Worst shooting .45 LC in the world.

[arlon]

I don't know who has it but I suspect that's what he went home thinking. Going through some range brass today and found about a box of .44mag that had been fired in a .45... I hope he figured it out and didn't pawn it on the way home..

[Hickory]

This is one of the reasons I do not own a 45 Colt or a 41 magnum.
The effect can be as bad as coming home drunk or what you think is home, and crawling into the wrong bed.

[Drm50]

I use to form easy to get casings out of 308 and 30/06, like 243 & 270. Mostly because I was getting 308 & 30/06 for nothing. One deer hunting trip in late 60s, I had a new 742 Rem 30/06.
I only had it a couple months before season. I had sighted it in and burnt up a few boxes of
handloads basically plinking with it. First morning of season I got a shot at a small buck. When I
touched off, the report was a funny hollow sound and smoke was rolling out of action. Gun failed to
extract. When I got out brass I realized I had a stray 270 made from 30/06. From that time on
I never make brass if I can buy it. If I do have to form brass I color case head with a magic marker. Anyone that would shoot up a whole box of the wrong ammo without realizing they were
making a mistake is a fool.

[LAH]

Jim Taylor fired several 44 mags. in his 45 once to prove a point. They don't shoot very well. :smile:

[johnson1942]

shot 6, 44/40 cowboy loads in my 45 long colt once by accident. got lousy groups. went to the internet and asked if anyone else has ever done that, numerous guys had said they also had done it by mistake. a couple said they preferred 44/40 brass blown out to 45 long colt to reload to 45 long colt. cant remember the reason why but they both were compititon shooters. when i did this i looked at the gun and said to my self, ok, whats wrong now? then it came to me and when i unloaded the brass from the gun it confirmed what i already figured out. was glad to find out i wasnt the only dummy to do that.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

There is a story of famed Indian fighter Jeff Milton loading .45 Colt ammo in his .44-40 '73 rifle. He allegedly used his knife to remove the side plates to get the rifle running again during the fight.

Me, I arrived at a shoot after driving 3 hours only to realise the .44-40 cylinder was in the Colt's SAA. Only .44 Special ammo packed.

[LAH]

shot 6, 44/40 cowboy loads in my 45 long colt once by accident. got lousy groups.

Love the way you put it.

[DougGuy]

One of our regulars here says his best shooting sixgun is a 44 magnum SBH with a 45 Colt cylinder....

[Bzcraig]

One of our regulars here says his best shooting sixgun is a 44 magnum SBH with a 45 Colt cylinder....

How does that work? Nominally speaking, squeezing a .452 boolit through a .432 bore, really?

[arlon]

How does that work? Nominally speaking, squeezing a .452 boolit through a .432 bore, really?
He didn't say he was shooting .45lc, just using a .45lc cylinder...

[Bzcraig]

He didn't say he was shooting .45lc, just using a .45lc cylinder...

True, I read that into it.

[MNruss]

Not a handgun but....
I was visiting a friend & we saw a pigeon fly into his barn.
He sent his boy to get his Winchester 9422 Magnum.
The kid gave it to me saying "it's all set"
I shot the pigeon but missed the second.
It was loaded with 22LRs.

Regards

Russ

[Bigslug]

I hope he figured it out and didn't pawn it on the way home..

Shaddup you! Hey buddy, I'll give you a hunnerd dollar for that shot-out .45. :mrgreen:

[smkummer]

This has only happened to me once. Colt single actions in both 45 Colt and 44 special. I noticed the ammo sounded "funny". Upon extraction, sure as heck, swelled 44 special cases fired in a 45 Colt cylinder. No damage to gun. For awhile afterwards it was either 44 mag./ special OR 45 Colt range day. I consider myself a very detailed person and it surprised me I would make such a fundamental mistake. And no, there was not a cute female at the range that day.

[opos]

Anyone ever load a chapstick in their 20ga on a freezing cold morning with mittens on? Doesn't go bang...sort of goes squish.

[arlon]

This has only happened to me once. Colt single actions in both 45 Colt and 44 special. I noticed the ammo sounded "funny". Upon extraction, sure as heck, swelled 44 special cases fired in a 45 Colt cylinder. No damage to gun. For awhile afterwards it was either 44 mag./ special OR 45 Colt range day. I consider myself a very detailed person and it surprised me I would make such a fundamental mistake. And no, there was not a cute female at the range that day.

I doubt it took you a full box to figure that out and I also doubt you've done that again!

I can't think of a case in a straight walled handgun where a smaller bullet would cause more than an accuracy problem. There just wouldn't be tight enough of a seal to build up any real pressure. MAYBE something like a hot .41 mag in some very old 44 could be an issue. The .41 into a .44 is about the only one I can think of where the bores are close enough to maybe be an issue.

[doc1876]

My thinking is that if I shoot a 44 sp out of my 45 colt, no rifling marks for the forensics people. Any thoughts?

[ddixie884]

I didn't fire any but I discovered that I had 3 .41spls in the cylinder of my S&W 624, a coupla years ago. It wasn't really that noticeable.

[arlon]

LOL, might work.

I was just watching a youtube video where some guys were trying to blow up a single shot .410 shotgun. It handled some 454 Casull pretty well. Just key holed. I figured the 454 would have done some damage to the .410 but it didn't. It just swaged down the bullet and gave them 1700+ fps.. Didn't even stretch the barrel. They shot all kinds of stuff out of it even some 444 Marlin. Nothing fazed it. Same guys then shot 50 BMG in a 12 Ga. Didn't faze to 12 Ga either..

[scattershot]

How does that work? Nominally speaking, squeezing a .452 boolit through a .432 bore, really?

Not very well. I had a .45 Uberti Colt rebarrelled one time. Markings said .45 Colt, so I took it to the range to sight it in, and guess what? The barrel was mis-marked from the factory, and was actually a .44 Mag barrel. Two rounds and I knew something was wrong. Other than kicking like a demented mule, there was no damage. I had it rebarrelled AGAIN, and I'm still shooting it.

[gpidaho]

It will surprise you just how far down the barrel will swage a lead bullet. A couple years ago I took SIL shooting and we had a couple of look alike Handi rifles along ,one 30-30 the other 357mag. Mistake made was SIL chambered and fired a 357mag round in the 30-30 It split the case end to end but the bullet actually hit the target. No damage to the rifle. Glad it wasn't a hot jacketed round. And a testament to how strong the Handi's are. Gp

[Hardcast416taylor]

Way back in my younger and sometimes sillier days a friend and I made up some dummy cartridges like this. We made up these .45/.44 Mag rounds and a .40/45 LC, we necked down some LC cases for a .44/.45 LC cartridge as well a .40/44 Mag. None were ever fired in any pistol, just made up for conversation pieces.Robert

[Good Cheer]

Twenty years ago a buddy of my brother was shooting .44 mags in his .45 Blackhawk.
He thought it was a .44 and didn't figger out why it was so inaccurate.

[matrixcs]

I have to wonder how these federal LEOs manage to qualify when shooting 9mm in their 40sw glocks..
I retrieve brass after their shoots at our local range and I have found dozens of example cases...

[arlon]

It will surprise you just how far down the barrel will swage a lead bullet. A couple years ago I took SIL shooting and we had a couple of look alike Handi rifles along ,one 30-30 the other 357mag. Mistake made was SIL chambered and fired a 357mag round in the 30-30 It split the case end to end but the bullet actually hit the target. No damage to the rifle. Glad it wasn't a hot jacketed round. And a testament to how strong the Handi's are. Gp

Now that would be scary! Going up in size is one thing but going down in bore size is something totally different!

[Good Cheer]

8x57 through a 30-06.
Yep. Found the cases at a gun shop range. Took them inside and told the guys behind the counter that they need to pay attention what they sell.

[Mytmousemalibu]

On my case formed brass, I found it pretty easy to chuck it up gently in the drill press and with the belt set up for speed to turn the original case head marks right off. Don't have to go crazy with it and its not at all enough to hurt case integrity but it will render the original markings illegible with just a kiss of the tool bit. I used a broken drill bit, a quality HSS piece that I ground the shank to a profile and mounted this into a small block of aluminum by drilling a hole for it and set screwed in place. Clamp the block to the base in the right spot and go to work!

I like the final results too, it has an old obsolete cartridge look which it more or less is! Makes them look like an 8mm Lebel!

[johnson1942]

when i worked with the cree/s on the n.dak canada border the old ones told me they hunted ducks with any shells they can find regardless of gauge for there old 12 gauges.they would put masking tape around a 16 or 20 gauge shell until it fit. they said they shot a lot of ducks that way.

[Harter66]

I read an article once where the writer and his editor had gone to a corporate sponsored shoot , all the new guns and all the ammo you could shoot .
They had shot all morning and gone back to check out the favorites . His editor couldn't hit for beans even worse than normal . Upon ejecting the empties ....... 41s in a 44 .

I used to have a picture of a steel cased 223 fired in a 6.8SPC . Nicely formed even if it did look like a bird cage .

[gpidaho]

J1942; My old grandpa use to say "Poor people have poor ways" Sometimes in admiration and some times in disbelief. Gp

[johnson1942]

thanks, these same old crees used only a 22 to hunt moose. when the swamps froze over they would walk right up to one while it was eating willows and shoot it behind a ear. they only fish with nets when the spring fish were running. hunting and fishing was about meat. they however ate very very well. they raise pigs to mix their meat with the wild game meat and they make wonderful smoked links with it all. best i ever ate.

[Lloyd Smale]

had a guy from Belgium that used to be on this fourm come to America to pick up his new 500 linebaugh max that I had ordered for him and John had sent here. I figured this guy was a gun crank that had lots of experience as who else would buy a 3500 dollar 500 max. Heck I have problems shooting them with full power loads. We went to the range one day and he was shooting one of my 44 mags. Wasn't hitting ANYTHING. I walked over to see what the problem was and found him with a box of 41 mag ammo!! He had shot about 40 of the 50 rounds when I discovered it. Gave him 44mags (while shaking my head) and he didn't do a lot better with them. Worked up some ammo for his max. Light load of 10 grains of unique and a 450 grain bullets. Some mid range stuff and some real powerhouse stuff too. He shot the light load and was wining about the recoil!! He asked me if I would shoot up the rest of the hotter stuff and load him some a bit lighter!. Takes all kinds!

[Drm50]

A guy brought me a old Rem m12 22 rifle to see if I could fix. He said it only worked 1/2 the time
and hardly ever ejected. I fooled with that rifle for 1/2 hour before it dawned on me, 22wrf!
When guy came back after it he had no idea what 22wrf was, claims they shot 22lr in it for years.
I probably ruined it by cleaning the crud out of it.