Ah Ha!! The "Wildman" speaks words of Truth!! The Fish can in fact be Short Stroked. Normally, a Short Stroke fish is set up to run the C45S cartridge or a really short 38. I haven't paid enough attention to the current "Hot Set-up" for Fish. I do know they (the Fish) can be and I have set them up to be just a smooth and fast as a '73 (with after-market springs and judicious rubbin-n-buffin).
I never had any interest in, nor saw any good reason for, a conversion to 45 ACP?? The only advantage of 45 ACP in any lever rifle is being able to shoot the same same cartridge in the rifle as the 1911 for Wild Bunch. I see no true advantage in that after you arrive at the range. 1911 is fed from a Stick magazine and a Lever Rifle is fed from a Tube magazine. The only convenience I see is at the reloading bench and I don't know if I see that as a convenience. All I have to do is change the Shell plate and Tool Head, feed a different case into the feeder and "go."
Once you've converted to 45 ACP, That's what you have. No versatility. With a Fish set up to run C45S, you can run C45S, 45 Squirt, 45 Schofield or 45 Colt cases. Of course, some things are done just because you can. Whether or not you should ...................