45 acp help

[Lumpy]

New member on board willing to show ignorance !! Can you convert a revolver to accept moon clips. Can you then still load / unload the traditional way as well. If you have a house / bed gun in a 4" .45acp and wish to use a 2" for carry.. how much will you lose in defensive power out of the shorter barrel ? And what is the difference between the .45acp and .45 ? Will both rounds function in the same revolver... I ask these questions as Iwish to utilize the same platforms and calibers and am not at all familiar with the 45. Thanks

 

[Majic]

Yes you can mill a cylinder to accept moonclips and still be able to use the cartridges loaded as before.
You will lose bullet velocity in the shorter barrel, but not enough to worry about with big bores. Their bullets have a lesser depenedancy on expansion compared to smaller calibers.
There are several chamberings in .45 caliber. Which are you talking about, .45 Colt, .45 Super, .45 Win Mag, .460 Roland?
No revolver shoots both the .45acp and the .45 Colt without a cylinder change, but the Dan Wesson M460 (blued)/M7460 (SS) does chamber the .acp, super, Win mag, and the Roland with it's one cylinder.

 

[scott45b]

I don't think it is as simple as just milling or machining the cylinder on any old gun to accept moonclips. On cylinders for rimmed cartridges, .357/.38 spcl, a recess is cut into the cylinder and extractor to allow clearance for moonclips. The cartridge rim still can rest on the remaining outer rim of the cylinder thus allowing the cartridge to be shot with or without moonclips.

For rimless cartridges such as .45ACP, 9mm, 10mm & .40 S&W, the moonclips are used to help headspace and to extract the spent cartridges. I believe that revolvers that are chambered for these cartridges are already machined to accept moonclips.

Re diff between 2" & 4"

At 100 yards I believe the difference would be substantial, my money would be on the 4". At 10 feet, and assuming you know how to shoot, I doubt that the barrel length would be an issue.

 

[Majic]

Scott that is the milling operation. The cutting of the recesses is nothing more than a function preformed by a machinist on a milling machine. Due to the nature of the question it is a safe bet that Lumpy is not a machinist so details were left out. It's not a home project without the equipment and training.