Mr. Taffin, I just got an email for your story "LEVERGUN LOADS: .45 COLT PART II — CAST BULLETS". I had not seen part one - the history of lever guns. Would you happen to have a link to that one?
Levergun Loads: .45 Colt Part I
Handloading by John Taffin
The levergun that never was, is. It took over a century, however it finally happened. Why did it take so long? The first successful repeating lever action rifle was the 1860 Henry chambered in .44 Henry Rimfire. B. Tyler Henry was the shop foreman for the company owned by a shirt manufacturer by the name of Oliver Winchester. It seems Winchester was not quite ready to put his name to a levergun. The original Henry loaded through a tube under the barrel much like many .22 rifles today. Six years later this was changed as by using the King’s Patent the loading operation now utilized a loading gate on the right side of the receiver as seen on most leverguns today. At the same time a wooden forearm was added to protect the shooter’s hand from the heat. This was the Model 1866 Winchester, often referred to as The Yellow Boy. The chambering remained the same as did the bronze alloy frame.
In 1873 two major changes occurred. The frame was changed first to iron and then to steel and a new cartridge emerged. No longer a rimfire, the .44 Winchester Centerfire was the first chambering in the 1873 Winchester which was destined to be known as The Gun That Won The West. At the same time the United States Military adopted the Colt Single Action Army chambered in .45 Colt. This was not the first successful cartridge firing sixgun as it was preceded by the Smith & Wesson .44 American and .44 Russian as well as Colt Cartridge Conversions in .44 Colt. The .44 Smith & Wesson American which arrived in late 1869 used a centerfire cartridge, however it was also offered in the same .44 Rimfire used in the 1860 and 1866 Winchesters. This allowed one to have a rifle and revolver chambered for the same cartridge.
All three of the early Winchesters used a cartridge that was basically sixgun length; that is the .44 WCF, or as it is mostly known today, the .44-40 was basically the same length as the .45 Colt. This did not go unnoticed by Colt and by 1878 they were offering the Single Action Army chambered in .44-40. Now shooters could have a rifle and revolver chambered in the same centerfire cartridge which was quite a bit more powerful than the .44 Rimfire. Winchester also soon offered the Model 1873 in two other new cartridges, the .38-40 and .32-20. Colt followed suit and chambered the Single Action Army in these two cartridges.
Now you would think Winchester would reciprocate and chamber the model 1873 in .45 Colt. It never happened. Why not? One of the possibilities is two of the differences between the
the .44-40 and .45 Colt. The former is a tapered cartridge, that is it is almost a .45 necked down to .44. This design results in a cartridge which feeds through the action of a levergun much easier and smoother than a straight-wall cartridge such as the .45 Colt. Another problem was the design of the .45 Colt cartridge itself. The rim was very thin and not much larger in diameter than the base of the case which meant there was not much for the extractor to grip. A look at today’s .45 Colt brass shows a thicker rim and also a moat -like recess cut around the base of the cartridge case in front of the rim which helps to give more area for the extractor to grasp.
Had it not been for the popularity of Cowboy Action Shooting especially in the early days we may never have seen a .45 Colt levergun. Beginning in the 1980s they started to appear. Today we have a long list to choose from. The three original Winchesters, 1860, 1866, and 1873, are now available in replica form chambered in .45 Colt. Rossi was one of the first, probably the first, to offer a Model 1892 Winchester replica in .45 Colt and Chiappa also now offers a .45 Colt Model 1892. Winchester about the same time brought out the 1894, which is mostly found in .30-30,in the shorter .45 Colt. Marlin also offered their Model 1894 in several barrel lengths chambered in .45 Colt and Henry Repeating Arms also offers the Big Boy .45 Colt.
Before choosing a .45 Colt levergun it is necessary to decide just what one expects from the choice. Copies of the original three Winchesters are basically for standard loads only. More modern versions of the 1892 and 1894 Winchesters as well as the Marlins and Henry Big Boy will handle heavier loads than the original Winchesters. One also has to decide whether loads will use longer heavier bullets or be confined to standard length cartridges. Almost any length .45 Colt cartridge will feed and chamber in a Winchester Model 1894, while the others require shorter cartridges. I have considerable experience over the past 40 years with all action styles and lengths of .45 leverguns and have loaded dummy cartridges from 200 grain to 340 grain weights and more and use these dummies to make a GO/NO GO chart which tells me exactly which loads will work through which action. The Marlins and the 1892 replicas are quite picky about cartridge length.
Another thing to consider is whether one will be shooting mostly jacketed bullets or cast bullets or even the relatively new powder coated bullets. Also even if standard length cartridges are used only there are some bullet shapes, such as Keith and Keith-style which will not feed and chamber through all .45 Colt leverguns. In other words, it pays to know exactly which loads will be used before choosing a .45 Colt rifle. We will be looking at all three types of bullets and here in take a really quick look at the latest rage which is powder coated bullets.
Many of the commercial bullet companies are now offering PC bullets and mold makers are offering powder coated molds with no lube grooves. I am just getting started making my own PC Bullets using the ‘shake and bake’ method. For this method a plastic container which will create static electricity is needed to bond the paint to the cast bullets. Something as simple as a Cool Whip container will hold 75 bullets or so, add paint like Harbor Freight Red or Black and then shake. Next they are dumped into a colander so the excess paint can be shaked off, placed on nonstick aluminum foil and baked at 400° for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool and size as normal cast bullets. They should be sized as soon as they are cool because they will age hard in a few days making them harder to size. If they size hard simply spray them with Hornady One Shot Case Lube which will prevent sticking in the sizing die.
For use in the 16” Winchester 1894 Trapper .45 Colt I have thus far only used relatively mild loads just to see what can be accomplished. Acme offers the two standard .45 Colt bullets namely a 255 grain semi-wadcutter and a 250 grain round nosed flat point. For both of these I go with 7.5 grains of either True Blue or Unique. Muzzle velocities from a pair of Trappers, one with a case colored frame and the other blue are right at 960-975 fps with my best results at 30 yards being groups right at one-inch. I have also had access to a homebrewed 272 grain Powder Coated Hollow Point which shoots exceptionally well using 7.5 grains of Unique for right at the same muzzle velocity and very close to one-inch groups from both leverguns. Syntech’s 230 grain .45 ACP lipstick bullets also work well giving the same muzzle velocity range when loaded over 7.0 grains of Green Dot. Next we will be looking at both cast bullets and jacketed bullets in the Marlin and Winchester leverguns. Stay tuned.
CAPTIONS:
01: In the last quarter of the last century Winchester offered the 16” Model 1894 Trapper chambered in .45 Colt with both case colored and blued receivers.
02: At about the same time Winchester offered their Trapper Model .45 Colt, Marlin also offered their 16” Model 1894.
03: A somewhat modern version of the sixgun/levergun combination is the Ruger Bisley Model and the Winchester 16” Model 1894 both chambered in .45 Colt.
04: John turned this heavy long barreled .45 Colt replica Model 1866 into a very handy to use Trapper Model.
05-05A: Here are some of the bullet shapes and styles which can be powder coated at home.
06: John has had good luck with Acme Powder Coated .45 Colt bullets and they have carried over nicely for use in leverguns.
07: John has had excellent success with powder coated bullets at moderate velocities using both Unique and True Blue (FOR WHATEVER THE Reason I could not edit this photo!!)
08: Targets shot with powder coated bullets in the Winchester Trapper .45 Colt.