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The 45 Long Colt has a thinner case than the 44 Mag. Not a big deal most of the time, but durability may become an issue. Also, please don’t use brass of unknown origin. (Old, old cases had “balloon head” construction, meaning the head of the case was formed by folding the brass to form the rim, think, 22 rimfire with a flattened rim.
A while back I debated the 45 colt vs 44 mag debate and ultimately went with the 44 mag. I can’t even remember why. The mistake I know i made was I bought a 7.5” Super Redhawk. This was before I shot my first single action so I really regret not getting a Super Blackhawk. What are people’s opinions on 45 colt vs 44 mag.
The 45 Long Colt has a thinner case than the 44 Mag. Not a big deal most of the time, but durability may become an issue. Also, please don’t use brass of unknown origin. (Old, old cases had “balloon head” construction, meaning the head of the case was formed by folding the brass to form the rim, think, 22 rimfire with a flattened rim.
The .44 mag in factory form is quite a bit hotter than the .45 Long Colt. Now notice that I said "in factory form". In strong guns such as the five shot .45's built by Hamilton Bowen and John Linebaugh, the 45 Colt can be loaded to .454 Casull levels which the .44 mag could never be loaded to.
Do the math. The .44 mag is 90.08 % of the .45 Colt. Or another way of saying it is the area of the Colt 1.11 times the area of trhe mag. Or the 45 has an 11% larger surface area than the 44. Now, wound volume increases even more. It is surface area times the length of the cylinder or wound channel.
The .45 Colt in Ruger pistols and Model 92 lever actions can be loaded a little hotter than .44 Magnum with handloads, so I never felt the need for the .44 Mag myself. I do find myself shooting the .357's more though because the price of bullets and components is much better and the .357 is plenty powerful enough for my needs.
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My lever guns are all Marlins. I have Marlin 1894s in .357, .44 and .45 Colt. The 1894C .357 is my truck gun, along with a .357 revo. If you have a strong .45 Colt like a Ruger New Model Blackhawk, a .45 Colt Marlin would be a nice match, but the .45 Marlins are CAS match rifles. They are available in 20" and 24" barrels.
The mechanical differences between a .45 Colt Blackhawk and a .44 Magnum Blackhawk are minimal, as are the mechanical differences between a .45 Colt lever rifle and a .454 Casull model. They could handle almost the same pressures, and compared with the .44 Magnum, the .45 Colt round achieves the same muzzle energy with less pressure.
Other alternatives are the .41 mag, if you can find one, and a NEW .45 Long Colt. they give more power than the .357, but less recoil and noise than the .44, and the .45 LC can be handloaded to produce .44 mag. ballistics in new guns made to handle the pressures.