Thoughts on .45 Colt & .45 ACP Convertibles

I am loading 45 acp for my blackhawk convertable and having trouble getting them to seat all the way into the cylinder the sized cases fit fine but when I seat the bullet in them they expand enough to not allow complete seating to that the cylinder can turn past the frame before lockup with the chamber what am I doing wrong??

blazero1 said:

I am loading 45 acp for my blackhawk convertable and having trouble getting them to seat all the way into the cylinder the sized cases fit fine but when I seat the bullet in them they expand enough to not allow complete seating to that the cylinder can turn past the frame before lockup with the chamber what am I doing wrong??

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What kind of bullets and crimp type are you using?

Thanks for the reply I am using cast lead 200 gr and no crimp but I read about the crimp on this forum and set a crimp and loaded some rounds and they are functioning better so I think you saved the day thanks to everyone on the forum

idsubgun said:

This is exactly the reason SAAMI doesn't sanction 45 Colt *P loads. Too many people have NO idea about different load levels, and all they see is ".45 Colt" on the ammo box, pick up some +P loads and fill their vintage Colt's cylinder with them, and the next thing they know, they are wearing part of the top strap in their forehead.

If you go to SAAMI's web site and read their mission statement, there are three sentences, and in two of those sentences, the words "safety" and "safe" are used. That is their first mission.

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While what you say is probably true, as well as SAAMI's goal, but I contend that most people have no idea what ammo is SAAMI sanctioned and what is not. In particular, those that have no idea about different load levels probably do not even know about SAAMI. I do not see SAAMI as a body that secures people and their safe use of guns in general. I find it to be far better for SAAMI to measure all ammo, and then give guidance where it is needed, rather than just ignoring some manufactured ammo because they do not 'like' it. More real knowledge is better than just covering up some.

gnappi said:

I load .45 ACP's but not one has ever been in my Blackhawk Convertible.

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And why not? I would assume from your comment that your self loaded .45ACP ammo you shoot in a .45 pistol. But why not in your .45 ACP cylinder with your .45 Blackhawk convertible? I shoot .45 ACP just as much as .45LC in my Blackhawk convertible. I even shoot the Atomic high powered .45 ACP round (616 ft. lbs.), and I would guess that this ammo would not fly to well in a .45 pistol, but it works great in my revolver.

I hardly ever shoot ACPs in mine, but then I hardly ever shoot 45 Colts in it either...

dickydalton said:

I hardly ever shoot ACPs in mine, but then I hardly ever shoot 45 Colts in it either...
View attachment 48741

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I have to ask you then why do you have a .45 convertible at all? Nice holster, but lousy belt! See my gun, holster, and belt! This is my .357 Mag 6 1/2" 1965 Backhawk. My .45 5 1/2" Ruger Blackhawk Convertible is SS, and I keep in its original case. I use to quick draw with my .357 Mag Blackhawk.

I have to ask you then why do you have a .45 convertible at all?

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For me, I bought my convertible .45 flattops because it was the only way to get a set of Ruger medium frame .45 Colt flattops . The .45 ACP cylinders were just along for the ride!

My Holster and belt.
And a holster for pants belt for .45s, .44s, .44 specials, and peanut .357 BHs/Vaqueros.
And my .45 Convertibles.

Rclark said:

For me, I bought my convertible .45 flattops because it was the only way to get a set of Ruger medium frame .45 Colt flattops . The .45 ACP cylinders were just along for the ride!

My Holster and belt.
And a holster for pants belt for .45s, .44s, .44 specials, and peanut .357 BHs/Vaqueros.
And my .45 Convertibles.

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Thanks for your response, and pics! But you said earlier that you hardly shoot .45 LC ammo from your .45LC Flattops as well, so what was the driving force behind getting .45 Ruger flattops in the first place? I can also understand your comment about the 'peanut; ,357 BHs, but they are not so peanut in power. Keep in mind that the .357 Mag was the most powerful handgun in the world for nearly 25 years. And with the Ruger .45 flattops, the most powerful round you should soot is the Buffalo Bore 1,216 ft. lb. round. Buffalo make two more powerful .45lC rounds, and all of these powerful .45LC rounds are listed with SAAMI. The max .357 Mag round made is by PPU delivers 907 ft. lbs of ME. So, you can see that the .357 Mag is no slouch, even when compared to the .45lC.

If you are interested (or anyone else), I can send you my free ballistics file that covers 35 handgun calibers, 25 rifle ones, and has over 3,500 entries in this file. Each entry has a link to an online retailer selling that ammo, along with ballistics stats, cost and cost per round, availability, type of bullet, and more, for each ammo linked. If interested, just message me. It is a PDF file. It is too big to view on the tiny screen of a phone.

vlavalle said:

And why not? I would assume from your comment that your self loaded .45ACP ammo you shoot in a .45 pistol. But why not in your .45 ACP cylinder with your .45 Blackhawk convertible? I shoot .45 ACP just as much as .45LC in my Blackhawk convertible. I even shoot the Atomic high powered .45 ACP round (616 ft. lbs.), and I would guess that this ammo would not fly to well in a .45 pistol, but it works great in my revolver.

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Because I use 45 Colt in it. I also don't use .22 mag in my 22 convertible, or 38 in any of my .357's.

There's no need.

vlavalle said:

I have to ask you then why do you have a .45 convertible at all? Nice holster, but lousy belt! See my gun, holster, and belt! This is my .357 Mag 6 1/2" 1965 Backhawk. My .45 5 1/2" Ruger Blackhawk Convertible is SS, and I keep in its original case. I use to quick draw with my .357 Mag Blackhawk.

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I've got a heavy belt like that for another 45 Colt.

But you said earlier that you hardly shoot .45 LC {.45 Colt } ammo

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That was someone else as I shoot mostly .45 Colt. I just jumped in middle... .

...so what was the driving force behind getting .45 Ruger flattops in the first place?

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Because 'finally' after many years, we finally got the .45 Colt on the Ruger medium frame (same aprox. size as the good o' SAA). So with .45 Colt, .44 Special, and .357 all on the medium frame, I've got my perfect pack'n pistols.

As for the peanut .357 ... I can do without the blast and noise of the hot loads. I load it 'down' to around 1000-1100fps for a 158gr SWC. Need more than that go up to the .45 Colt and load it up to around 1100fps (still sub-sonic) with a larger diameter and heavier bullet (~255gr SWC) to handle bigger animals here in Montana. Africa would be a different story, but don't ever plan to go there. Has been on the job since 1873. Will work for me. The woods animals haven't armored up during that time, nor on the human side if ever needed...

I have a 4 5/8" New Model .45 Colt/.45 ACP that I bought about 1993. I THINK I shot 6 or 12 Colt rounds through it right after I got it. The rest have been of the ACP variety. At the time of purchase, I was a police officer with access to an unlimited supply of .45 ACP hardball. My revolver is very accurate with ACP rounds, so I have seen no need to use the Colt cylinder.

vlavalle said:

While what you say is probably true, as well as SAAMI's goal, but I contend that most people have no idea what ammo is SAAMI sanctioned and what is not. In particular, those that have no idea about different load levels probably do not even know about SAAMI. I do not see SAAMI as a body that secures people and their safe use of guns in general. I find it to be far better for SAAMI to measure all ammo, and then give guidance where it is needed, rather than just ignoring some manufactured ammo because they do not 'like' it. More real knowledge is better than just covering up some.

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This is how I look at it....

It is up to the person shooting, to make sure his firearm is in good working order and that the ammo chosen is the proper ammo.
The saying "Ignorance of the law is no excuse" can be applied to shooting sports. If someone picks up the hottest .45 Colt +P load out there, and loads it in great-grandpappy's 1st Generation Colt Peacemaker, and it kills him, who's fault is it? There is decades of information out there, in print and online, telling you not to do that. So ignorance got him killed, not the 1st Gen Colt or the modern ammo which is safe in the proper firearm.
SAAMI is simply one resource. With the internet we have many. Research is what keeps you safe and lack of research is what gets you hurt.

Bob Wright said:

You know, I've never really compared them side by side. The .45 Colt in all of my guns is a very accurate load. As to hair splitting accuracy, I've not done that with the .45 Special or ACP loads. But using ACP in my S&W Model 625 years ago I shot a 5/8" five shot group at twenty five yards. Never done that since!

But my .45 Special, well, that's sort of "What if......" type of thing and one pleasant shooting plinking load.

As a matter of note, I originally called my cartridge the ".45 Xtra Short" but lately have decided to call it the ".45 Special" as that was what S&W would have dubbed it had it been adopted by the Army and then become a commercial round. Somehow, I just can't warm up to the appellation ".45 Cowboy Special." I make my labels, I call it what I want to.

Bob Wright

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Congrats on "inventing" the .455 Webley/Eley. Same length as .45 acp and can sometimes be fired in acp guns.

I have a few Ruger Blackhawks in 45 Colt, and one is a convertible with 45ACP cylinder. I will load and shoot tier 2 Ruger loads in the 23,000 range in 45 Colt, but I pretty much stick to standard pressure 45ACP loads in it, partially because I consider it my "economy" or plinker loads. I've discovered CFE pistol works quite well in it with general 230gn lead bullets.

This is MY convertible.




Yup , two different guns. Flattop gets the ACPs. and the full size gets the LCs.
Both actually have extra cylinders but I never swap them around.
Yeah, ,,,,, just too lazy to reset sights all the time.

I would strongly recommend that anyone interested in how SAAMI works should read the SAAMI site to understand how standards are developed.


The standards are developed by technical committees consisting of representatives of essentially all the arms and ammo manufacturers reaching essential agreement on the details of the design of the cartridges and their respective chambers for each named round along with the standard operating pressures for each. This is done with an eye on having anyone/everyone interested in any particular chambering aware of the characteristics and performance of these chamberings. New chamberings are added to the standard listings all the time. As soon as the industry saw fit to add a .45 Colt +P type chambering it could be done so, with the description of dimensions and pressures made clear. This new chambering's pressure might very well dictate a different size then the existing .45 Colt if all concerned agree that would be necessary for safe performance in a certian size firearm. This is nothing new. Existing examples are .45ACP, .45Auto Match, .45Colt, .45Glock, .45 WinMag, .454Casull, .460S&WMag, .475Linebaugh, and .480Ruger. There's nothing that says another .45 type chambering couldn't be adopted if the industry deems it worthwhile.

SAAMI doesn't rate any ammo by muzzle energy, but by chamber pressure, that force which blows up guns. They list several loadings of various bullet weights fired at various velocities, none of which exceed a specified average chamber pressure. This rating system merely puts the responsibility for pressure onto the ammo manufacturer who wants his product to be listed for all to see and understand. If an ammo manufacturer advertises his product by an accepted nomenclature such as .45 Colt, the gun owner can be assured that said ammo will not exceed the established 14,000 PSI pressure when fired in his gun (assuming the barrel isn't plugged or otherwise mechanically compromised). Gun manufacturers label their arms with the accepted SAAMI cartridge nomenclature so gun owners know what kind of ammo to buy in the knowledge that it has been designed for that specific gun. No mystery involved, and SAAMI isn't penalizing any ammo manufacturer, just presenting information to provide consumers with a known data base upon which to base their purchases.

Bpttom line . . . if you want Buffalo Bore's official position on their ".45 Colt +P" ammo in Ruger evolvers, here is a link to that info . . .


Note that they admit this ammo exceeds SAAMI's pressure limitations for the standard .45 Colt. The decision is up to you.

This gun was shipped as a 45 Colt,
I found a 45ACP Cylinder and run it most of the time now,,,
because the short ejection is much easier with the 45ACP.