The 45 Colt Revolver

The American society in general is changing, people no longer grow up watching westerns and major movie business has stayed away from the western motif for years now. The older generations of readers will know exactly what I mean and so will some of the younger that have experienced the older "westerns" of media. There is of course the ever lasting gob stoppers of western films that Clint Eastwood took to the top in his set of "spaghetti westerns", those to are classics and should be experienced by all. For those of use who grew up on those western movies and T.V. shows hold the Colt 45 cartridge in a special place in our hearts. The 45 Colt was adopted by the U.S. Army in the now famous Colt Single Action Army Revolver as its service side arm.

The Colt Single Action Army Revolver was chambered in the new 45 Colt cartridge, that used a 255 grain bullet and had for that time an impressive quantity of black powder. For 17 years the 45 Colt served the U.S. Army well with is powerful combination of power and accuracy before it was finally replaced by a 38 caliber revolver. Like other military ammunition, the 45 Colt cartridge was an instant success in the civilian market as well, which has kept the 45 Colt cartridge as the oldest centerfire handgun cartridge in normal use today. Just as life seems to see history repeating so does the life of firearm cartridges. Recently the 45 Colt cartridge has been gaining in popularity again. Most of this attention and surge in the 45 Colt cartridge comes from the simple fact that "Cowboy Action Shooting" has become a strong competition and force in the shooting world. Since these competitions require a single action revolver, and the 45 Colt is possibly the most "original" or nostalgic of the cartridges, the 45 Colt seems to be the cartridge of choice. Colt single action revolvers are still available on American markets and there are several well made imported copies of the Colt single action. Ruger and Smith & Wesson both have great single action revolvers chambered in the 45 Colt cartridge, and Ruger alone has sold thousands of their Blackhawk and Vaquero revolvers both chambered in the 45 Colt cartridge.

Factory ammunition has remained loaded with the 250 to 255 grain lead bullet for many years with velocities that run around the 800 to 850 feet per second, and in a 6 inch barrel this I quite impressive. But with the increase in interest and attention that the Cowboy shooting sports are getting, ammunition manufacturers have turned their attention to designing newer bullet styles and hollow points that have started around the 1970's.

While the shooting sports will never allow the 45 Colt cartridge to die, nor the Colt Single Action Revolver for that matter. The base growing up experience of western movies, T.V. shows and the history of how "the west was won" has been in serious decline for years in our society. As American I feel it is time to start re-introducing our youth to our nation's Western history and the great stories of the west. In past generation it was common to play cowboys and Indians, but now all our generation do is collect electronics and play video games, even in video games there is a serious lack of "western" games. We as a society in whole need to remember the west and what made our nation great and what made so many American's "tough as nails", where the good guys wore white and the bad guys wore black, welcome to the west.