewhere started calling the round a 45 Long Colt. No need for the term today since the shorter 45 round is still called 45 Schofield. Most all ammo manufacturers and cartridge experts simply use 45 Colt today.

 

[DWalt]

I have understood that some gun writer in the late 1950s used the ".45 Long Colt" description of the cartridge in one of his articles, and thereafter that name sort of caught on. Despite the fact that the proper name printed on ammunition boxes was always just ".45 Colt". The shorter version was differentiated by being called ".45 Schofield" or ".45 S&W", never .45 Short Colt.

 

[AJ]

You might notice that I call this caliber 45 Colt, since there never was a round labeled as 45 Short Colt. The term 45 Colt goes back to 1873. The US Army adopted a shorter 45 Schofield for use in both Colt and S&W revolvers in the mid to late 1870s. The Schofield round was never called a Short Colt, but when the Army got rid of its Schofields and went back to the longer Colt round, there was some confusion, so someone somewhere started calling the round a 45 Long Colt. No need for the term today since the shorter 45 round is still called 45 Schofield. Most all ammo manufacturers and cartridge experts simply use 45 Colt today.

I have always thought that one of the biggest mistakes was that S&W did not chamber the Schofied revolver in .45 Colt. It may have gained the popularity/serviceability to have stay in the government inventory. Same power and quicker to reload are good things. JMHO

 

[DWalt]

I have always thought that one of the biggest mistakes was that S&W did not chamber the Schofied revolver in .45 Colt. It may have gained the popularity/serviceability to have stay in the government inventory. Same power and quicker to reload are good things. JMHO

There was a very good reason why they didn't - the cylinder would have needed to be made longer, and that would have necessitated a complete redesign of the revolver. The Schofield Model revolver for several reasons was not favorably looked upon by the Cavalry, and not because of the cartridge it fired. The main reason was that they were perfectly satisfied with the SAA for its mission at that time, i.e., Indian slaughter. Rapid reloading wasn't something the Cavalry of the day required. Actually, the later Model 1911 was a very difficult sell to the Cavalry, they felt it was too dangerous to use on horseback. And again, they saw no need for rapid reloading. No one was anticipating WWI back then.

 

[StrawHat]

…You might notice that I call this caliber 45 Colt, since there never was a round labeled as 45 Short Colt. The term 45 Colt goes back to 1873. The US Army adopted a shorter 45 Schofield for use in both Colt and S&W revolvers in the mid to late 1870s. The Schofield round was never called a Short Colt, but when the Army got rid of its Schofields and went back to the longer Colt round, there was some confusion, so someone somewhere started calling the round a 45 Long Colt. No need for the term today since the shorter 45 round is still called 45 Schofield. Most all ammo manufacturers and cartridge experts simply use 45 Colt today...

Most of those same so called experts also use the term 45 Schofield when the name of the cartridge is 45 S&W. It was never referred to as the 45 Schofield. But, those experts use the term anyway.

If you check my posts, I use the term 45 long Colt with the word long used as an adjective not a proper noun.

Kevin

 

[Biggfoot44]

There were never any Guns marked as Long Colt . But several years ago Mike V. published an article that he had located early 1900's Ammunition catalogues listing .45 Long Colt . So either way has historical justification .

 

[Warren Sear]

It says "45 Colt" on the side of the barrel of my Model 625, so that settles it for me.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

The 45 Colt ammo always cost a lot. Pre-pandemic I don't think you could find a box of 50 45 Colt rounds for less than $49.95. Luckily I reload so the 45 Colt and 45-70 are at a minimal cost to shoot.

I tell you, if I come across a M625 in 45 Colt I will probably buy it lol.

 

[Bozz10mm]

The last time I bought 45 Colt was in July 2014. At that time it was $34.95 for 50 rounds of American Eagle 225 gr. JSP. @ Selway Armory. After shipping it was right at $41 per box.

 

[sousana]

For years, before this here ammo price massacree I purchased a good portion of my 45LC from PSA at 19.99 a box of 50, 250gr LRN, usually I'd purchase in 5 to 6 case lots. My other source was a dealer at the local gunshow I'd purchase 20 cases from him of 255gr FMJ 45LC ammo at 18.00 a box of 50. I do use a lot of 45LC in SAA pistols, and I have several Ruger Alaskan 454's and a few Big Horn lever action 454's. I've slowed down shooting a bit until prices get back near to normal. I'm sitting on enough to last but nothing comfortable to me. LOL

 

[ddixie884]

Most of those same so called experts also use the term 45 Schofield when the name of the cartridge is 45 S&W. It was never referred to as the 45 Schofield. But, those experts use the term anyway.

If you check my posts, I use the term 45 long Colt with the word long used as an adjective not a proper noun.

Kevin

Keith also used a small ell in long. There was a REM-UMC smokeless powder cartridge put up in Schofield length cases with a colt style rim and head stamped .45 Colt. Keith said these were less than satisfactory and he preferred the long case loaded with BP for nearly 900fps with a 255gr pointed FP bullet.

 

[sousana]

Cor-Bon, at one time put out 45LC loadings that mimics' the 1873+ US Army loads. At the last SASS meet I went to, pre-pandemic, I picked up 3 cases of the stuff. Comes in period correct 12ct boxes with the case delivered in a period correct ammo box and markings.

 

[k22fan]

I like peanut butter cookies better than chocolate chip.

I've only purchased two boxes of factory loaded long .45 Colt. (If long is to be an adjective then I prefer it not placed in the middle of the name.) I bought them in 1975 from an elderly woman who had advertised them in the paper. The Winchester box had solid heads but the Remington (or Peters?) box had balloon head cases. They were for my Colt New Service. The balloon head cases only held a little more black powder than the solid head cases. I could not compress in anywhere near 40 grains.

DWalt wrote that he was given long .45 Colt brass at a gun show. I can not top that but I did find a half dozen nickel plated R-P balloon head .45 Auto Rim cases in the trash can at our range.

For most casual target shooting with reloads .45 Auto Rim is the better cartridge.

Getting back to the cost of factory cartridges, if you do not reload then I would not buy a .45 Colt. If you are just starting reloading then I suggest a less frustrating revolver than a Model 25-3. Mine had .458" cylinder throats. The only cast lead bullets that it would keep in 3" groups at 25 yards were cast from molds intended for .45-70 rifles. They had the recoil of a .44 Magnum without the blast. It was very inaccurate with .45 handgun bullets. In contrast, I quickly found cast loads that grouped under 2" at 25 yards for every 4" or longer barrel S&W .38 Special and .357 that I shot.