WWI .455 cal. S&W revolver question.....

[jmoore]

On the Jouster forum thread Emri states that it's .45 Colt, not .45 ACP. Depending on how the conversion was done, it may still be possible to shoot .455 ammo. (The difference being whether the additional metal removal required for the rims was done by counterborre or by facing off the rear of the cylinder.)

.45 ACP conversions hurt value the most. .45 Colt not a whole lot if the markings on the rear of the cylinder are reasonably intact. Actually, the value loss is obscured in the general price variability "noise". There's a fairly wide range and there's no rhyme or reason to it! Junkers bring as much or more than good ones- sometimes!

Information

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[Patrick Chadwick]

You are right. Looking very closely at this photo:



I cannot see any indication of a counterbore, and I think it has been shaved a tiny bit. But not enough for .45 ACP+moonclips. Your opinion? How much would be necessary for .45 Colt?

Patrick

[jmoore]

It's not much- 1mm roughly? Give or take 0.005". I'll try and remember to check my RFC marked one that's been counterbored for the rims of the thicker (but smaller OD'ed) .45 Colt.

[Emri]

Yes, the rear of the cyl. was turned to allow for the thicker Colt rim. Therefore the Ser. # on the cly. was missing, but the yoke and extractor had numbers matching the frame and barrel. The missing number from the cyl. was my first clue that it had been altered before looking in the chambers. Whoever did the machine work did an excellent job, but did a lousy job of chambering. All the chambers were short and a loaded cyl. would not close. I had to rent a reamer to run them out and after that it testfired fine. I now know how much it is worth also. I sold it at a gunshow last weekend for $400. That was the best offer I got with a starting price of $500.

Thanks for y'alls help and interest.

Emri

[jmoore]

Seems to fall in line, price-wise.

As for the counterbores on the example mentioned above, they varied from 0.015" to 0.020" deep. Mostly 0.018". ID is 0.515". Has functioned in both .45 Colt and .455 with no problems. Just don't expect great accuracy with bullet diameters under 0.454" as the throats on all these .45 caliber Smiths, including the factory chambered .45 ACPs, (up until the early 1990s or so) run 0.457-0.460"!

[smellie]

Excuse me for butting in here(being a Colt owner but my only S&W is a .38/200) but I know that Canada actually manufactured Mil Spec .45 Colt ammunition during WW2. The stuff had a military headstamp and a RNFMJ bullet. I have a round around here somewhere in my junk; try to find it.

Hope this helps...... or even just adds fuel to the fire.
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