Cimmaron 1866

[Tombstone Marshal]

What are the problems with 45 Longcolt and what are some suggestions for getting around it. I am new to CAS and SASS. I have purchased one of my pistols and am waiting (impatiently) tell I get get the other one. I went with 45LC and was thinking of shooting the smokey stuff, but if I am going to have problems then maybe I dont want to do it.

[Dr. Bob]

I shoot the Holy Black in 45 Colt in my 1873 Winchester and have no problems.  I shoot 30 grains and a 250 gr.  Big Lube ^TM  bullet and get very little blow back and the action does not get dirty during a 10 stage match.  If you try reduced loads, you may not expand the case enough to get a good seal.  No problem with a slightly compressed load of Holy Black or sub!   Has NOT been any problem for me!

[Driftwood Johnson]

What are the problems with 45 Longcolt and what are some suggestions for getting around it. I am new to CAS and SASS. I have purchased one of my pistols and am waiting (impatiently) tell I get get the other one. I went with 45LC and was thinking of shooting the smokey stuff, but if I am going to have problems then maybe I dont want to do it.

Howdy

I believe I already referred to the problem. It is one of pressure. If you don't seal the case in the chamber, hot gasses and soot can leak around the case and blow back into the action. Fouling can then build up in the action causing excess friction that makes the gun harder to operate. The nature of the 45 Colt cartridge case is that it is made of thicker brass than the 44-40 or 38-40. So with the same powder charge and bullet weight the 44-40 or 38-40 will always seal the chamber more effectively than the 45 Colt, keeping fouling out of the action. That is not to say there are not tricks to make the 45 Colt seal the chamber well, or you cannot clean out the rifle periodically to reduce the binding. Standard operating procedure with 45 Colt and Black Powder in a rifle is to make sure to always use a 250 grain bullet, give it a good firm crimp, and fill the case with powder for the maximum pressure possible.

[Noz]

Driftwood, I bow to your experience and readily admit that you have far more time in the saddle as far as black powder cartridge arms than I.
Those that know me know that I have a real problem. I can not leave well enough alone. A new gun will be spread all over my show within 24 hours of getting it home. Not to make it better but to see how it works.
I read the discussion on neck sizing 45 Colt brass to try to get away from some of the blowback problems.
Although I have very little blowback problems with my 1894 Marlin FG in 41 mag I do get stained cases. Just to see what would happen I neck sized 100 41 mag cases. I had a fired 44-40 case for reference and determined the difference between the neck of the fired 44-40 and it's base amounted to about .007". I have no idea, as I have no cases for the new rifle, what it should be but that is what my sample measured. My neck sized 41 mag case was also .007" smaller at the neck that at the base, so to my way of thinking I had created a 41-32 case. Granted this would be a straight wall rather than a tapered case.
Upon firing I discovered that the staining that I was getting over the whole case was now restricted to the neck only.
My conclusion would be that, yes, in fact the shape of the case does make some difference in the confining of the burning gasses.
Is it worth the trouble in the 41 mag? I doubt it. I really think I fixed a problem that didn't exist and probably won't do any more but I also proved, at least to me, that the necked cases even though the necked portion of the case is small and the reduction is slight do in fact have some effect on the way the case handles the "blowback" gasses