http://www.cowboy45special.com/index.html
45 acp length with 45 Colt rim.

I ordered some of the Cowboy 45 special cases and they showed up in 2 days. They are very nice clean looking brass. There is a slight ridge on the inside of the case mouth, so you'll need to use your debur tool thing. I noticed on the site they said they were made by the best brass manufacturer, but never did name any names. I'm assumeing Starline. Anybody know?

I dug out some different 45 Colt cases, cut them down, sized and trimmed to the same length as the 45 spl. .893-4" . I had some Rem, WW and Top Brass. I measured the water capacity of them all and then how far you could seat a bullet until the wall thickness got to .013". I guessed at a .475" case and .451" bullet divide by 2 and came up with .012". the bullets will probably seat further before bulging the cases, but that's just what I settled on.
Top Brass, WW, Rem, 45 spl.
.165", .293", .400", .367" - from the case mouth down.
27.3gns, 28.2gns, 28.3gns, 27.7gns - water capacity.


I measured a bunch of 45 acp cases and came up with 27.1 to 27.4gns H2O. So any 45 acp loads should be lower pressure than useing acp brass.
It looks like you could cut down Rem cases and be fine. With WW cases you would just have to look out for bulging the case walls, but with light bullets it shouldn't be a problem. The Top Brass was much thicker towards the base and probably wouldn't work well for 45 special loads.

I haven't loaded and shot any yet. I think I'll try the 230 BD acp first. Then maybe the 200gn LEE.
I'm wondering if a 45 acp cylinder in the Blackhawk would work any better than the 45 colt cylinder? Maybe I should find a 44 mag cylinder and try cutting tight 45 special chambers. I'll have to keep my eyes out for a cheap cylinder.

The case length looks uneven in the picture, but I seated spent primers when checking the water capacity and they all didn't seat flush.

Those "45 Special" cases appear to be nothing more than 45 Auto Rim. How much difference is there between the 45AR and these new cases?

I don't have any AutoRim cases, but I believe that the rim on the 45AR is thicker than on the regular 45 Colt case. The 45acp revolvers have room for a full moon clip between the base of the cylinder and the recoil sheild.
Anybody have an autorim case they can measure?

You are absolutely correct... The 45 AR case has a .090" rim, and the rim of a Colt case is only .060". I now understand what was being done. The end result is an ACP load that can be fired in a Colt revolver, without the full moon clips.

(I don't see why he didn't just load down to keep from having the "crud ring" in the cylinder, but then I don't always think like other folks...)

I think it was more for a light clean burning load. Then they made the 150gn 45 bullet for extra low recoil.
I have an old 45 double pistol that these should fit nicely.

The person who designed then made them for CAS competition so you could shoot light loads without having to use a filler in the case. He also had a custom carrier made for 2 of his personal Marlin lever actions to cylce them and it makes it a very short cycle for faster times in competition. He posts on the G & A board by the name NYgunner I think. He seems to really have a good idea going. Just wish I would have thought about. NYG, correct me if I'm wrong.
Gary

I do something like this. When my Colt cases develope a crack in the neck, I trim back to Schofield length, then ACP length if the cracks come back or are too long for Schofield. You can't seat a bullet too deep though just using standard Colt cases.

Howdy. A buddy on another forum pointed me to this thread.

Lemme see if I can clear up any misconceptions, and answer any questions folks may have.

I created the Cowboy .45 Special out of the convergence of two lines of experimentation.

One began with use of the short (originally cut down Colt) cases to get the pressure curve of smokeless to shift a bit to the left on the velocity scale in order to make for more efficent and consistent burn at target levels. .45 Colt has never been a big winner for target use, owing to the difficultiies associeated with the HUGE case and small charges of smokeless. Way back in the late 19th century, the Brits cleaned up with .455 Webley against shooters using .45 Colts.

Just as anyone who has ever loaded ACP knows, you sure can wring out some accuracy from .45s if ya have the advantage of a short case designed for smokeless.

The second thread of experimentation was to tame the otherwise excellent, but "hot" 777 for CAS use in .45. This is a really neat powder. it meters great, loads just like smokeless, etc, but is too darned hot for CAS use.

I dug out my cut down cases and tried a load of about 40% less powder and shazaam, I had a load that duplicated Goex Cowboy or APP loads, produced enough pressure to get cases to seal, used FORTY PERCENT less powder, shot to POA with my uncut Rugers, and produced single digit ES and one hole groups.

I campaigned them for about a year in CAS, and they worked. I cut back pretty near 1000 of em, and lemme tell ya what, if I got paid only $4 and hour, they woulda still been expensive to make.

The down side was they were a little fat in the middle, so they ran rough in the press and actually caused the bullets to be squished during crimping. But they were a net gain, and folks who tried em liked em.

soooo, I took the plunge and got with Starline and we devised a proper case which essentially is a .45 Colt with the MIDDLE cut out. The top part where the bullet seats is the same wall thickness as .45 Colt, and the taper begins below the level needed to seat a 250 grain bullet. Down inside the bottom, a generous radius at the case head to wall transition makes em VERY strong, and at the same time makes for slightly less case capacity.

Starline MAKES the brass, but it is distributed and warehoused by me. They don't sell it, stock it, etc. Please do not call Starline asking for it (they get a little tired of re-directing folks ). go to www.cowboy45special.com

Like most new starline brass, they do have a tad of a ridge at the case mouth when new, but that works out with the first loading, and has not been a problem. Expect the same rugged quality as all other Starline brass.

the website www.cowboy45special.com offers suggested data for CAS, but in truth any Autorim or ACP data can be used in modern revolvers, and in strong guns like Rugers, .45 Super data can be used as well.

The brass works in any .45 Colt revolver, single shot or derringer ever made, as well as in .45 ACP cylinders in Rugers, .45 ACP Taurus Tracker without moon clips, Any .45 Schofield or .45 Colt conversion cylinder for cap and ball guns, and in .45 Schofield revolvers. Specially prepared Marlin rifles run it VERY well, and toggle link winchester clones have been prototyped wth a specially made carrier sucessfully, and the carriers will be out very soon.
Ten-X ammunitoon is offering loaded Cowboy .45 Special BPC (bp sub) ammo, using a new, exclusive milder formulation of triple Seven as well.

Check out the website www.cowboy45special.com and if there are any questions, I'd be happy to answer email (ady on the website for inquiries).

Bottom line, it essentially is for all the .45 Colt revolvers in existance, what the .45 ACP is for the 1911, good food

Hi Jack, I'd like to say thanks for takeing the plunge and getting this dandy little cases made.
Now I'm going to have to get a levergun in 45 Colt.
Have you noticed any difference in accuracy between useing a 45 Colt cylinder vs a 45 ACP cylinder?
I have a couple of the FMJ 45/410 derringers and always wished I could shoot 45acp in them. These should be even better.
I ordered 100 cases to check them out and was suprised at the low cost. It's about what Midway charges for regular 45 Colt cases. I'm going to have to lay in a supply of these little jewels.
thanks again.

LAR45, Theoretically, a .45 ACP cylinder should be a little better, but I don't own any of em (or I probably never would have done this) Honestly, unless you're shooting off bags, the low ES in the C 45 S cases makes for such good accuracy compared to .45 Colt at these modest levels, it would be hard to notice the improvement.

I think my load of 4.3 gr 700X and a 200 would be perfect for anything you might ever use the .45/.410 derringer for. It isn't gonna be a barn burner, but will maim a lot less on the back end, and still be an aweful insult on the front end