cowboy 45 special ?

[chriske]

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE ON THIS HIGH ROAD !!

Last week was our annual new-year's reception at our shooting club.

One of my more "old west"-oriented shooting buddies (complete with string tie, 10-gallon hat & high-heeled, pointy toed boots) talked about some new kind of ammo, for use in single-action revolvers, called the "Cowboy .45 special".

Well, I never heard of it, but as always was eager to learn .

As far as I understood it, it's just like regular .45 Colt ammo , only loaded in shorter cases. Right ?

But then.. what's the point ?
If shorter cases are wanted, surely there's the .45 ACP or even the .45 AR
And don't the S&W Schofields and such use shorter cases as well ?

Can anyone explain / point me in the right direction to find out more about this ?

 

[cfullgraf]

It looks like the 45 Cowboy Special in a short cased 45 Colt intended for Cowboy Action Shooting. The reduced case volume is for the light loads used in cowboy action shooting.

It appears the cases are the same or similar to the 45 Schofield case.

See here.

http://www.handgunforum.net/general-revolver-area/5031-cowboy-45-special.html

 

[Jim Watson]

.45 Cowboy Special is the length of a .45 ACP with the rim of a .45 LC.
Not the same as .45 S&W Schofield or .45 Auto Rim.

Just by coinkydink it holds the SASS minimum of one CC of powder with a 170 gr bullet making it eligible for the Black Powder category.

.38 ballistics in a .45 gun.

You can even get a lifter for a .45 Colt 1860, 1866, or 1873 repro to handle the short round. There is also a lifter modification known as the Widdermajic for the 94 Marlin.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Jim Watson nailed it. I've seen a few shooters using it, but not many.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[FROGO207]

OH GREAT something ELSE to look out for when scrounging brass.:banghead:

 

[ReloaderFred]

You won't find any scrounging brass. Almost all SASS shooters are reloaders, and they've paid too much for their brass to leave it laying around, so fuggitaboutit.........

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Crunchy Frog]

A friend who shoots .45 caliber uses the Cowboy Special brass for his revolver ammo. I understand you can use .45 ACP dies.

Starline manufactured the brass for the developer, who decided to retire so new brass was unavailable for a while. The developer sold his rights to a couple and I believe the brass is available again.

The smaller case volume is great for black powder pistol loads. It also makes it easy to segregate rifle ammo from pistol ammo of the same

 

[chriske]

So it's some sort of hybrid, a .45 Colt case shortened to .45 ACP length ?

To eacht his/her own, of course, but since this was developed for single-action revolvers, wouldn't it be simpler all around to go for a .45ACP-chambered cylinder like in the Ruger "Convertibles" and use regular ACP cases ?

 

[44vaquero]

Here is the web location of the new .45 Cowboy special brass:

http://cowboy45specialbrass.blogspot.com/

It's not cheap!

I purchased 250 of them for use with my Kirst Remington 1858 Konversion in .45 ACP. The above statements about what the cartridge is are correct: a .45 Colt case formed to .45 ACP length. For my needs they filled the bill. Ability to down load with out fillers or powder position issues, ability to use proven developed loads I already have and a period correct look on the gun belt!

 

[FROGO207]

The problem with the Ruger conversion cylinders is that after a few cylinders of ammo are shot the rounds will not go into the cylinder completely. They head space on the mouth and it gets dirty in there so they will not allow the round to fully chamber. Using a wire brush and a puff of air all the time gets tiring. BTW I have the Ruger cylinders in 30 Carbine, 9MM, and 45 ACP. They all do it in my revolvers. Nice to have the option of using different ammo but I do not often use them for reason above.YMMV