.45colt rifles on the market? Advice

C

Caribou Canuck

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Hey I recently bought a Rossi ranch hand and previously was a 30-30 lever fan. After shooting the 45lc I have to say I enjoy it as well and would love to pair the ranch hand with a rifle in the same caliber. I live in Nunavut so I carry the ranch hand in a leg holster when fishing.

I've seen the Rossi 92 and the Cimarron rifles. If I had my choice I would get an uberti lightning carbine but I can't find a Canadian retailer with them in 45lc just 357.
Does anyone have any advice as to what I should get in 45lc for a rifle and where I might be able to obtain a lighting csrbine in 45lc? I seem to have missed the boat on most of them as they are mostly sold out in Canada. I should include I want longer than a 20"barrel more 24-26" as I make mostly 100m shots +.
 
if you are planning to carry the lightning as a personal defense gun while fishing I would absolutely advise against it. Any of the "Lightning" clones are very suspect in the reliability area...as in jam or lock -up when you most need it to work flawlessly. Lots of folks have tried them as "main match" rifles in the cowboy game and I don't know of even one that performed flawlessly...something very important in a protection tool.
 
I recently sold a Winchester model 94 angle eject in 45 colt you might want to look on the used market for one of those. You should avoid any of the 73 type rifles as the toggle links won't stand up to heavy bear loads. Like fingers mentioned above I have seen the pump guns fail epically on cowboy action stages. Losing a stage in a match sucks but getting clawed and chawed by a bear would probably suck worse. good luck
 
I will second the cautions about slide action. Shooting blackpowder loads, I discovered that slide action (a Rossi) doesn't have enough mechanical advantage on primary extraction. There was a good reason levers dominated: you can force them open and closed.
 
How much are you willing to spend? Winchester makes the 1892 clone (made in Japan) with more modern features, including a rebounding hammer and a tang safety. They're about 1100 bucks new, but they're extremely well made guns. Have 2 in .44 mag.
Then there's Rossi, which are great guns but can be hit or miss quality-wise.
You can find Marlin 1894s in .45 colt too and they recently started back up production.
 
mr00jimbo said:
How much are you willing to spend? Winchester makes the 1892 clone (made in Japan) with more modern features, including a rebounding hammer and a tang safety. They're about 1100 bucks new, but they're extremely well made guns. Have 2 in .44 mag.
Then there's Rossi, which are great guns but can be hit or miss quality-wise.
You can find Marlin 1894s in .45 colt too and they recently started back up production.
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I have the Winchester 1892 made by Miroku of Japan in 45 Colt, it's a master piece, accurate, smooth as silk to operate and not a single malfunction. I have even run some very stout cast lead 255 gr semi wad cutter loads without a hick-up. I would bet my life on it before a Rossi
 
Curly1 said:
I have the Winchester 1892 made by Miroku of Japan in 45 Colt, it's a master piece, accurate, smooth as silk to operate and not a single malfunction. I have even run some very stout cast lead 255 gr semi wad cutter loads without a hick-up. I would bet my life on it before a Rossi
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They're great. Ever have any light strikes? I hear people complain about that but never any real evidence (rebounding hammer design gets flak but seems to work well), though most complaints come from the 1886 design
 
Does a 24 or 26" barrel make a huge difference over a 20"barrel with 45lc? I would figure the difference wouldn't amount to a lot due to case capacity of 45lc?
 
Have a look at the Henry Big Boy series as well. I have several Rossi's, Uberti, Miroku etc and find my Big Boy carbine in .45 Colt to be an excellent alternative. The loading gate issue can be partly offset by the ability to quickly single load through the ejection port.
 
Suther said:
Does a 24 or 26" barrel make a huge difference over a 20"barrel with 45lc? I would figure the difference wouldn't amount to a lot due to case capacity of 45lc?
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Zip indeed, in fact won’t gain anything meaningful with it past about 12”, but would make the sight radius longer. Shouldn’t be shopping .45 Colts if 100+ shots are the norm, simply the wrong gun. .30-30 would be far better, and the Marlins can be had in longer barrels.
 
To use the 45 hunting you will need a good bullet and a heavy load (IMHO). There is some good data but pressure is much higher than pistol loads. I have both a puma 92 in 45lc and 454. Both are reload proposition. These do not have the 150 yd energy of the mid cartridges like 7-08 to 06. Both my 92s are great for pushing bush, just not sure if you will be doing much of that.
 
My 45 Colt Ruger handgun loads are exactly the same as my rifle loads I load from 200gr Cowboy action loads to 345gr WFNGC's.

Some of my loads in a rifle will outdo a 30-30 out to 150 yards.
 
I don't remember the drop been a few years since I've shot them that far.

I found this old 50/100 yard target the rifle was my 14" barreled T/C Contender carbine in 45 Colt loads were my top 300gr and 345gr loads with H110 and/or LilGun powder I'll have to look it up.

 
Camp Cook said:
I don't remember the drop been a few years since I've shot them that far.

I found this old 50/100 yard target the rifle was my 14" barreled T/C Contender carbine in 45 Colt loads were my top 300gr and 345gr loads with H110 and/or LilGun powder I'll have to look it up.

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Look like good fun! There may be a mistake in the .30-30 comparison is my thinking. I did a quick gander of .454 Casull loads, and they don’t beat a .30-30 at 150 yards. Drop, wind drift, and energy all lose to a lowly .30-30.
 
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