Fifty years with .45 Colt

RELOADER’S PRESS

- Dave Scovill

March of this year marked 50 years since the purchase of my first Colt Single Action Army. A letter from Colt a few years ago stated it was shipped as a .41 Colt to El Paso, Texas, in 1908. Since it was a .38 Special with a 4.75-inch barrel and the frame was blue, it is fair to assume it was converted sometime after Colt offered .38 Special barrels and cylinders to replace obsolete calibers sometime after World War II.

Since the Colt was already refinished and converted, it wouldn’t affect its value to convert it to .45 Colt. The price of the .45 Colt 7.5inch barrel and a new cylinder from Numrich Arms/Gun Parts cost a bit more than the sixgun set me back in the first place. Fortunately, a gunsmith friend from college days, the late Clarence Beeley in Eugene, Oregon, offered to make the swap at no charge.

After the conversion to .45 Colt, the first three shots at 20 yards or so with Remington factory loads cut a cloverleaf group just above the point of aim and the fourth and fifth shots spread out a bit. That Colt, now fitted with a 4.75-inch barrel and a second cylinder with .452-inch chamber throats, has been in regular use since 1973.

Looking back, attempts to obtain acceptable accuracy with the first .45 Colt cylinder with chamber throats that averaged about .456 inch was a bit of a challenge, especially with those “hard” cast bullets that everyone seemed to be so fond of. It wasn’t until Elmer Keith autographed a copy of his