.45 Colt History

[Fox Creek Kid]

Did you know that the first Colt's SAA was chambered in .44 Russian? However the military made Colt's submit another in .44 American for testing. The incredible fact is that the president of Colt's, W.B. Franklin, submitted not only the gun in .44 American, but also three targets shot respectively with a SAA chambered in .44 American & .44 Russian as well as a target shot with a S&W American in .44 American was included and the Russian round in the SAA easily beat the others in accuracy. To top it off, Franklin RECOMMENDED the new SAA be adopted in .44 Russian!! The military wanted to standardize calibers to .45 for both longarms & revolvers so they sent Colt's back to the drawing board to design a .45 cartridge and you now know the rest of the story. It's interesting to think what would have happened had the .44 Russian been adopted.

[Buck Stinson]

I don't know about the government testing of .44 Russian in the Colt SAA, but this caliber was introduced as a production caliber in 1889.  From that year on, any SA could be ordered in .44 Russian caliber.

Adios,
Buck

[St. George]

From 'Colt Cavalry, Artillery and Militia Revolvers' - by Cochran.

"In 1872, the Ordnance Department called for revolvers to be tested for possible adoption for the Cavalry service.

Smith and Wesson sent three revolvers and Colt sent one.

The tests on the Smith and Wesson revolvers were complete in October, and the Colt was not received until November, and was returned, as it was chambered for the .44 Russian cartridge (the S&W's being chambered in .44 American).

Colt installed a cylinder with the same caliber of the Smith and Wessons and returned the revolver;  tests were conducted on tis revolver and were completed by December 27, 1872.

These were very complete tests, including firing and rusting.

Ordnance Notes No. V, published in Washington, June 27th, 1873, gives the results of these tests as carried out at the National Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Colt was unhesitatingly declared the superior revolver "in most respects, and much better adapted to the wants of the Army than the Smith and Wesson."

During these tests, the Government specified that a .45 caliber cartridge would be required.

This was to conform to the .45-70 cartridge adopted for the rifle.

By 1873, Frankford Arsenal was manufacturing cartridges for this new caliber and the Benet method of priming was used.

Subsequent manufactured for the Colt Cavalry Model revolver were of this type and were continued until 1882, when when the outside primed cartridge with the separate anvil was used."

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

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[Cyrille]

I'm slightly confused.

In standardized munitions such as the army requested at that time the .45 Colt cartridge wasn't then and is not now of the same dementions as the .45/70 cartridge assuming "cartridge" means the finished round.
 From Webster's New World Compact Desk Dictionary:
cartridge (kartrij) n. Fr. 1. A cylindrical case containing the charge and primer and usually the projectile, for a firearm.

Look in any reloading manual if my word is suspect.

[St. George]

No - it wasn't - and there's no suggestion that it was intended to be.

The Army 'specified' their round be made in .45 - that means the outside diameter of the projectile - not the overall cartridge case length.

As such, the supplied definition doesn't take that into account.

When Army Ordnance specified that bullet diameter - the .45 Schofield round came to be, as well as the .45 Colt.

Again - I'll direct you to Cochran's fine book - as well as to Kopec's various 'Studies' on the Colt Single Action Army

Their documentation is extensive - both for the weapon itself, as well as for the ammunition used.

As to ammunition specifications - check Barnes' 'Cartridges of the World'.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Trailrider]

Howdy, Pards,
I suspect, but don't know that the reason for making both cartridges standardized at .45 caliber was due to the fact that the military bullets were swaged, not cast, and it might have been that the initial diameter of both lead alloy rods were sized the same.  Final swaging of the bullets made them into slightly different diameters for the pistol and rifle rounds. Again, just a guess.

So far as the .45 Colt's Revolver cartridge and the .45 Revolver Ball (Schofield) round, is concerned, I have a theory (again, I can not document) that the original experimental Schofield revolver proved too weak to handle the original .45-40-250 loading (as did some of the wrought iron Colt's SAA cylinders!!), and perhaps even the .45-35-230 Colt's loading, and opted to shorten the Schofield pistol's cylinder to prevent chambering the longer cartridge.  The Army then adopted the .45 Revolver Ball (.45-28-230) load as standard, after a unit in contact was sent the longer ammo!     "Proof" of this is the fact that Smith & Wesson (back in the day) simply shortened the cylinder, extended the barrel forcing cone back to meet the front face of the cylinder, leaving a 0.10 inch gap between the front of the cylinder and the rear of the frame hinge knuckle.  When Uberti started making their repro Schofield, they simply lengthened the cylinder to hold a .45 LC round, shortening the rear end of the barrel appropriately.  S&W, on the other hand, when they brought out the Schofield 2000, shortened the frame to meet the front of the shorter cylinder, precluding anybody from putting a longer cylinder in to hold .45 LC rounds.

[Fox Creek Kid]

The reason for standardization was the nightmare that was Ordnance's job during the late war and on the Frontier. A veritable myriad of arms & different cartridges. It was really hard for a commander in Montana Terr. who was issued 56-56 ammo and his troopers had 56-50 arms as an example. Especially when the nearest point of issuance was Ft. Leavenworth. That is why the military standardized.