Marlin 1894 45 Colt

Marlin 1894 45 Colt .45 Colt originally was a black-powder cartridge, but modern loadings use smokeless powder. The original black-powder loads called for 40 grains (2.6 g) of black powder behind an Ogival & flat nosed 255-grain (16.5 g) lead bullet. These loads developed muzzle velocities of 1,050 ft/s (320 m/s). However, this load generated too much recoil for the average soldier and was, after a few years, reduced to only 28 grains of black powder yielding 855 ft/s in Army tests. Then the introduction of the S&W Schofield revolver with its shorter cylinder and quick loading “Top-Break” frame caused a problem for the Supply Corps in that they now had to supply two different types of .45 Caliber pistol ammunition. Further troubles were caused by the fact that the Schofield cartridge rim was too wide to load into adjacent chambers in the colt cylinder, turning the Colt into a three shooter, if the wrong ammunition was sent to that particular outpost. So, the Army came up with a short case narrow rim cartridge that only held 26 grains of black powder that could be used in both revolvers. That load gave about 760 Feet per Second with a 250-grain bullet out of the Schofield revolver with its shorter Barrel. ⁶ Because of the power of the 40 grains of black powder and its excellent accuracy, the .45 Colt was known as a sure man stopper and horse killer. It became the most-used cartridge at the time of its introduction, succeeding the .44-40 Winchester.

The .45 Colt at that time did not enjoy the .44-40’s advantage of a Winchester rifle chambered for it being available, thus allowing the use of the same cartridge in both a pistol and a rifle.⁷ According to rumor at the time, this was owing to early .45 Colt cartridges having a very narrow rim and causing ejection issues from a rifle chamber. Today, modern Winchesters, Marlins, and other replicas have remedied this omission almost 50 years after the fact, and the .45 Colt is now available in modern lever-action rifles.

While this aforementioned rumor has been one of the numerous arguments used to explain the lack of a rifle chambered in .45 Colt, it may have simply been a case of Colt refusing to authorize the use of their patented .45 Colt cartridge in other manufacturers’ arms. Only after the expiration of Colt‘s original patents for the .45 Colt did it become available in a rifle.⁷ This, however, does not explain the absence of a .45 Colt chambering (or indeed any of Colt’s own cartridges) in the Colt-Burgess lever-action or Colt Lightning slide-action rifles. Thus lending more credence to the rumored basic problem with Colt’s revolver cartridges when used in rifles. (The modern .45 Colt cartridge rim is still narrow, but features an extractor groove cut into the base of the case, a feature common to most modern cartridges but not at all common in the late 19th century.)

The U.S. Army’s .45 Colt round used in its M1909 revolver, which had a barrel of 5.5 inches (140 mm), fired a 250-grain (16 g) bullet at a muzzle velocity of 738 ft/s (225 m/s), giving a muzzle energy of 297 ft⋅lbf (403 J).⁸ Today’s standard factory loads develop around 400 ft⋅lbf (540 J) of muzzle energy at about 860 ft/s (260 m/s), making it roughly equivalent to modern .45 ACP loads. There are Cowboy Action Shooting loads which develop muzzle velocities of around 750 ft/s (230 m/s).