I'm afraid all my manuals are older ones, some too old to list the .45 Win Mag, and others sometimes only listing it in the T/C Contender section. (have a 14" barrel for the .45WM...anybody want to trade a 10" for it?
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The single action way to go for a .45 WM is to get a Ruger Blackhawk or Vaquero (NOT "new Vaquero") and have the
.45ACP cylinder reamed to headspace the .45WM. Not the .45 Colt cylinder, as the .45 Colt is .480" at the case mouth, while both the .45acp and the .45WM are .473" at the case mouth.
The Ruger New Vaquero, has a smaller frame size than the Blackhawk or Vaquero, and is not suitable for loads in the .44mag/45Win mag class. The "Ruger only" loads in .45 Colt are only meant for the Blackhawk/Vaquero frame size guns, and were developed well before Ruger brought out the New Vaquero model.
Ruger names are very confusing, especialy since, with the Blackhawk/new Blackhawk there are guns in both the .44mag size and the smaller size frames & cylinders. My rule of thumb is, that if Ruger chambers the gun in .44mag, then the .45 cal version would be convertable to .45WM. A different model, even with the same or very similar name, not chambered in .44mag would NOT be suitable for .45acp to .45Win Mag conversion.
The .45WinMag is essentially a stretched .45ACP, with a case length of 1.198 vs .898" for the ACP. The .45 Colt (Long Colt) has a slightly larger body diameter (approx .007") and so is not able to be converted to the .45WM chambering, its already too large in diameter. Converting the .45acp cylinder is a fairly simple matter of reaming out the chambers to headspace the longer WM round. However, doing that will mean you cannot use .45acp in that cylinder any more.
If you wanted a revolver able to shoot all three rounds, .45 Colt, .45 ACP, and .45 Win Mag, you would need 3 cylinders.
You can actually shoot .45acp out of a .45WM Contender barrel, the extractor will hold the shorter ACP rounds in place. But, I don't care to do that, as the longish bullet jump would argue against max accuracy, and extensive firing of the shorter case round could lead to a "ringed" chamber over time (ok, it will take a lot of time-rounds fired, but why risk it?). And then there is the usual crud build up at the mouth of the short case, which can interfere with chambering the longer case, if not kept clean. Much like .22 shorts in .22 Long Rifle chamber, just not as likely to give issues as soon as .45auto ammo is "cleaner" than .22RF.
Quote:
""like a "motorcycle that will do 180mph, but won't do less than 70..." not a big market for something like that.""
Well the Wildey (my favorite in your collection) is certainly an eclectic creation and belongs in that special class of handgun...
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Actually just the opposite,
The Wildey is the only one that doesn't fit in that class. With its adjusable gas system, the Wildey can go from 0 to 180, at your choice. All the others must have a minimum load level to function. To keep with the analogy, they can all do 0mph (manual cycling of the action to reload), or go from 70 to 180mph, but won't run less than 70,other than 0.
The Wildey can be adjusted to shoot loads (and function automatically) with loads less than "70mph".
As to speedloader issues, the problem is one of tolerances (dimensions). Most of our modern revlovers have frames designed before oversize grips became common, or the virtual standard they are today. Also before circular speedloaders.
Most of the larger grips have a "cut out" to allow for clearance of speedloaders. And in my experience, they do allow clearance. Just barely. More room with some brands/styles than with others. Yes, some of them are so "tight" you can jam up the speedloader, which kind of negates the advantage of a speedloader...
I use the HKS models (ball detent twist knob) and have not had any issues with them coming loose dropping rnds, etc. Have a couple of push type/automatic release, ones and they are much more troublesome.
Agreed moon, or half moon clips are the least troublsome system of rapid revolver reload, BUT, they are not well adapable to all gun designs and calibers without a lot of expert machining, and sometimes, not even then, epdpending on the specifc gun being considered for conversion.
you can get speedloaders for lots and lots of revolvers, including many no longer in production. Ex: would you have a Colt Python cut for moon clips? (ok, your gun, your money, your choice, but I don't know anybody in their right mind who would have it done). No, you wouldn't (would you?
), you'd just get and use speedloaders. Or at least, I would.
And aside from the moon clip issue, can't put the .45Win Mag ina .460S&W, because the S&W chamber is already (.45 Colt dia) cut too large for the Win Mag case.
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