cas calibers

[Professor Honeyfuggler]

Do you know what a .38speical is ? It's a .45 set on 'stun.'

Heh. Good line. Couldn't agree with you more. That's why I don't rely on my CAS pistols for home defense.

[Slo' Poke Pete]

That's why I don't rely on my CAS pistols for home defense.

This, combined with Tensleep's comment on the shotgun, are the most appropriate answers to the question.  I choose .38/,357 for my CAS guns (just getting started) because I already HAVE other guns in that caliber.  Single action revolvers AREN'T  the choice for home defense.  I used to carry both .44s and .45LCs as a police officer, I went back to the .357 because I shoot it better (read faster and more accurately) than the heavier recoilling "big boys", and there should be no arguement that a .357 gets the job done.  A solid hit with a hot "wimp" .38spec HP is nothing to be sneezed at either.

[Montana Slim]

For many years my only handgun was my trusty NM Remington 44 C&B revolver. I kept it loaded and capped with 6 shots, the hammer rested in one of the  safety notches. I never needed it for defense, but I had 100% confidence that it would work fine..putting a hole where needed and lighting them on fire at the same time. Kinda made me feel all warm as well. I would fire the gun in a couple range sessions each year, carefully cleaning it, then reloading it for later use. Since then, I've bobbed the barrel to 4 inches and it's still very reliable gun. As Bill Cody claimed about his: "It never failed me".

All my favorite "cowboy" calibers have "44" in their name.

Slim

[Shotgun Franklin]

I shoot CAS with .45 Colts. I hunt up to and including deer with my .45s. I've carried my Colt SAAs very often off duty. I'm very confodent in my ability to use'm. JSYK, I've been in 6 standup gunfights at work and never fired more than 4 rounds per fight.

[Stillwater]

I use a 45 for home defense... A Colt 1911 in 45 Auto that is...

Now to make all of you "COWBOYS" angry..."

Calling the 45 Colt a "Long Colt'" is like calling a magazine, a clip...! It is a Colt 45, or a 45 Colt... A 1911 is a 45 Auto, not a 45 Colt or a Colt 45... 

Bill

[Dr. Bob]

Stillwater,

1+  Just like calling cartridges "bullets".  Dang it's hard to overcome Hollywood1   I tend to be from the old school - we shoot revolvers, pistols have magazines.  Our revolvers shoot 45 Colt or 45 Schofield.  The auto's shoot 45 ACP.  I'm an "old fart" and historian oriented and wish to be precise in my description of what I shoot.  Have a 1911  and shoot 45 ACP in it.  Have two Beretta Stampedes and shoot 45 Colt in them.  I load ammunition or cartridges with primer, powder [Holy Black] and bullets.  Damn, I'm picky about what I post here.  Don't expect others to meet my standards, but I do expect ME to.  Pistol is so much shorter than REVOLVER, but it is not what I shoot for CAS.   Guess I'll get down off of my soap box now.  Y'all have a great weekend!!

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Howdy All

     I shoot 45 long Colt, have  since 1961, the reason this caliber got the nick name long colt, is as I'm sure you all know, because of the difference in the size bullet offered back then and now too, my Granddad was born in 1886, and later served in the Calvary, he said a lot of the men didn't like the 1911, because it was so loose they couldn't hit anything further out than fifteen feet, so some were issued the Colt SAA, he said they were calling it 45 long Colt even back then, because of the difference in size, the 45 being longer than the 45 acp/45 Schofield, I remember buying shells in a small town years ago, that when I asked for 45 Colt they laid down a couple boxes of 45 acp, I then had to say long Colt, so it's kind of like saying Volkswagen, or VW bug, it's just a way to make sure the guy behind the counter or some one you might be talking to understands what you're talking about, correct or not , the term 45 LONG COLT is here to stay, I really donn't have a problem with it, in fact I have friends that talk about their 38 longs because of all the differences in that caliber. Just my .02 cents worth.

          Regards

       tEN wOLVES     

[Shotgun Franklin]

There used to be so many .45 rounds, including .45 Colt, .45 S&W, .45 Bulldog and .45 Government, that asking for .45 Long Colt just insured that you got what you wanted. And I carried a .45 1911 for years but learned that real shoot outs and competition are as far removed from each other as the East is from the West.
There seems to be 2 types of CAS shooters, the win at all costs and the Old West wanna bes, I fall deeply into the second group.