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.45 Cowboy Special

35K views 38 replies 25 participants last post by  MikeG 
#1 ·
Lots of cowboy shooters insist on using the .45 Colt but want .38 special recoil. The huge powder capacity of the .45 long Colt gives them problems when using small powder charges behind light bullets. Chamber pressures of such loads are so low that few smokeless powders will burn consistently.
There has been a solution proposed, that being a .45 Short Colt called the "cowboy special". It has a .45 Colt head but shortened to .45 ACP length. Let me tell you, that is NOT a solution but simply exchanges one problem for another.
I bought 100 cases from "Adirondack Jack's Trading Post" before I even thought about it. The price is fair, $25.00 with shipping included. It seems to be decent quality brass and is head stamped ".45 Cowboy Special".
I loaded up 20 rounds, five each of 4 different powders, using .45 auto rim "starting loads" and went shooting. Bummer! Holes all over the place! Not one load gave a group I would even call a "group" at 25 yards. Six to ten inches!
Well I should have thought of this before I ordered the brass. We all know that accuracy from a revolver requires that the bullet fit the chamber throat. With the cowboy special brass being shorter than the .45 Colt chamber the bullet has to rattle through more than 3/8" of empty chamber before it even reaches the throat. The 200 grain bullets I was using have only 1/4" of bearing surface, meaning they could not be delivered to the chamber throat straight and centered, thus lousy accuracy.
This would be a fine cartridge if a revolver were chambered expressly for it, although the Ruger with a .45 ACP cylinder is probably even better. Using this brass in a .45 Colt chamber may be OK for the cowboy shooter who shoots only very large targets at very close range, it certainly does have an advantage in low recoil loads. As for me, anyone want some brass?:rolleyes:
 
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#5 ·
Good warning. And it seems to me to be a solution in search of a problem. There are very fast smokeless powders that will develop enough pressure before the bullet gets going to burn well, even when making a small total gas volume. Vihtavuori N310, for example. Even Solo 1000 or Hodgdon Clays should do. What you want is an old fashioned gallery button bullet to combine with it. The NEI #282, a 160 grain bullet is not a button, per se, but it should do. Run it with about 3 grains of the powder you choose.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Well it really is a non-issue to me personally as I'm not a cowboy shooter and have no objection to the recoil of common .45 Colt loads. My interest was in developing some low pressure loads for use in my 1860 army model with the Kirst Konverter. If I were into cowboy shooting and wanted light recoil I should hope I'd have the good sense not to shoot .45 Colt. If one wants .38 special recoil why don't they just shoot a .38? I guess it's all about image even though the image is deliberately deceptive, they want to wear a "big iron" but they want to shoot pop gun loads. My own favorite .45 Colt load is the 255 grain flat point over 35 grains measure of Goex black powder. Now that IS the "real cowboy gun", but also like the "real old west", messy, very messy.:D
 
#9 ·
You would be welcome to them but I've already given them to a friend to try out in his Taurus Stalker .45 ACP. That is a five shot revolver which used Taurus moon clips which are very thin steel. As a result they did not build it with enough headspace to accept auto rim brass. The cowboy special seemed to fit perfectly and he was eager to try it out.
 
#8 ·
I never heard of the Cowboy Specials... but I know to steer clear!

For anyone that wants light recoiling loads in .45 Colt, I use 200 grain bullets over Trailboss powder for CAS and whole heartedly recommend it. Trailboss is specifically designed for this purpose and works quite well.
 
#11 · (Edited)
I never heard of the Cowboy Specials... but I know to steer clear!

For anyone that wants light recoiling loads in .45 Colt, I use 200 grain bullets over Trailboss powder for CAS and whole heartedly recommend it. Trailboss is specifically designed for this purpose and works quite well.
I find Trail Boss to be quite a bit less than the miraculous stuff it is cracked up to be. It does not flow through a measure at all well. It seems to have a burning rate between Red Dot and Unique and in low pressure loads it does not burn any more consistently than those powders. It is very bulky and so would probably prevent double charging but that is about all it has to offer. The loads I've tried in my Kirst converted 1860 so far have shown velocity spreads for five shots greater than similar loads of Red Dot or Tite Group. I tried the following loads with a 200 grain cast bullet and Trail Boss.
5.4 grains average 675 fps extreme spread for 5 shots-51 fps
5.6 grains---------688 fps----------------------------56 fps
5.8 grains---------772 fps----------------------------90 fps
and 6.2 grains with a .457" round ball went 740 fps with a spread of 117 fps.
By comparison 28 grains volume measure of Pyrodex RS gave the 200 grain bullet 920 fps and the roundball 1040 fps. I never chronographed it as a percussion and was quite surprised at the velocities from the .45 Colt cylinder. None of the smokeless loads I've tried so far are going nearly so fast.
I have probably been over cautious in working up loads, I'm probably still in the area of such low pressure that no smokeless powder will burn consistently. But the outside chamber walls at the rear of the Kirst Konverter are only .033" thick, thus caution seems appropriate.
As a percussion revolver this gun was not what I'd call a "tack driver" but was good for consistent groups around 2 1/2", which I call acceptable. With the .45 Colt cylinder I have gotten a few groups around 3" but not repeatable. My goal with this is a safe smokeless load for the 200 grain bullet at least 800 fps with groups no worse than 3" all day every day. Actually, my best groups so far have been with the .457" roundball, which is no surprise since that is what the gun was designed to shoot.
 
#10 ·
I don't cowboy shoot, but do use a Kirst Konvertor 45 Colt cylinder in two Ruger Old Army revolvers. These short loads are about like shooting 22 Shorts in a 22 Long Rifle chamber....they fire, but are not worth much. There are loads for the 45 Colt using Unique that will make up some nice low recoil loads.
I don't quite understand why anyone would want these loads, when there are 38 Specials out there for low recoil.
It seems like a waste of time to dress up like cowboys go through all stuff to be authenic, and then shoot pop loads....but like I say, I'm not into the cowboy thing......James
 
#12 ·
I totally agree James, if one wants .38 recoil it's best to shoot a .38 revolver.
But shooting the cowboy special in a long Colt chamber is not at all like firing .22 shorts in a long rifle chamber. I've owned several .22's that would shoot shorts with useful accuracy, but in that case the chamber, though longer, is only a thousandth or two larger than the bullet diameter. In the case of the cowboy special you're firing a .452" bullet through a .480" chamber before it hits the chamber throat. It can dang near turn itself around in there!:D
 
#13 ·
I have a Ruger Blackhawk 45 convertible, 45Col/45ACP. I liked it so much I sent my Vaquero to have a cylinder fitted with an ACP cylinder. That worked so well I sent my 44Mag Vaquero Bisley to have a 44-40 cylinder fitted. The 45's with the ACP cylinders shoot reduced loads like a champ.
Case solved!
 
#29 ·
I have a Ruger Blackhawk 45 convertible, 45Col/45ACP. I liked it so much I sent my Vaquero to have a cylinder fitted with an ACP cylinder. ...
Can any .45 Colt Vaquero be fitted with the .45 ACP cylinder? I would love to have that option. My Vaquero is a well used, 1994 vintage. If Ruger doesn't do it, does anybody else?
 
#17 ·
Light loads in a .45 Colt for CAS

What about using a light load and seating the bullet deep into the standard .45 Colt case? If a crimp is needed, would a lee .45 collet crimp die (special order) crimp the case just in front of the bullet and be practical? These are just questions, what do you think?
 
#19 ·
What about using a light load and seating the bullet deep into the standard .45 Colt case? If a crimp is needed, would a lee .45 collet crimp die (special order) crimp the case just in front of the bullet and be practical? These are just questions, what do you think?
For light target loads, just seat semi-wadcutter bullets so that the bullet shoulder is even with the case mouth. Lightly crimp.

The powder will burn cleaner, and velocities will be more consistent. I do this with light target loads in the .44 mag (not magnum level charges, more like .44 special charges) and in the .45 Colt.

There was a good article about doing this in a Handloader's digest a few years back, but I don't recall the year.
 
#18 ·
That could be done but I think it would be a bit awkward and you'd not know how to adjust the powder charge. Even very slightly deep seating the bullet in straight wall handgun cases can run up chamber pressures very sharply and if you seated it so deeply as to really effect case capacity you could not use any normal loading data, you'd be on your own. I have heard of seating a 1/2" thick fiber wad under the bullet in .45 Colt, and using .45 ACP starting loads for powder. That could get pretty tedious if loading a lot of ammo.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Again I caution that deep seating will raise pressures because you are reducing case capacity. Notice the difference in powder charge between .45 Colt, .45 S&W Schoefield and .45 ACP. A starting load in .45 Colt will exceed the maximum load in .45 ACP even though the ACP permits higher pressures. When I seat bullets in the Long Colt to crimp over the ogive instead of the crimp groove I use .45 S&W data because that is about the same cartridge OAL, thus similar case capacity.
 
#23 ·
Unique and 231 are both great powders and every loading manual lists loads for those powders. The .45 Colt is an easy cartridge to reload so long as you're not trying to make it do something it was never intended for. Your 200 grain bullet at 900-1000 fps should be no problem with either Unique or 231. The problem is for people who want to load a 160 grain bullet down to 650 fps. Lot's of people bad mouth Unique because it does burn rather dirty but I can't get along without it, it is just so darn useful in rifle, pistol or shotgun and, to anyone who shoots blackpowder, Unique is not dirty at all.LOL
 
#24 ·
Have you tried 5.2 grains of trail boss. It is fluffier than other powders and the burn rate is ok. No heavy recoil. Used by a lot of cowboy action shooters. I have no problem of 2 inch groups at 15 yards. It fills about half of the case so you don't have to worry about pointing the barrel up before you shoot to make sure that the powder is at the base of the shell. I have used it with great success for over a year. I use CCI large pistol primers, 5.2 grains Trail Boss powder, and either 200 or 250 grain RNFP bullets. :D
 
#26 ·
I am shooting cowboy action, use the CB 45 Special and find that it is just as accurate as the .45 Colt, using both Unique and Trail Boss. In addition to the lower recoil is the savings in powder, which is between 30-40%. A bottle of powder goes farther and I can shoot more. I've reloaded these shells 20 times since I bought them. The .45 cal bullet even out of the short CB .45 spl. drops the knockdown targets much easier than any .38 cal. bullets too.
 
#27 ·
.45Colt

I enjoy the recoil of the .45C in my brace of Vaqueros. I don't reload but have bought Cabelas factory "reloads" in 200 grain. Nice and mild and very clean to shoot. I don't shoot CAS to have no recoil. If recoil bothers some folks that's up to them.
 
#28 · (Edited)
45 cowboy brass works in a Taurus 45ACP Tracker.

I understand that .45 Cowboy brass will work in Taurus Tracker 45ACP revolvers providing a means to conveniently eject fired brass without using moon clips. The Tracker will not accept 45 Auto-Rim brass.

Forty Five Cowboy brass is designed to load using 45 Colt shell holders and 45 ACP dies.

http://www.cowboy45special.com/cowboy45brass.html

Perhaps there is a practical use for the stubby rounds after all.

Ralph
 
#31 ·
I understand that .45 Cowboy brass will work in Taurus Tracker 45ACP revolvers providing a means to conveniently eject fired brass without using moon clips. The Tracker will not accept 45 Auto-Rim brass.

Forty Five Cowboy brass is designed to load using 45 Colt shell holders and 45 ACP dies.

http://www.cowboy45special.com/cowboy45brass.html

Perhaps there is a practical use for the stubby rounds after all.

Ralph
Yes, I had one of those Taurus five shooters, they are made for .45 ACP in Taurus moon clips which are of thinner steel than the old 1917 moon clips so there is not sufficient headspace for .45 auto rim. I did fire mine with some shortened .45 Colt brass and it seemed to work OK although the headspace was excessive. It really needs a rim a little thicker the .45 Colt and not quite so thick as .45 auto rim.
 
#30 ·
Ruger doesn't sell the cylinders, you can get them on Gunbroker or the Ruger forums if you place a want ad, and any good gunsmith should be able to check fitment. If your gun is stainless, I will let you know that the stainless .45 ACP cylinder is extremely rare.
 
#32 ·
Cowboy load

I do love to shoot 45 Colt and use 5.5 Grs. of Trail Boss under a 225 RN bullet. These hit point of aim at Cowboy ranges in my Beretta Stampedes.

I also use Trail Boss in 45 ACP and really enjoy shooting it. More push and less snap for recoil.

Wish me luck at End of Trail in a few days.

Gunsmoke Ray

SASS #53561
 
#33 ·
Got to say I like the 45 Cowboy. We shoot a lot of it with three Cowboy shooters in the clan. All our pistols (4 old vaq and 2 new vaq, 2 Uberti) all hold under 3 inchs at 10 yards (only one old vaquero pushes the 3"), plenty good for Cowboy shooting. Very consistent loads compared to the light 45 Colt I loaded before especially in cold weather.

Current load is 180 LRNFP with 4.0 gns of trail boss and Federal large primer.

They are even better when you stuff them full of FFg under a 200 gn bullet.

Only problem I’ve had was last week we had a pistol reload for a 100 yard bonus shot across the pond. Daughter and I were both able to drop a rifle round (45 Colt) in and make the shot… wife’s round hit the lead ring build up in the cylinder as she was loading and the words started flowing… yep, I was deleading the pistols that night!
 
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