Gun Digest – August 2019

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The Original Peacemaker: .45 Colt
Historical Notes
The .45 Colt was introduced in 1873
by Colt as one of the cartridges for
its famous Peacemaker single-action
revolver. Both the cartridge and the
revolver were adopted by the U.S.
Army in 1875. It served as the offi -
cial handgun cartridge of the Army
until 1892 (some 17 years), when it
was replaced by the .38 Long Colt.
The .45 Colt is one of the car-
tridges that helped civilize and settle
the American West. It was original-
ly a black-powder number, loaded
with 40 grains of FFg powder and
a 255-grain lead bullet. Testing has
demonstrated that muzzle velocity
of the original loading almost cer-
tainly exceeded 900 fps in the origi-
nal revolvers. Various importers offer
excellent Italian-made replicas of the
original Colt model, and Ruger and
several other makers of more-mod-
ern single-action revolvers are cur-
rently chambered in .45 Colt.
General Comments
The .45 Colt is one of the most
famous American handgun
cartridges and is still a favorite with
big-bore advocates. It’s extremely
accurate and has more knockdown
and stopping power than nearly any
common handgun cartridge except
the .44 Magnum. It’s a popular
fi eld cartridge and can be safely
handloaded to velocities in excess of
1,000 fps with 250-grain cast bullets.
Black-powder revolvers should not
be used with any load developing
more than about 800 fps muzzle
velocity.
Although the .45 Colt has a larger
case than the .45 Automatic or the
.45 Auto-Rim, it’s not quite as effi -
cient with factory-duplicating loads
using smokeless powder. Using spe-
cial revolvers, some very heavy loads
have been established for the.
Colt case. These put it in almost the
same class as the .44 Magnum. Such
loads should not be attempted ex-
cept by an experienced person who
fully understands what they are do-
ing and will ensure that those loads
are only used in a revolver that will
withstand the pressures generated.
This is another cartridge that is expe-
riencing a rebirth of interest. Federal,
Remington, Winchester, Black Hills
Ammunition, CorBon and others all
offer .45 Colt loads. GDTM
.45 Colt Loading Data And Factory Ballistics
Bullet (grains/type) Powder Grains Velocity (fps) Energy Source/Comments
185 JHP 700X 9.0 1,100 497 Sierra
225 JHP Unique 9.0 950 451 Speer
240 JHP Unique 8.7 850 385 Sierra
250 JHP IMR 4227 17.0 800 355 Hornady, Nosler
250 JHP Unique 7.5 800 355 Hornady
260 JHP IMR 4227 16.0 850 417 Speer
255 Lead Black Powder (FFg) 40.0 930 490 Factory load
225 JHP Smokeless Powder FL 920 423 Factory load
255 Lead Smokeless Powder FL 860 420 Factory load