.45Colt question

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rustynut1

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I am ready to get an other .45 Colt hand gun. I have a Ruger Blackhawk convertible 45Colt/ 45 ACP but want to move on from that gun. The way I see my options are the 460 S&W that shoots the .45 Colt, the Freedom Arms .454 Cansull, and of course the S&W M25 Classic.

I want an accurate gun so the Freedom Arms is high on that list. I am cheap but the 460 and the 454 are close in cost. The S&W M25 is $1150 or so and is about 1/2 the cost of the Freedom Arms. I have a S&W 625 and this is a fine gun. Wondering if the FA is worth the extra cost? Wondering if the 460 compares in accuracy to the FA? I have fondled the FA and they are awful nice. I will not be shooting 454 or 460 so that isn't in the subject. I barely shoot .44 Mag.

Thanks for the opinions, from people in the know.
 
FA is just a fancy ruger IMO, Look at the Uberti no3 top break if you want something different.


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Are you planning to load it hot? If so, then the 460 or the FA would be the way to go. A Ruger Super Redhawk in .454 would be another option, and I see that Ruger just made a very small run of 7.5" Redhawks in 45 Colt
 
I just picked up a vintage S&w m 25 in excellent condition, I have yet to shoot it, but when I do I'll let you know how it was
 
I have a few larger calibre Rugers (.44 & .45), a very nice long barrel S&W in .44 and an F/A in .454 Casull. I enjoy owning and shooting the Rugers and S&W's that I have - never had an issue with any of them - reliable and accurate. The Freedom Arms piece, even though it strongly resembles a Super Blackhawk - is, simply put, a different beast. Fit and finish is flawless. The difference is immediately apparent, just "cocking" the gun. Whether it's worth it to you to spend at least three times the amount of money on it, over the other two, you'll have to decide. I had a hard time parting with the coin - but, it's the sweetest gun I own.
 
A friend of mine picked up one of the new M25 classics, and the first group i shot through it had 3 rounds touching at 20 yards, with the other two opening it up to about an inch and a half.....If your not going to try to load it like a 454, it's a sweet gun. If you want to shoot the big magnums, I'd get the X frame smith.

The FA's are nice, but i prefer the DA.
 
I'm also a fan of the. 45 Colt cartridge, it is one of the most flexible and capable of cartridges, able to be loaded down to welterweight and up to heavyweight.

I would look for a 5-1/2" Ruger Redhawk or and older S&W M25/625 before getting a .454 or .460.

Guns chambered in those cartridges are excessively large and heavy.

Especially if you like the Freedom Arms...

If you're not attached to the idea of a "new" gun watch for Colt New Services and S&W Second Model Hand Ejectors as they make fine shooters...
 
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I cannot speak for the FA gun as I have never used one. I can speak for all the others as I have them or have had them.

The new S&W model 25's are excellent shooters and work very well, I have two of them. The older model 25's are not so good in the accuracy dept. They have a problem with how the cylinders were cut from what I can find out on the S&W forum in the US. I have two of the older ones and neither of mine work near as well as the newer ones do.

As to the 460 when using 45 Colt in it mine does work as well as the model 25's do. This is probably due to the lomger chamber made for the 460 round.

I have had two Blackhawks in 45 Colt and they worked well enough but not near as well as the S&W model 25 but that is be expected as they don't cost near as much as the S&W does.

I have never had the pleasure of shooting a Redhawk in 45 Colt so I cannot coment on them.

Graydog
 
Thanks for the replies. I have a Model 625 now and it is great. The toss up is between getting new M25 now or holding out for a Freedom Arms. The cost of the FA is close enough to a S&W 460 to make it affordable in that sense and I expect the FA is a better gun. What I'm saying is the tolerances of the FA are the best they can be, the S&W, if you get a good one you have a good gun otherwise you may have a loose gun. I have a few SAA and like them a lot. There is old stock in Canada of FA at pre high USA exchange rate so this is a favourable factor. I have fondled the FA 454 and it is a beast, the other Model 97 is a smaller gun, the 83 fits my hand nicely. Also you can get a rugger grip for the FA 83. I have no interest in a top break revolver unless it was a Webley .455.
 
Since you say you don't even like shooting .44Mag I'm guessing that you're avoiding the higher recoiling rounds. So why get a .454 or .460? Yes they can chamber and discharge the .45Colt rounds. But because of the extra chamber lengths to accept the longer casings the bullet is at more risk of moving from the casing to the throat with some unsupported flight. In particular with the much longer .460. I can't see that as being conducive to higher accuracy levels.

So I'd say just buy a gun that is chambered in .45Colt. FA does make such guns. Or look around for one of the S&W Classic series Model 25's chambered in .45Colt. Or maybe get a really nice looking fixed sight SAA which looks SO much neater than the Blackhawks with their lumpy sights front and rear.
 
The .454 brass is 0.1 inch longer than the .45LC brass. Do you think that length is going to make a difference? The projectile could be set a little more shallow to compensate for this as well? You can get a .45LC cylinder for a Freedom Arms revolver but is costs $350 more and adds about 6 months to the wait time for the gun.
 
in absolute accuracy, it will make a difference. Can you shoot well enough to see the difference? Only you can answer that. But an awful lot of 357 revolvers shoot very well indeed with 38 spl. So i suspect you'd be good to go. And the resale on it would be better in 454 then in 45 colt as well.
 
The best gun I own is a .357 S&W M19-3 and that is shooting .38 Specials in it. So I can't fault your argument. When switching from .38S to .357 you have to clean the cylinder well or the .357 M won't slide in. Thanks EH!
 
.45Colt from a .454 isn't too bad. But check the lengths for the .460 and you'll find that some options for .45Colt bullets will be flying free with no spin from the case mouth for up to as much as 0.1 of an inch before they enter the chamber throat. And that can cause issues with shaved lead and odd shaped bullets as they transitiion from the throat to the forcing cone and on into the barrel.

Bottom line is that if the OP isn't interested in big recoil kicks then it's going to potentially be better for accuracy to buy a gun that is chambered in the round he's actually going to shoot.

And while I own and shoot a variety of .357Mag guns with .38Spl and they DO shoot well if we look at what the serious bullseye shooters use for .38 revolvers we're going to find that the big majority of them are chambered in .38Spl. Same with the old PPC guns where good accuracy was expected.
 
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