The 45 Colt cartridge is one of the oldest, continuous production cartridges in use today. It was developed late in 1872 by the Frankfurt Arsenal to meet the demands of the United States Ordinance Department for the newly adopted Colt revolver.
In 1872 the United States Ordinance Department put out a call for revolvers to be tested as the standard side arm for the Cavalry. Smith and Wesson (S&W) submitted three and Colt submitted one. The revolver that Colt sent was chambered in 44 Russian. The Ordinance Department notified Colt that it wanted the revolver chambered the same as the S&W’s in 44 American. Colt swapped out the cylinder and returned it. After extensive testing, the Ordinance Department decided that the S&W was too delicate for field use and found the Colt to be the superior revolver. However, the Ordinance Department told Colt that they wanted them chambered in a 45-caliber cartridge to conform to the 45-70 cartridge adopted for rifles.
By this time, the Frankfurt Arsenal was experimenting with centerfire cartridges. The Frankfurt Arsenal started with the Benet system in which the primer was inside the case in a small cup and held in place by indentations. This system was used until 1883 when the external priming Boxer system was adopted. The Boxer system, developed by Colonel E.M. Boxer of the Royal Arsenal in Woolrich, England, is still in use today.
Initial loadings of the 45 Colt cartridge contained 40 grains of black powder (the equivalent of FFFg in granulation) and a 250 grain bullet. However, the soldiers had trouble with this load, as the recoil is quite stout. Later loadings brought the powder charge down to 35 and 30 grains of powder and the military continued use of the 250 grain bullet.
I thought it would be interesting to recreate these loads and compare them to loads with the same powder charge but with a 200 grain bullet. Using the smaller bullet and the reduced charges created a potential problem. With black powder it is very important that there not be an airspace in the cartridge. If there is, the bullet acts as an obstruction to the detonation of the powder and can actually blow up the gun. Some of the loads don’t have enough powder to keep out airspace, so fiber wads were used in order to fill that gap. I also compared these loads to the load that I use in Cowboy Action Shooting. The table below shows the chronograph results of the test.
| Powder Charge |
Bullet Weight |
Velocity (fps) |
Standard Deviation |
Wad |
Extreme Deviation |
Group Size (in) |
| 40gr FFFg |
250gr |
833 |
17.1 |
None |
66 |
4 |
| 40gr FFFg |
200gr |
901 |
29.2 |
None |
89 |
3 ½ |
| 40gr FFg |
250gr |
779 |
13.4 |
None |
43 |
3 ½ |
| 40gr FFg |
200gr |
907 |
14.4 |
None |
53 |
3 |
| 35gr FFFg |
250gr |
792 |
18.1 |
None |
47 |
2 |
| 35gr FFFg |
200gr |
779 |
6.1 |
Wad |
72 |
2 ½ |
| 35gr FFg |
250gr |
718 |
7.8 |
None |
20 |
2 |
| 35gr FFg |
200gr |
676 |
23.5 |
Wad |
91 |
2 ½ |
| 30gr FFFg |
250gr |
696 |
10.2 |
Wad |
35 |
2 ½ |
| 30gr FFFg |
200gr |
759 |
16.7 |
Wad |
60 |
2 |
| 30gr FFg |
250gr |
631 |
14.2 |
Wad |
48 |
2 |
| 30gr FFg |
200gr |
759 |
16.7 |
Wad |
60 |
2 |
Table analysis shows an interesting tidbit: the use of lube wads slows down the velocity of the bullet. My supposition is that the wad absorbs some of the impact of the powder burn and acts as a buffer to the bullet.
Notes about the loads used in this test:
- All loads were fired off hand with a 2 hand hold at 15 yards from a 4 ¾ inch Cimarron.
- Brass trimmed to 1.275 inches.
- OAL at 1.550 inches, except the loads with 30 gr. of powder and 200 gr. bullet. These were seated to 1.411 to get some powder compression with 1 wad.
- Powder was Goex
- Primer used for the test was Federal Large Pistol Magnum
- For the samples tested with 40 grains of powder, the powder was compressed using a compression die.
- Longer barreled revolvers will produce higher velocities with black powder.
- The 200 grain bullet used was a hardcast bullet lubed with SPG and sized at .452.
- The 250 grain bullet was hand cast at a 40:1 ration of lead:tin by Vernon Mullins from the Lyman 454190 mold, lubed with a homemade lube made from beeswax and Crisco, and sized at .454.
Bibliography:
Cochran, Keith; Colt Cavaly, Artillery and Militia Revolvers (1873-1903); ISBN 0-936259-22-1; Copyright 1994; Cochran Publishing Company.
Shapiro, Joel; Black Powder Loading for Cowboy Action Shooting; ISBN 1-893342-05-0; Copyright 2001; K&D Ltd.
Venturino, Mike; Shooting Colt Single Actions; Copyright 1995; MLV Enterprises. |
