Howdy Again
Here is a photo of my first model Schofield. It shipped in 1875. It looks so good because it was refinished at the factory in April of 1957 according to the stamp under the grips.
I have never seen a 30 grain load of antique 45 Colt cartridges. Why would they reduce the load in these when 40 grains would have fit?? The bullet is standard weight for both 45 S&W and Colt, but that cartridge would not have fit in the Schofield??
I have an 1880 US Cartridge Co. catalog that shows only one load for 45 Colt (40 grain) and 30 grains for 45 S&W . . . Interesting but can't figure out why the light load?
I have seen reference to lighter military 45 Colt loads several places. According to Mike Venturino in his book Shooting Sixguns of the Old West, the 40 grain loads "were soon deemed too powerful and reduced to 35 grains for the rest of the blackpowder cartridge era. Also the U.S. Army reduced their arsenal loads all the way down to 30 grains."
Jerry Kuhnhausen also refers to military 30 grain 45 Colt loads in his book The Colt Single Action Revolvers Shop Manual Volumes 1 & 2.
Why? If Kuhnhuasen is to be believed it is because recoil was excessive with the 40 grain loads. I have also read about early Colt malleable iron cylinders blowing up with the 40 grain loads.
Don't forget, the Army reduced the charge in the 45-70 for carbines to 55 grains of powder, also because of recoil. The empty space was taken up with cardboard wadding. I suspect there is cardboard wadding filling up the extra space in those 30 grain 45 Colt loads of mine, but I am not going to take one apart to find out.
Regardless, when I saw this box of 30 grain 45 Colt loads, I snapped it up. Notice they are from 1874. By 1875 the Revolver Ball Cartridge, Caliber 45, M1875 was created. This was the cartridge that we have come to call the Schofield Round. It was loaded with a 230 grain bullet and 28 grains of FFg Black Powder. Once these rounds were created the Army stopped supplying the 30 grain 45 Colt rounds because the Schofield round could be used in either the Colt or the Schofield revolvers, while the Colt rounds could only be chambered in a Colt.
A for ballistics data, Venturino lists 808 fps from a 4 3/4" barreled Colt with 35 grains of Goex FFg and a 250 grain bullet. 870 fps for 35 grains of FFFg and the same 250 grain bullet. (Because of the decreased case capacity of modern solid head cases it is difficult to stuff 40 grains of powder into a 45.)
For 45 Schofield he lists 725 fps with a 239 grain bullet and 27 grains of Goex FFg. 805 fps with 27 grains of FFFg. This data is from an original Schofield with a 7" barrel.
My own 45 Colt loads seem a bit anemic by comparison, about 704 fps out of a 7 1/2" barrel with 250 grain bullets. My loading notebook says this was with 2.2CC of Goex FFg under a 250 grain bullet. 2.2CC of Goex translates to about 33 grains. The max that will fit under a 250 grain bullet without using a compression die to stuff in more powder.
