jmarlowe Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 What is the difference between 45 long colt and 45 acp? Can they be fired in the same gun? What are bullet specs i.e. shell length and allowable head weight? Is there anyone using long colt in ipsc, icore etc.? Are they both designed for moonclip? Any info is welcome... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 (edited) I shoot .45 Colt in USPSA, IDPA, and soon (relatively) ICORE. The .45 ACP and .45 Colt cannot be fired from the same gun (normally), but both can use moonclips, although for the .45 Colt the cylinder has to be cut for them in my experience. I use speedloaders myself, as I have not gotten to the point that I want to have my revolver cut for moonclips. The .45 Colt brass has a much larger capacity and is longer, case overall length 1.580 compared to 1.200 for .45 ACP. Using the new Hodgdon's 2010 Reloading guide, using titegroup powder and a 230gr LRN bullet here are the max powder charges. .45 Colt 6.5gr (velocity:934fps) .45 ACP 4.8gr (velocity: 855fps) I hope that helps answer some of your questions. Edited December 24, 2009 by Blueridge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg K Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 The .45 Colt case is 1.285" long, the same as for .357, .41 and .44 Magnums. It has a much larger case capacity than what is needed for todays modern powders. It was designed to hold 40 grains of FF black powder. The .45 ACP cartridge is much more efficient for our needs. There are some loads for the 45 Long Colt that are designed to be fired from something like modern Rugers that approach magnum velocities but these are not for use in the older guns chambered for the round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pskys2 Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 I have a buddy who has a S&W M25, beautiful blue, in 45 COLT and he had it cut for Moonclips for a .45ACP. That's what he shot at Memphis and it works ok. The biggest problem to me would be the cylinder throat diameters, some were larger than those for an acp. Could lead to accuracy problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Sniper Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 I have a buddy who has a S&W M25, beautiful blue, in 45 COLT and he had it cut for Moonclips for a .45ACP. That's what he shot at Memphis and it works ok.The biggest problem to me would be the cylinder throat diameters, some were larger than those for an acp. Could lead to accuracy problems. So if you had a 45 LC revolver and cut it for moons you could shoot both 45 acp and LC??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toolguy Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 Yes, if you leave a rim around the edge of the cylinder for the Long Colt rims to headspace on and just cut the moon clip clearance inside of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pskys2 Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 I didn't think it would work myself, but he did it and hasn't had any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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