Anyone shoot Colt 1878 Frontiers (Pics)

dingus

dingus

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I got my Antique 1878 Colt DA 455 Frontier all ready to shoot.
This nice DA 455 can chamber and shoot 45 Scofeilds.
But wont chamber a 45 long colt.
Its marked 455 eley and the cylinder has london proffmarks in each cyl flute.
Anyone else shoot these in say 45 colt?

Keith says these guns can handle fairly hot loads in the 45 colt he talks about 18 grs of 2400 behind a 250 keiths bullet.
Im thinking like 5 grs of trail boss with a 250 Gr keith type bullet in the 45 scofeild.
I gota say i like this Colt :) Its the frist one ive had that i like.
The cat likes it to. :rolleyes:




 
If you were to put 18gr of 2400 in it yours will be non-functional just like Rick's.

It sounds like the chamber is cut for the .476 Eley load, and has developed head space problems allowing you to chamber the much thicher rimmed .45 Schofield.

18gr of 2400 is a fairly hot .45 Colt load for Colt New Service's & 2nd model Smith's.

It's quite close to Keith's .44 Special load IIRC.
 
Everything you read/hear about those beauties indicates very fragile lockwork, don't have any experience with them but I would heed that warning.
 
Lee Enfield said:
If you were to put 18gr of 2400 in it yours will be non-functional just like Rick's.

It sounds like the chamber is cut for the .476 Eley load, and has developed head space problems allowing you to chamber the much thicher rimmed .45 Schofield.

18gr of 2400 is a fairly hot .45 Colt load for Colt New Service's & 2nd model Smith's.

It's quite close to Keith's .44 Special load IIRC.
Click to expand...

No it aint developed any excess head space, they just used the same cylinders they used for the 45 Colt but only reamed them out deep enough for the 455 domion rds.
If i put a 45 colt Cylinder in the gun it fits and can shoot 45 colts but then id have to register it.
The guns marked 455 ELEY
We just reamed a little further in the 455 chambers so 45 scofeild would fit but 45 colt would not keeps it a perscribed Antique that way ;)


As to the keiths load i aint gona go near what he says they can handle.
4.5 grs of Trail boss behind a 250 gr .454 dia Hollow based Custom mini mould we made, in the 45 Scofeild Case is the load im useing.

Also about the fragile lock work i think your thinking of the Colt Thunder and Lighting Models that were made before the Frontier 1878 DA
These DA FRONTIERS are very tough guns them other ones action break if ya look at em funny!
 
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Why do you keep doing this to me Mark? How many antiques do you have? You have the most impressive collection of antique handguns I have seen. I am very envious, especially of this one!
 
dingus said:
No it aint developed any excess head space, they just used the same cylinders they used for the 45 Colt but only reamed them out deep enough for the 455 domion rds.
If i put a 45 colt Cylinder in the gun it fits and can shoot 45 colts but then id have to register it.
The guns marked 455 ELEY
We just reamed a little further in the 455 chambers so 45 scofeild would fit but 45 colt would not keeps it a perscribed Antique that way ;)


As to the keiths load i aint gona go near what he says they can handle.
4.5 grs of Trail boss behind a 250 gr .454 dia Hollow based Custom mini mould we made, in the 45 Scofeild Case is the load im useing.

Also about the fragile lock work i think your thinking of the Colt Thunder and Lighting Models that were made before the Frontier 1878 DA
These DA FRONTIERS are very tough guns them other ones action break if ya look at em funny!
Click to expand...

My comment on head-space refers to the fact that the rim thickness on the .45 schofield is much thicker than the .450/.455/.476 family of cartridges.

In my mind this would point to the bushing being worn to the point of excessive "end-shake"/head-space which in the "hand-locked" 1878 would probably cause a number of problems.

As to the lock-work, a friend of mine had one which had the hammer spring on his broken by the local city police during registration.
 
Why would they register a hammer spring? Was the spring subsequently deregistered as a dewat?

Dingus is right the thunder and lightening models have the reputation for being junk but the 1878 is a nice strong revolver.

I am thinking dingus would notice if his cylinder was sliding back and forth on the pin! Good to mention it though cause it could be an issue on some old revovlers.
 
Lee Enfield said:
My comment on head-space refers to the fact that the rim thickness on the .45 schofield is much thicker than the .450/.455/.476 family of cartridges.

In my mind this would point to the bushing being worn to the point of excessive "end-shake"/head-space which in the "hand-locked" 1878 would probably cause a number of problems.

As to the lock-work, a friend of mine had one which had the hammer spring on his broken by the local city police during registration.
Click to expand...


I understand what your saying Head space on a 455 revolver is usally .45
A 45 Scofeild and 45colt .60
But they used the same cylinders on these 1878s with the same rachets at the back for both British calibers and 45 colt calibers. They both have .60 head space.
My gun is tight and locks up like a valt.
Theres no noticable wear and no end shake the cylinder bushing is good.
and the cylinder does move forward and back a little bit but its all to factory specks.

Anyway its a nice tough gun and like i said ive had several Colt Revolvers includeing a Thunder tho it was nice to its hand spring was very poorly designed and they broke to easy.
But these 1878s are much better. Not as good as a Webley WG but not bad :)
 
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