Apparently the original Schofield had larger rims.
The last Schofield brass I got from Starline came with a paper explaining the rim diameter had been reduced so it would work in "most" 45 Colt firearms. It said that the original Schofield round would only chamber in every other chamber of a Colt revolver so the army issued ammo reducing the rim slightly so the round would work in both Schofield and Colt revolvers and this is the round the became called 45 colt government.
I have heard that before but can someone verify that as fact?
Howdy
Here is a photo of a couple of original Benet Primed 45 Schofield rounds in the cylinder of a 2nd Gen Colt. Do not be fooled into believing these are rimfire rounds, they are not. These are the original configuration of the Schofield cartridge, dating from about 1875. Benet priming was inside priming, and the rounds looked like rimfire rounds from the rear. The rim diameter of these rounds is .518. .002 less than the current SAAMI standard of .520 for Schofield rounds. As you can see, there is plenty of room for two rounds to be in adjacent chambers.
In this photo, the two rounds at the left are Benet Primed 45 colt rounds, dating from 1874, the next two rounds are the Benet primed Schofield rounds. The dents in the sides of the rounds are crimps that hold the inside priming plate in position.
I believe you are mistaken about Schofield rounds having rims too big to be seated next to each other in a Colt. I believe you are referring to the 45 Colt round all the way on the right in this photo. Notice how big the rim is. The rim on this round is .538 in diameter. This round was made by Frankford Arsenal for the double action Colts that the Army was using up until the 1911 Semi-Auto was adopted by the Army. The extractor of these Colts needed a really big rim, and yes, you could not put two of these rounds next to each other in a SAA.
In this photo, the round with the big rim is bottom center in the SAA cylinder. Notice how little room there is around it for the nearby cartridges. If I had another one of these rounds, it would not have fit in an adjacent chamber.
This is the same round in the cylinder of a Colt New Service. I forget exactly when this revolver was made, but it was before World War One. Notice how much more room there is for rims of adjacent cartridges. This is the revolver that needed the round with the larger rim.
Currently, Starline advertises their 45 Schofield as "approximately" .010 larger than 45 Colt. That has been my experience. the original Spec for the Schofield was approximately .522 and Colt was .512 My cheapo General Tool Micro shows that 4 out of 5 tries.
.512 is incorrect for the original 45 Colt rims. Notice how tiny some of the rims are on some of the old 45 Colt rounds in my photos. Some of them are as small as .505 in diameter. Early 45 Colt cartridges had tiny rims because all the rim had to do was keep the cartridge from being shoved into the chamber when the firing pin struck the primer. There was no extractor that needed to get a grip on the rims. Those Benet primed 45 Colt rounds of mine have rims only .502 in diameter. That is the original configuration of the 45 Colt round.
And cutting a 'recess' around the rim would not accomplish much if the chambers were too closely spaced to fit two rounds next to each other anyway. My experience is that yes, Rugers sometimes have a problem seating Schofield rounds with their larger rim diameter, because of the different shape of the ratchet teeth on the cylinder. I have had to do a little bit of filing on a Ruger so it would seat Schofield Rounds. My Colts have not needed any alterations to chamber Schofield rounds, antique or modern.