Target Sports

BLACK POWDER: COWBOY CLASSICS

Created on 15th May 2009

DEREK LANDERS takes a look at the .45 Colt - the most powerful handgun cartridge of its day

MANY OF the old time ‘Western' black powder cartridges were given a new lease of life with the advent of Cowboy Action Shooting in the early 1980s. As a result, lots of these cartridges are now more popular than they were in their heyday over 130 years ago, although today only the true aficionados still load with black powder. In the first of a short series on the loads from the same era as those used in Cowboy Action Shooting today, we look at what may be called the daddy of them all: the .45 Colt.

Mention the term ‘Colt 45' and most people will immediately think of the Colt Single Action Army revolver, commonly called the Peacemaker - probably the most recognised handgun in the world. Countless movies and TV series have shown this revolver to be the only sidearm in the American West. Of course we know this is not the case, but because of its simplicity and reliability it was the first choice for many - including the US cavalry, with over 190,000 being produced before the end of the 19th century. The first production models were chambered for a new .45 calibre cartridge and since then the Peacemaker has been offered in over 30 different calibres.

This cartridge is often called the .45 Long Colt, which is a misnomer as there was never a .45 Short Colt. The name probably derives from the period when the US Army was using a number of Smith & Wesson break-top revolvers at the same time as the Colt SAA. The S&W used a shorter .45 calibre round than the Colt. This cartridge would chamber in both types of revolver but the longer Colt cartridge would not fit the S&W pistol. On more than one occasion troops using the S&W were sent Colt ammunition - which of course was useless to them - and some using the Colt were sent the less powerful S&W round. One can imagine some garrison commanders requesting the .45 short S&W cartridge while the Colt-equipped troops would ask for the .45 long Colt ammunition. This confusion was one reason why the army standardised on the Colt revolver for the cavalry.

Stopping power

When it was introduced in 1873 this was the most powerful handgun cartridge available and was acclaimed for its knockdown and stopping power. Indeed, no other factory-loaded handgun ammunition produced more muzzle energy until the .357 magnum came along in 1935. During the 19th century this cartridge was restricted to handguns only, and it was not until the modern Italian replica arms manufacturers began making copies of early lever-action rifles that the .45 Colt was chambered in a long gun. The early cases had a very small diameter rim. This meant there was not enough metal protruding from the main body of the brass case to form a suitable lip for the rifle's extractor to get hold of and to eject the spent case. Readers will also note that all the small (what we now call pistol calibre) centrefire rifle ammunition of the day was tapered or bottle-necked, helping to ensure positive feeding. These cases also provided a better seal in the chamber, preventing the rearward escape of powder gases - particularly important when using black powder. Even using today's smokeless powders, given like-for-like loads shooters using straight-walled rifle ammunition (such as .45 Colt or .44 Special) will notice that their cases are a little dirtier than those from rifles using bottle-neck rounds such as .44-40 or .38-40. Modern .45 Colt cases are all made with rims, taking into account their use in rifles.

Load up

When Mr Blair and his friends decided that the British public were not fit to own cartridge handguns a great number of pistol shooters simply gave up. There were a number of diehards, however, who changed their handguns for lever action carbines and continued shooting. The chosen calibre for these shooters is usually .38/357, with the larger original calibres being left to the Cowboy Action Shooting fraternity. While there are ‘competitors' who use the lighter .38 Special round in CAS competitions (both here and in the USA) those more into the spirit of the game will stick with the heavier, more traditional cartridges. With very few exceptions rifle targets in UK events will be paper or card, at distances of between 25 and 50yd, so heavy loads are not really necessary.

The original factory loading for this cartridge was 40gn of FFg black powder behind a 250gn lead bullet. Due to the stiff recoil of this combination the powder load was soon reduced to 35gn for civilian loads, with the Army dropping its load even further to 30gn. The mid-range loads will exceed 900fps in a revolver and well over 1,000fps in a rifle; for modern CAS shooting even the military load will be more than adequate. For those going down the smokeless route there are almost unlimited choices, as every powder manufacturer will offer one or more sets of data for this calibre. Most of today's shooters will have their favourite brand of powder and a glance at the appropriate loading manual will provide all the information that you require, with some now providing specific ‘Cowboy Action' loads.

A couple of examples from the Alliant range of CAS loads are as follows, both for a 250gn RNFP bullet:
Red Dot: min 5gn (680fps); max 6gn (757fps)
Unique: min 6gn (650fps); max 7.5gn (750fps)

IMR not only provides a range of possibilities with its standard powders but has also developed a powder just for CAS cartridges: Trail Boss. When comparing prices it should be noted that this powder is supplied in 9oz tubs, whereas others are in half-kilo packages. To quote the manual: ‘Trail Boss is designed specifically for low velocity lead bullet loads suitable for Cowboy Action Shooting.' This is a high-loading density powder which, weight for weight, will occupy a larger volume of the case than standard powders. There are a number of bullet weight options for Trail Boss and the data for the 250gn bullet is: starting load 4.5gn (606fps); max load 5.8gn (727fps).

A new kid on the block for CAS shooters comes from the Finnish company of Vihtavuori, which in 2006 introduced its own special ‘Western' powder named Tin Star. One wonders where the firm got its information about CAS shooting because the reloading guide for that year did not include any Tin Star data for the two most popular Cowboy calibres, .45 Colt and .44/40. A couple of emails to Vihtavuori have not, thus far, brought any improvement in the situation and I believe that the new manual still does not cater for these calibres. I'm not sure how Vihtavuori expects to sell this powder either here or in the USA with these rather significant omissions.

For those wishing to experiment I would recommend a visit to www.ammoguide.com, where you will be spoilt for choice - not just for this calibre but any that you wish to load for. Full use of the site requires payment of an annual fee, but for reloading buffs it will be money well spent. An excellent reference for this, and many other old-time ‘Cowboy' calibres, is Mike Venturino's Shooting Lever Guns of the Old West. This contains information on guns (both original and reproduction) plus ammunition (including loading data) and use of these combinations, today and in the late 19th century.

All the major case manufacturers turn out brass for this calibre and ready-made cast lead bullets (jacketed ammunition is not allowed in these events) are easily obtainable in a choice of weights. Again, for the more adventurous, moulds are available from Lee, Lyman and the likes, and your favourite manufacturer will provide loading dies. I believe I am right in saying that every current lever action rifle manufacturer has at least one model in .45 Colt in its range, and Armi Sport of Italy has recently introduced a scaled-down version of its Sharps rifle in this calibre.

While it has never been recognised as an out-and-out target round this cartridge is more than capable for use in CAS competitions and is a great choice for the traditionalists. It is a shame that many of today's newer shooters may never have the opportunity to use the .45 Colt where it really belongs: in a single action revolver.

BLACK POWDER: COWBOY CLASSICS

Related Links

JAPANESE MATCHLOCK: THE REAL THING

BELGIAN PISTOL: THE REAL THING

CLASSIC SHOOTING: THE REAL THING

BLACK POWDER: 'BUFFALO GUN' BOASTS ACCURACY

BLACK POWDER: WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM

REVOLVER REVIVAL: EAST MEETS WEST

BLACK POWDER: TRUE BLUE

BLACK POWDER: WINNING COMBINATION

BLACK POWDER: HISTORICAL NICHE

QSA-STYLE SHOOTING: THE BLACK POWDER CARTRIDGE RIFLE

Get a copy of Sporting Rifle

BLACK POWDER: COWBOY CLASSICS

Related Links

Newsletter