BORN-AGAIN .45 COLT

by JimT, Texas, Tuesday, November 22, 2022, 10:28 (732 days ago)

(This was the first article I wrote for Harris Publications many years ago. Hal Swiggett was instrumental in getting it published and he was one of those that encouraged me to write.)
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Old Six-shooters Never Die ..... They Just Get Customized!

From the very earliest days of my youth I’ve had a fascination for the .45 Colt – both cartridge and sixgun. When I was 12 Dad gave me a .22 revolver. I was grateful. Very grateful, but he will never know how I wished it was a .45.

It was many years later, after my discharge form the Army, before I was able to purchase my first one, a 5-1/2 inch Colt Single Action Army. May I assure you of one thing, I was mighty proud of that revolver. Before long I picked up another, a Ruger 7-1/2 inch Blackhawk. This Ruger soon became my Number One gun in what proved to be a growing battery of .45’s. Though others have come and gone, a few stayed, I have carried and shot that .45 Blackhawk the past 17 years.

Many thousands of rounds have gone through the barrel and a lot of game has dropped to its bark. I’m not sure how many thousand has been put through it but I did keep track of one particular load, a load I shoot a lot. Using Lyman’s #457191 bullet, an excess of 5,000 were fired through that barrel during a 10-year period.

The Blackhawk became very worn looking and considerable looser but it never failed me once in all those years. My first javelina dropped to this Ruger and bullet. It was taken at over 100 yards with a cross-canyon shot. The current Safari Club international (SCI) handgun Record javelina also fell to this sixgun but with a different bullet. A conservative estimate would be in the neighborhood of 30,000 rounds fired during the 17 years I’ve owned this Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt. I guess you’ve already figured out it’s a favorite of mine.

The cartridge is also a favorite. Yes, there are problems and a few quirks when it comes to reloading but I’ve learned to live with them. The rim is rather small and can be pulled off if you forgot to lubricate the case before full-length resizing. The case is so large even light powder charges must be fairly stiff or they "poop" and don’t fire properly. (You can go through the hassle of wadding the powder charge with Kleenex. Kapok, or something to fill up the extra space if you so desire.) Because of the large case it is possible to get a double charge of the faster burning powders in and never notice it. Careful loaders will develop the habit of double-checking each case before seating bullets.

Case Strength

I’ve heard some so-called experts say the .45 Colt case is weak. Much of this comes from writers repeating something they have heard rather than checking it out for themselves. The .45 Colt case is far from weak. Some time back I purchased two boxed of new unprimed Remington brass. I’ve kept track of each loading and firing of these 100 cases. They have been fired in three different guns; a standard Old Model Ruger Blackhawk, a customized Old Model Ruger Blackhawk with minimum chamber tolerances and a 454 Casull (yes, the 454 Casull also digests .45 Colt cartridges). The lightest load has been 18.5 grains of 2400 under Lyman’s 300 grain #457191 bullet. With this load the bullet is seated to crimp in the top grease groove giving an overall length that puts the nose out to the end of the Ruger or Casull cylinder. Note: this load is not intended for Colt single actions or copies thereof. It is safe in my Ruger and my Casull. I suggest you sneak up from a bit below for your Ruger or Casull.

The velocity of this load in the Ruger is right at 1100 fps and a bit faster out of the Casull. The heaviest loads fired in these 100 cases were in the 1600 fps bracket – but not in the Ruger. Velocity such as this is only for the Casull and then only as it is to very gradually. Bullet weights have been from 255 to 350 grains – the heaviest being SSK's 345-451.

These 100 cases have been reloaded, fired, reloaded, fired until one came up with a crack and split. When this happened the cases were annealed and trimmed as necessary. The first crack came on the 6th firing. It was small, about 1/16 inch. Apparently from the neck expanding operation. Two more cracked on the 9th reloading so they were annealed again. This was done by standing the cases in a pan of water deep enough to cover about ¼ of the case. A propane torch was used to heat the case necks until they were dull red. At this point each case was tipped over. A good sizzle told me it had been done right. There were not more cracks until the 16th reloading when three made their appearances. The cases were annealed again. Four more cracked on the 18th reloading and none since. Those cases were trimmed once in all of that time. As of this writing I have fired and reloaded those cases 20 times with a 10% loss! Ten cases lost in 20 firings of heavy loads in three different guns. Rather good for a "weak" case, wouldn’t you say?

I’ve found that if the cases are annealed about every five reloadings it will add much to case life and nearly eliminate cracks form crimping and neck expanding. I don’t know how many reloadings these cases have left in them but the primer pockets are still tight and they still look good. I have never had a 45 Colt case pull in half and a lot of my cases have been loaded hot. That kind of case breakage usually comes from excessive headspace.

Loading Up

In guns that will take it – like the 454 Casull – I have loaded cases to exceed 50,000 CUP without a failure. It will be a mighty hard job for anyone to convince me the 45 Colt case is weak. Casull factory loads, in their cases, regularly work in this territory. The guns are built for this by using special steels. Not the same steel as in conventional revolvers. Do not, let me repeat, do not load anything in excess of what Freedom Arms provided for their loading data in the 454 Casull and under no circumstances try any such loads in any gun other than a Casull.

My favorite old Ruger finally began showing its age. While on a wild boar hunt in California I noticed erosion marks in the forcing cone. A thorough check told me it was time for re-barreling so I called John Linebaugh. We discussed several options. I settled on a new 8-inch heavy barrel and a new un-fluted cylinder with minimum chamber tolerance. While he was at it I decided to add a steel ejector rod housing and an ejector rod with a larger button – more like the Colt’s. Since the cylinder pin loosened up under the recoil of heavy bullets I asked John to put a screw through the frame so I could lock everything in place.

When the gun came back I was in for a real surprise. He had done everything I had asked and it looked real good. But, "wow," I was not ready for minimum chambers! The cases sized in my old full-length sizing die would not go in the new tight chambers. A new, slightly smaller, sizing die was ordered. Full loads fired in the new tight chambers can be reloaded and fired in the standard Ruger without resizing. Minimum chambers, which the Casull has also, add greatly to the life of cartridge cases.

Testing different bullet diameters with the "new" gun proved to be a revelation also. Starting with .454" diameter bullets I worked down. When I got to .450", groups really began to tighten. Using the Keith #454424 semi-wadcutter over 7.5 grains of Unique produced several groups under 1-inch, center to center, for five shots at 25 yards. One group had four of the five in 3/8-inch. Over a period of several months groups were fired at ranges from 25 to 200 yards. With the help of a friend, 4x4 foot sheets of plywood were placed at 150 and 200 yards. We painted an aiming point on each, then settled down to see what could be done. Groups were fired then the long walk to measure each, tape over the holes, go back and shoot some more. My best groups at 200 yards were around 12 inches for five shots. For some reason those "worst" groups were not recorded.

Bullet drop from 150 to 200 yards proved to be very revealing. Loads printing 4 inches low at 150 were nearly 24 inches low at 200. My best 200 yard shooting was with bullets in the 300 grain class. I found Lyman’s #457191 and Freedom Arms #454629 GC to be the most accurate. At least in my hands. My tightest group at 150 yards was fired with SSK's 270-451, a truncated cone flat point weighing 270 grains. Over 18.5 grains of 2400 and set off with a Federal #150 primer this load clocked 1186 out of my 8-inch barrel. One group at 150 yards had 4 shots in 4-5/8 inches. The 5th shot stretched it to 9-7/8 inches – still not bad for open sights at that distance (maybe I should stick to 4-shot groups).

I don’t know why but the 150 yard and 200 yard group size remained about the same. As I’ve said, all shooting was with open sights, most from a sitting position with a back rest and holding the single action between my knees.

Torture Test

The following year more than 5000 rounds of fairly stiff loads when through this barrel. A lot of Winchester’s 296 powder was burned. It gave good accuracy but seemed to be a bit more abrasive that 2400. By the end of the year I had definite erosion on the barrel face. It had cut quite a bit of metal off from the 12:00 o’clock position to 4:00 o’clock as you looked at the end of the barrel. I decided to try something my self, with the aid of my Dad. We screwed the barrel out and set the shoulder back one thread. (Dad did it by hand! He is a whiz with tools, I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are too!) Then we re-throated it with a special reamer Dad had made and reinstalled the barrel in the frame. We faced off the end of the barrel and fitted it to the cylinder with less than .002-inch cylinder/barrel gap. Using Brownell’s Barrel Throating Kit, we put an 11 degree forcing cone in the barrel then put the gun back together. Test firing showed we had definitely changed things. The gun was no longer partial to .450" bullets. It liked them all.

A through testing over the next few months fired over 500 rounds of various diameter bullets. The five used included SSK 270-451; Lyman 454424, 454190 and 457191 and Freedom Arms 454629 GC. These were sized .450", .452" and .454". Twenty-five 5 shot groups were fired and chronographed with each diameter. The revolver shoots quite well with about any bullet diameter (within reason) but showing a slight edge to the .452s.

At a recent gathering of The SHOOTISTS I found the most accurate load for 200 meter rams to be the Freedom Arms #454629 GC over 18.5 grains of 2400 and ignited with a Federal #150 primer. At a bit over 1100 fps this 300 grain bullet retains plenty of energy to put these rams down. I used this same load, this past season, to take a nice javelina, though it was fired from my 7-1/2 inch Casull instead of the old Ruger.

Custom Finish

A few months ago I decided to pretty up the Ruger. It was worn looking, the bluing was gone from most of the frame and the grip frame had shiny spots. I sent it off the be black chromed and the grip frame to be re-anodized. I had never seen black chrome but it sounded interesting. When it came back the finish was more like Parkerizing than chrome, rather dull in appearance. I liked it. I do not know what the wearing properties will be but time, as always, will tell. I have a stainless steel gun it did not work on. The corners wore off immediately. Black chrome is an oxide of chrome that goes on real thin and cannot be built up. Apparently it was designed originally for use in optical systems and is being used today in solar and laser applications. The people in the plating business felt it would not wear any better than bluing. So far I have put over 500 rounds through the gun and it shows no signs of wear. The salesman from the company asked that I not use their name in this article. It seems the boss is anti-gun and does not want guns coming into his business. The salesman got in trouble for taking my order! I was relieved to get the gun back in good order and that they did a good job on it. It pays to inquire before shipping a gun off.

The black gun looked real fine to me but I felt it needed some special grips. A man here in my town, Sam Bass, made a set out of ivory. He also makes custom knives and does scrimshaw. He had been teaching my wife to scrimshaw so I asked her to do the grips. My name is on the left grip panel with the same style of lettering used on a gun belonging to Pat Garrett. The right side wears a javelina to commemorate my Record Book trophy taken with this gun.

I read once that everyone should have at least one gun customized to his own specifications. I’m happy with this one and maybe partly because it is a 45 Colt.

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This is a recent photo .. the black chrome finish still looks pretty good after all these years!