The origins of revolvers in this chambering is quite interesting, although it's not exactly a secret. In 1917, with America's entry in the war in europe looming, the US military realised that the issue sidearm, the Colt model 1911 (all hail St John M Browning.) could not be produced in numbers large enough to satisfy the Army's need in the coming conflict. So they turned to Colt and Smith&Wesson, who both chambered existing large frame revolver designs for the Army's issue pistol cartridge, the 45ACP. You can still find these revolvers in the used market, usually called Colt or Smith&Wesson model of 1917. They are sturdy, reliable, and fun shooters. Even as they approach their centennial.
I shoot this revolver, about once a week, usually in a plate shoot, attenpting to knock down 5 metal plates at approximately 10m range, as fast as possible, in competition with another shooter. On a good day, I can take them down in 5 seconds or less, which isn't bad, but isn't really good enough to be considered good :) Hopefully, with more practice, I can do that regularly.
I also engage in more traditional target shooting, at ranges from 7 to 100m with this revolver. Usually around 10m to 25m as that is the maximum range the gun range I usually shoot at has. The revolver is quite capable of keeping all hits in the 5cm bull at 25m, and ringing an 20cm metal gong every time at 100m, if I do my part.
Ammo for the 45ACP chambering is readily available, it was a US military issue for so long, that there are numerous companies today, still making cheap "surplus" ammo, even though it's no longer general issue in the US services. In addition, there are some excelent modern loads, suitable for home defence purposes, if that is your desire. One of the nice things about shooting this round in a revolver rather than the more common autoloader, is that feeding isn't a problem, and you can load light and heavy loads in the same cylinder, and not worry about cycling the slide, or failing to eject the spent round.
You can also reload your own ammo, using the cases again and again. Since the case is generally the most expensive componant of the cartridge (at least for inexpensive plinking ammo) reusing it allows you to save a not inconsiderably amount of money. I have not started reloading yet, but am considering it, despite the space requirements, because at the moment, I spend a lot on ammo for this, and the other firearms we own.
Enough for now, I will add more guns later, both to this page, and to my armoury :) until then, safe shooting, and keep the powder dry.
Last modified on
Fri Mar 12 01:12:11 PST 2004