When Did the Schofield Round Lose Popularity?

[Silver Jack Hammer, SASS #56398]

Pards,

 

Can anybody tell me how the Schofield lost popularity and when? The Army quit the "long" round and went all Schofield in the black powder days so all the ammo would fit in both the Colt and Smith and Wesson pistols. That makes sense. When the Colt gained in popularity in the civilian market the "long" cartridge was favored in the black powder days, I think. That makes sense. Why wasn't the Schofield a popular round with the advent of smokeless powder? The Army liked the Schofield because it made the Colt easier to shoot. Why didn't this catch on in the civilian world? Did nobody want to buy them or did nobody wanted to make them.

 

I've got a lot of nice Starline Schofield brass but it looks dumb with ACP bullets. I've got a genuine old Schofield round coming and plan to have a mold made so I can make a round that looks authentic to the way the Schofield looked on the frontier.

 

I'd appreciate any help,

 

Thanks,

 

Silver

[Go West]

Mike Venterino says the army shipped Schofield ammo into the 80's & 90's. The logistics of getting the right .45 ammo to the right guns proved to be problematic and ended the short round experiment. I would say the preponderance of .45 Colt guns made the case for that ammo. If the Schofield ammo came out first, it might have ended up differently. The army could appreciate a more economical round with less lead and powder. Also, if the frame window of the Colt SAA had been too small to fit the Colt round, it might have been a moot point.

 

I've shot a few SWC designed for .45 autos, so I wouldn't let that embarass you by using them in your pistols. Sometimes, you just make do with what you have.

 

This post might be better placed in the regular forum section, this is the classifieds.

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Started losing popularity in 1877. That is the year S&W introduced the New Model Number 3 and it was not chambered for the .45 S&W. So, basically, there were the Schofields and no other revolvers chambered for the round.

[Parson John Tourmann, #67768]

Just load um with the same 200 gr 452 RNFP you do the 45 Colt. I shoot all S&Ws in revs, 6 Remme 58s with Kirsts, 3 uberti 73s. Use colts in a Marlin rifle.

Just my view,Parson

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Click here and then scroll down to the .45 Colt and Schofields. The bullet shape wasn't the same throughout production by various manufacturers through the years. A 200 grain RNFP is pretty close to several that were used.

 

http://www.oldammo.com/march08.htm

[Jess Ducky]

As to the history of it, I believe the U.S. Army actually could not use the .45 Schofield in their first 50,000 or so Colt Armies because the rim was too wide, and the Colt cylinder too small to take six cartridges. Most of the .45 Schofield Smiths were surplused out of the Army in the late 1870's, and Bannermans and others sold them, some with shortened barrels, with quite a few going to Wells Fargo, or so I have read. In 1878, the army developed and had produced a .45 Colt round for the Colt pistols that used a 225 grain bullet over 28 grains of black, with card wad fillers to take up the extra space. This lighter round was thought necessary because a good number of the original Colts blew up using full power ammunition, and more importantly, the average trooper found it difficult to deal with the recoil. The "long" designation, which never was an official part of the .45 Colt cartridge nomenclature until quite recently, came about when the .45 ACP came into prominence. When there were actually two ".45 Colt" cartridges on the market, folks took to calling the revolver cartridge the "long" one. The .45 S&W was usually called just that. Good a theory as any, I guess. Jess

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

As to the history of it, I believe the U.S. Army actually could not use the .45 Schofield in their first 50,000 or so Colt Armies because the rim was too wide, and the Colt cylinder too small to take six cartridges. Most of the .45 Schofield Smiths were surplused out of the Army in the late 1870's, and Bannermans and others sold them, some with shortened barrels, with quite a few going to Wells Fargo, or so I have read. In 1878, the army developed and had produced a .45 Colt round for the Colt pistols that used a 225 grain bullet over 28 grains of black, with card wad fillers to take up the extra space. This lighter round was thought necessary because a good number of the original Colts blew up using full power ammunition, and more importantly, the average trooper found it difficult to deal with the recoil. The "long" designation, which never was an official part of the .45 Colt cartridge nomenclature until quite recently, came about when the .45 ACP came into prominence. When there were actually two ".45 Colt" cartridges on the market, folks took to calling the revolver cartridge the "long" one. The .45 S&W was usually called just that. Good a theory as any, I guess. Jess

 

You need to read the link I posted. It explains how the "Long" got applied to Colt. Back in the day, both the .45 Colt and .45 S&W at various times used the same ".45 Colt" headstamp. Had nothing to do with the .45 ACP.