By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
When I recently authored an article on how some people carry single-action sixguns on a daily basis for personal protection and any other challenge—find it at American Handgunner online—the conversation focused on the .45 Colt as the most popular choice among these thumb-buster fans.
There are even a few paragraphs on my personal handload choices, and a lot more may be said. I recently hit the reloading bench where my progressive press—a vintage RCBS Piggyback unit on top of a Rockchucker single-stage press with which I have reloaded thousands of rounds in several different calibers—to recharge almost a full box of cartridges.
The .45 Colt is a marvelous cartridge for handloaders, and I know of guys who use a variety of powders ranging from black powder to modern smokeless propellants. They all keep wheelguns running, and for the folks who devote lots of time looking for the “perfect” load, the .45 Colt is almost like an addiction.
Over the years, I’ve used HP38, CFE Pistol, HS-6, Trail Boss and even 2400 when I had it.
Soon as I get home from the range, each piece of brass is examined and tossed into the Lyman tumbler for a wet bath of hot, soapy water. I tumble brass for a minimum of three hours, and allow it to dry for a couple of days before it gets anywhere near my press.
After sizing, I check the overall length of each case and if it needs trimming, it goes on my Lyman trimmer. Each primer pocket is examined and cleaned. I look for even the tiniest crack, and if something doesn’t look right, that case goes into the trash.
I’ve used, as my American Handgunner article acknowledged, various bullets and have come down to a couple of favorites, both from Hornady. One is a 250-grain XTP JHP, and the other is Hornady’s 255-grain RNLFP designed primarily for Cowboy Action shooters. The lead may be a bit soft by some standards, but for my work, this projectile is simply superb.
Lemme talk a bit about the New Vaquero, which many readers have seen in this column several times in the past. This is my hip gun; the six-shooter upon which I’ve had various grips including elk antler panels and Gunfighter Kirinite grips from Eagle Grips, a set of Magna Tusk grips from Arizona Custom, and more recently a set of hand-crafted walnut grips I crafted for my other New Vaquero with a 7 ½-inch barrel.
Do I like these guns? You get three guesses and the first two are probably wrong.
I have managed to hit tin cans and aluminum pop cans at 25 yards or more with both wheelguns, and recorded slightly higher muzzle velocities out of the gun with the longer barrel. No surprise there.
I think what makes the .45 Colt so appealing even now, more than 150 years after its introduction as a black powder cartridge, is that it has weathered generations of changes in the handgun world and still strokes along as one of the best defensive handgun rounds on the planet.
The .45 Colt has accounted for a lot of abrupt ends for outlaws pretty much everywhere west of the Mississippi. It was the cartridge developed for the U.S. Cavalry’s Model 1873 Colt Single Action Army sidearm, and lawmen, along with criminals, warmed right up to it everywhere from the Rio Grande to the Rocky Mountains of Montana.
The .45 Colt is a straight-walled cartridge measuring 1.285 inches from the base to the mouth (trim length 1.275 inch). The maximum cartridge OAL is 1.600-inch, and with the right bullet/powder combination, it can launch a bullet at nearly 1,000 fps.
I’ve been packing the New Vaquero with its 4 5/8-inch barrel in the high country during late summer and early fall grouse hunting treks, because the blue grouse which I enjoy chasing live in bear country. The habitat is shared by mountain lions and even wolves, and that big, slow-moving bullet makes strong medicine.
Recoil is entirely manageable in revolvers the size of the New Vaquero, Colt SAA, and similar sixguns. Out to better than a hundred yards, the .45 Colt can hit the mark.
Packing this iron on a cartridge belt is actually pleasant, and the weight of it is reassuring when there are things with teeth in the vicinity!
So, with all of the other superb handgun cartridges out there—.45 ACP, .44 Magnum, .44 Special, .41 Magnum, 10mm, .40 S&W, .357 Magnum, .357 SIG, .38 Special and today’s 9mm—the .45 Colt continues to hold its own.
As with the other sidearms anyone carries, one should be proficient with any wheelgun chambered for the legendary .45 Colt. This is one reason I enjoy reloading ammunition in this caliber. I never run low.
A full cartridge belt can be a beautiful thing, especially with a handsome sixgun hanging from it. That’s sort of a byproduct of having a Ruger New Vaquero in .45 Colt: eye candy.
Yet another advantage of having a sixgun with a barrel under 5 inches is that it clears leather fast in an emergency. There are several great holster makers who build top quality leather rigs for single-action wheelguns, and with the right treatment, these holsters will last a lifetime. Take care of it and it will take care of you.
The .45 Colt single-action revolver has become part of the American fabric. It is the stuff of legend, and the stuff of historical fact.
