If you could only have one .45 revolver.........

[375supermag]

Hi...

I hope I never have to choose only one.
There are at least a half-dozen .45Colt revolvers around here along with a S&W M1917 in .45ACP( I shoot .45AutoRim in it exclusively) and I have no interest in getting rid of any of them.

No idea which is my favorite...that usually depends on which one I am shooting at the time, but I would be hard-pressed to give up my S&W M25.

[Ickisrulz]

I vote for the mid-sized Lipsey Blackhawk Convertable. Like others, I use the 45 ACP cylinder more than the other one.

[trentvb]

Original Poster here:
First of all, thanks for all the responses. I have to admit, I was getting kind of gung ho about getting a bisley blackhawk, especially when I noticed that it could be had for $50 to $100 less than the other two. I even started looking for dies for 45 colt. This raised a few more questions.

I'm finding it really hard to "fall in love" with 45 colt surrounding the issue of bullet diameter. SAAMI lists the "ok" window from .450 - .456. From my research it seems the old standard was .454 bullets. However, if one were to shoot j-words, you have the choice of .451 or .452. Some posts here claim that the newer dies shrink the cases too much, probably to account for the .451-.452 bullets. Since i'd probably only shoot cast, I could tune that as I see fit, but, it seems the best dies to accommodate that would be the RCBS cowboy dies....purchasing those, however, would negate any price difference in the revolver itself. It also raises the question as to what diameter the blackhawk's barrels are to accommodate .451-.454 (maybe even .456) bullets. Am I making a mountain out of a mole hill here?

I think that i've ruled out the Redhawk, since, if I was going to shoot 45 colt, it would be for added velocity and knockdown power. Since the Redhawk gets painful with full house loads, and has reported diminished accuracy in 45 acp, I'm gonna take it off the list.......even though I think it is very purty.

I think I need to make up my mind between double action and single action. That may be the tipping point for me.

Thanks again everyone.

[lar45]

You could always look at the BFR in 454. The 454 has much tighter tolerances so you won't have to worry about what size throats and barrel you might get with a 45 Colt. The BFR's are crazy accurate and probably the strongest single action on the planet.

[trentvb]

You could always look at the BFR in 454. The 454 has much tighter tolerances so you won't have to worry about what size throats and barrel you might get with a 45 Colt. The BFR's are crazy accurate and probably the strongest single action on the planet.

Nice, I was unaware that even existed.

[CraigOK]

I have.the Blackhawk convertible, and love it. Need to send my cylinders off to be worked over as it leads up bad with the acp one. J word bullets shoot well. 45 colt can be loaded light though so it might be easier to just go big. Good luck

[lar45]

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/633793141
Here's one on GunBroker for $825
They are bigger and heavier than a Ruger, some say that's a plus, others say it's a minus.
I have several(500 S&W, 500 JRH, 475 Linebaugh, 45-70, 45 Colt/454/410 ) and really like them. For the big bores, the extra weight also helps to tame the heavy recoil.

[Harter66]

1st point .
Unless you are going to include a pre 1914 SAA the bbl will be .450-4525 . I have 2 1917 Smiths ,worked a 1917 Colts and a BlackHawk 1976 the 4 will all but share the bbl slug . Probably would if it could get the alignment happening . Throats are the hangup the Colts was close enough to not sweat sizing using the bullets cast and sized for the Ruger . The ACP cylinder is very even at .4535-0+.0007 . The Smiths need .452s or no exposed top band .
Now those are 4 pistols spread over 3 makers 3 of which were 1918-9 war production and the 4th made 59 yrs later in the 200th year of American freedom . So says the top of the bbl . The only .450 groove I've seen is a Rossi 92' and it runs .451-2-4 like candy through a kids hand . The ROA takes a 456 conical and a 458 RB but it's BP and a whole other snake bucket .

I was sold on a RedHawk until it was noted that it needed a proprietary moon clip ........ That took the wind right out of the sails and me back to look for almost anything else . I got a chopped but serviceable 1918 production 1917 for $300 and a little elbow grease I will very soon have a very sweet double action Schofield compatible with $35/100 moon clips for ACP .
Who doesn't love a Triple Lock Smith ? That doesn't mean it's be easy to choose 2 to let go of if I could only keep 1 .

If.you go 45 Colts there are at least 5 choices of carbine makers because you will want a rifle to go with it .

[lar45]

I really like the 45 Colt, but could not decide on just one.

[Bigslug]

I'm finding it really hard to "fall in love" with 45 colt surrounding the issue of bullet diameter. SAAMI lists the "ok" window from .450 - .456. From my research it seems the old standard was .454 bullets. However, if one were to shoot j-words, you have the choice of .451 or .452. Some posts here claim that the newer dies shrink the cases too much, probably to account for the .451-.452 bullets. Since i'd probably only shoot cast, I could tune that as I see fit, but, it seems the best dies to accommodate that would be the RCBS cowboy dies....purchasing those, however, would negate any price difference in the revolver itself. It also raises the question as to what diameter the blackhawk's barrels are to accommodate .451-.454 (maybe even .456) bullets. Am I making a mountain out of a mole hill here?

The cylinder throats on the Redhawk are ACP freindly. Probably most modern .45 revolvers as well, due to the two major jacketed diameters are .451/.452 (handguns) and .458 (rifles).

I think that i've ruled out the Redhawk, since, if I was going to shoot 45 colt, it would be for added velocity and knockdown power. Since the Redhawk gets painful with full house loads, and has reported diminished accuracy in 45 acp, I'm gonna take it off the list.......even though I think it is very purty.

It's not a complicated problem with .45 Colt - just because you CAN load that Redhawk up to nearly .454 Casull levels, doesn't mean you HAVE TO. The nice thing is that you can swap out velocity for mass, launching hard alloy 270-300 grain bullets that will provide exit wounds on elk, but not really be any harder to shoot than a compact 1911. Remember that the classic, pokey "cowboy" load of 255 grains at "only" 900-950 fps for a .45 Colt was intended to kill horses in addition to men.

I think I need to make up my mind between double action and single action. That may be the tipping point for me.

Personally, I find moon clips to be a PITA - even the proprietary ones for my Redhawk with the relief cuts. Even if you have ones that are easy to load and unload without tools (as the Ruger ones are), you have to keep track of them. I didn't buy the gun to shoot ACP through it, and it's a PITA to clean out the crud at the front of the long chambers after shooting them - at least until I order some .475 Linebaugh brushes from Brownells. Still, it's a handy option as the gun is more than passably accurate with them and I have access to A LOT of ACP.

My major thought on the matter - if all you're gonna shoot is .45 ACP, why even bother with a revolver, ESPECIALLY a dedicated one that can't fire anything else? Yes, it can be a handy way to dispose of your reloading errors that don't feed in autos, but a gun that FORCES moon clips upon you just isn't worth the hassle, IMO. .38 Special /.357 Mag, .44 Special/Mag, .45 Colt - all rimmed and much handier to deal with in the DA revolver platform.

The exploits of Wyatt Earp notwithstanding, the DA guns are more efficient as fighting tools, both from the viewpoint of not needing to alter grip between shots to cock a hammer and for reloads. An SAO Blackhawk convertible would have good utility for disposal of the aforementioned crappy ACP reloads in that it does not require moon clips (you can even use a 1911 magazine as an impromptu speedloader), but ideally, I'd be shooting .45 Colt out of such a gun, and the ACP's out of autos.

[Harter66]

Big
I think in part we all agree that a dedicated revolver is less satisfying than a multi cartridge gun .

What could be more satisfying than a companion paired 1911 and 1928A1 done with the same reamer ?
In practical application a 454 Super RedHawk faced for moon clips and a 454 carbine paired . Why ? Because now you have the ability to shoot a rifle in 4 mainstream cartridges (3 from the mag ) and a revolver that will run those 4 and 5 more rimless cartridges.

Moon clips aren't really that big a hassle buy a thrift store/yard sale/broken pro shop steel golf club and in 10-15 min you have a handy demooner that holds 12 cases . 2 tall fat pill bottles hold 48 round of clipped ACP (of other rimless 45) . 100 moon clips from http://www.revolversupply.com is like $60 to the door and that's 600 rounds ready to go which would fit I believe​ in a 50 cal can . I have 20 odd in a 30 cal can and it's not even half way .
Another bonus is not chasing brass and if you do drop it all 6 are right there together you only have to bend once .

Auto Rim is a pain first it is all that fits the case holder , it's expensive , hard to find and really all it fits is S&W and Colts made or modified for moon clips . Yes I do have a bunch of it .

A non collector shooter grade 1917 like the $300 chopped example I have is suitably strong to handle 45 Colts, Schofield, Cowboy , ACP ,GAP and with any sensible loads Rowland and probably mag being hand loaded mostly these days , holding it under 21,000 psi shouldn't be a problem .

It's about versitility .

The BlackHawk shines because it has or can be had with a cylinder for all 9 cartridges ,no rings to scrub . I believe also that A 92' could be fixed to manage the rimless cartridges as well .