454 casull and 45 colt

Gunlove

November 20, 2002 15:27

I have been reading these forums on and off for the last 8 months. They have been a good education!

I have a question. I know Ruger has a 454 casull that will also shoot 45 long colt without changing the cylinder. Is this universal with all 454's? Also, is it possible to shoot 44 special in a 44 mag?

I'm interested in all those combinations if anyone has infomation in this area.

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  rick_reno

  November 20, 2002 15:55

  I only have experience with Freedom Arm 454's, and they recommend not shooting 45 Colt loads in their 454 cylinders. You can get scoring of the cylinder due to the shorter length of the 45 Colt case.

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  LABWILD

  November 20, 2002 16:22

  You can shoot .44 special in a .44 magnum revolver.

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  Blokey

  November 21, 2002 04:54

  .45 Colt will chamber in a .454 Casull revolver like .44 Special in a .44 Magnum but like rick_reno points out, some manufacturers may advise against the practice for various reasons. Check with the respective manufacturer to be sure.

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  Blokey

  November 21, 2002 05:50

  UPDATE...
  
  FYI - I just checked the Ruger website and as I suspected, they allow the use of .45 Colt ammo in their large frame DA revolvers chambered in .454 Casull.

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  JustC

  November 21, 2002 07:54

  The reason they advise against using 45LC in a 454 is due to carbon buildup in the cylinder. As you may be aware, some folks don't exactly clean their guns quite often enough. The 45LC being shorter, fouls a greater length of the cylinder when fired. When the carbon builds up in the cylinder as a result of shooting 45LC, it increases gas pressures when the 454 is used in the dirty/fouled cylinder. It also will cause loading problems with the larger 454. As long as it is kept clean, every time 45lc is used, it should be fine. Notice the non-fluted cylinders on the Ruger,...they were thinking ahead.
  
  I'm a man,....but I can change,.....If I have to,......I guess.

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  hondo

  November 21, 2002 08:17

  The same problem occurs if you shoot a great deal of .38 special ammo in a.357 magnum without cleaning the cylinders good.......Hondo

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  Gunlove

  November 21, 2002 11:01

  Thanks for the input!
  
  What about 45 acp? I have heard of a 45 acp revolver, how do they chamber in a revolver without a rim? and would it be possible to shoot them in 454/45 lc?
  
  thanks again
  
  If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns!

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  Blokey

  November 21, 2002 11:36

  I know I'll be corrected if I'm wrong, but...
  
  For revolvers designed to use .45 ACP ammo, headspace is determined on the case mouth and/or they use the rimless ammo in moon clips. .45 Auto Rim was developed to dispense with the use of the clips since the round would headspace on the case rim.
  
  As far as the use of .45ACP in a .45 Colt/.454 Casull, I don't know the case dimensions to know if they would fit in the charge holes (the bore, .451", is the same in both cases I think). Even if they could fit, the cylinder probably would not close because the moon clip would be in the way. .45 Auto Rim may fit but I'll defer to a real expert on this.

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  gruntled

  November 21, 2002 13:00

  The only problem that usually occurs from using a shorter cartridge in a longer chamber or cylinder is a slight increase in difficulty in loading & extracting because of the carbon build-up.
  Since the longer cartridge is past the start of the carbon build-up this could not cause a pressure build-up. The only possible problem would be a build-up of lead in the barrel from using lead bullets instead of the jacketed ones normally used with the higher velosity rounds.
  There may well be a problem in accuracy with the shorter rounds because the rate of twist of the barrel may well not be correct for the velosity of the shorter round. I found this to be a major problem when I tried to fire .38 Specials in my .357 Maximum Thompson Contender barrel.

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