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Ammo ??
Da-Tank
Member Posts: 4,074
Picked up a round today, I've never seen one quite like this one.
It looks like a .45 long colt but its about 3/8 inch shorter in the case. Marked on the rim Peters Co. .45 Govt. This is a rimed round.
What, when? Thank you
It looks like a .45 long colt but its about 3/8 inch shorter in the case. Marked on the rim Peters Co. .45 Govt. This is a rimed round.
What, when? Thank you
Comments
Regards,
22WRF, are sure it's 45 auto rim and not 45 Scofield?
Regards,
I don't believe the Schofield was called 45 Gov't...,. The 45 Auto Rim was.
Love them Pre-64's!!!!-Bob
The Schofield and SAA were both issued to U.S. Troops....but .45 Colt ammo was too long for the Schofield cylinder, and Schofield ammo had too thick a rim for the SAA.
One can see that having two similar caliber, but different cartridges, for two different issue revolvers could lead to some embarrassing supply problems in the field.
"When the chips are down, having any ammunition that will fit and work in the gun at hand is much better than throwing rocks."
".....the 45 Colt Government, combining the shorter case and smaller rim worked (after a fashion) in either gun."
"Available information suggests that this cartridge was available between the late 1870s and the 1930s."
COTW, 9th Edition, Page 306
"There is nothing lower than the human race - except the french." (Mark Twain) ". . . And liberals / demoMAGGOTS" (me)
The Army produced .45 revolver ammunition in the Colt case length until 1873. In 1874 they standardized on the Schofield case length of 1.10" (nominal) because, the film industry aside, both weapons were used, not just the SAA. The label terminology varied over the next quarter century, but as a practical matter, it is Schofield ammo. Your ammo may or may not have a headstamp. It may also be exterior primed (box should say something about "Reloading") - if it does, it is mega bucks as the exterior primed design as we know it today was not adopted until 1882 although small development lots were produced from 1877 onward. If these are the standard Benet system inside primed rounds of that era, $10 each is definitely realistic and the sealed box is somewhere north of $200 depending on its condition.
Da Tank -
Did a lot of searching. There were no contracts for .45 revolver rounds in the 1800s and Peters didn't begin operations until 1887. In all my references, the term ".45 Govt." is not listed as being used as the title of any revolver ammo by any maker, nor do I have any record of having seen such a usage on a specimen (the latter is purely anecdotal evidence). Commercial Schofield ammo was / is marked ".45 S&W." OTOH, this term is routinely used for .45-70 rifle headstamps. I'm virtually certain that what you have is post WW I rifle brass cut down and formed into some sort of light load / revolver brass.
"There is nothing lower than the human race - except the french." (Mark Twain) ". . . And liberals / demoMAGGOTS" (me)
Measure the case length. .45 Colt is 1.29. Schofield and .45 Colt Gov't is 1.10. .45 Auto Rim is .898.
If the case length is 1.10, measure the rim diameter. If it's .522 you have the Schofield round. If it's .506 it's .45 Colt Government.