There has never been an offical cartrdige by the name of 45 Long Colt.It is 45 Colt.I watched entire episode of Cowboys on RFDTV an the guy, a cowboy action shooter, was doing a program on 45 Colts. In all instances he kept referring to 45 Long Colt and how accurate he was in all his historical information.Then he went on to brag on his 45 "Long Colt" rifle and how that cartridge was used thru out the west in earlier times. When in fact the chambering of 45 Colts in rifles is only a fairly new thing with the advent of Cowboy Action matches. It was unheard of back in the days of 73 ,32 Winchesters and such.
44-40 was the most prevalent cartridge for those who chose to have the same round for thier hamdgun and rifle. 38 WCF,32-20 and other smaller cartridges were also popular. The 45 colt was only very popular in the handgun.
So if all you Cowboy shooters want to be historically correct,please start referring to it as the 45 Colt.
Just one of my pet peaves like those who ask what caliber did you shoot the elk with.Heck that would could stretch from a 30 carbine to 300mag and above with dozens of "cartridges in between.
Rant over!!!!!
Prob'ly 90-95% of the Cowboy shooters know that and choose to ignore it... since many shoot either the Schofield or the .45 "Cowboy Special" (.45 ACP case length, with a rim) and are usually trying to differentiate quickly between case lengths all being used in guns chambered for .45 Colt.
OTOH, many of the newer CAS folks don't always know the .45 in a rifle isn't authentic... but most choose to ignore that, too, since using a single cartridge in all three cartridge guns simplifies loading (especially loading on the clock), handloading, supplies, etc.
(Many newer folks don't realize the Henry Big Boy isn't really a historical Henry replica, either.)
FWIW, most Cowboy shooters under SASS rules don't care all that much about being so historically accurate as to get in the way of fun... and there's a degree of "coulda been" fantasy involved all the time
NCOWS guys are much more atuned to historal accuracy, but I suspect they attract more historian/shooters than pure shooters.
-R44
