Sleeving a 45 Colt cylinder to 45 Schofield

[KirkD]

A friend of mine got an old Colt SAA chambered in 45 Colt. He needs to get it chambered in 45 Schofield. The chambers are exactly the same, except that the 45 Schofield chambers are shorter. It occurred to me that, instead of getting a new cylinder, he could have a sleeve ring installed inside each chamber in the cylinder to accomplish the same purpose. Does anyone know of someone who does this sort of thing? No reaming needs to be done, just the insertion of the sleeve to shorten the chamber.

[Don McDowell]

Is it for some sort of legal requirement? Otherwise there is no particular reason to change the chambers. The schofield works just fine in the colt cylinders, its just a tad shorter, and instead of the 250 gr bullet the schofield used the 230 gr bullet.

[Catshooter]

Kirk,

I can't help you with a recommendation, but you are correct. A cooled ring pressed into a heated chamber will give him what he needs. Good luck.


Cat

[Mescalero]

Not for long I don't think

[J Miller]

I'm tending to agree with Mascalero. I don't think rings would stay in the chambers for long.

Your friend would be better off hunting up another cylinder of the same vintage as the gun and having it rechambered to .45 S&W.

Joe

[GregT]

The correct answer is: Shoot the shorter (.45 Schofield) in the cylinder as is! No need to sleeve anything. Make sure you clean the chambers well or it will be dificult to chamber a regular .45 Colt round after a bit of shooting .
That is all!
GregT

[Pisgah]

No different than .38 Special in a .357 cylinder. No need at all to do anything to the cylinder.

[Griff]

I think it's a Canadian thaing. I was told by a Canadian Customs officer that he couldn't keep the .45Colt round I found in my coat (as I EXITED) up there. Something about "that powerful a round."

I'm with Mescalero and JMiller, I don't think the rings wouldn't hold in place with the heat generated. You could sleeve the cylinder, but... the .45 Colt has very little metal to do that. The best bet would be to find a .357 cylinder and rebore with the .45Schofield chambers. My last cylinder replacement was done by Oglesby & Oglesby in Springfield, IL. He found a NIB 3rd cylinder in .357 and rebored it to .45Colt.

[Sixgun]

You could sleeve the cylinder, but... the .45 Colt has very little metal to do that. The best bet would be to find a .357 cylinder and rebore with the .45Schofield chambers.

Right................then keep both cylinders ------------6

[Mescalero]

In theory it should work.
From a machinists point it wont work, the sleeve would be too thin walled to have any parent material retention properties.

[Old Savage]

Send me the Colt. This just won't work. He can come winters to shoot it.

[jhrosier]

It would require proper design and precise fitting, well within the abilities of a good gunsmith to complete.
The inserts would have to fit close enough to keep combustion gases from passing between the insert and the chamber wall from either direction.
The simplest solution would be to solder the insert in place. However, there are many modern adhesives that would probably work as well as the solder.
I would try plain old Loctite Bearing Mount first.

Jack

[KirkD]

Is it for some sort of legal requirement?

Yes. 45 Colts fall into a different legal class.
I think Mescalero has a good point. The rings would be far too thin .... about 10 thou, to bind to the walls, and there isn't enough material in the walls to ream and sleeve the whole chamber. Looks like a different cylinder is the way to go.

Thanks for your offer, Old Savage. I'll mention that to him as option #3.

[Don McDowell]

Yup the best bet is a different cylinder rechambered. Plus that would have the benefit of being able to order the reamer to make the throat diameter match the groove diameter of the barrel.

[Old Savage]

#3, 3? - why that should be option ONE - he has had that gun long enough for sure.

[Mescalero]

I don't have the exact numbers in my head, I think it could be done.
But it would require the access to and the skills of a good jig bore operater and a good lathe operator.
Sadly, I am not that good
And it would be very expensive.

[Don McDowell]

Colts marked the chambering on the barrel. Would probably be a quicker/easier fix just to rebarrel and stamp it 45 s&w....

[Mescalero]

He would run the risk of some enterprising Mountie dropping a .45 Colt in it, then busted.
probably not an insignificent offense in Canada.

[Don McDowell]

Barrel is going to tell them its a 45 colt.

[GregT]

Still don't understand why the Schofield round could not just be fired in the longer .45 Colt chamber and used that way? Why fix something that is just fine as is? Must be a Wisconsin thing. Good thing that the .455 Eley round is not thrown into the mix... Canada likes that powerful round, but only in New Service Colts.
GregT
Hayward, Wisconsin

[M. M. Wright]

Kirk,
Would .45 ACP be allowed? If so, I have a Colt cylinder that could be pried from my grasp. Hate to think of an old 1st gen gun being modified.

[KirkD]

Barrel is going to tell them its a 45 colt.

Not once it has been re-chambered.

45 ACP is allowed, but it is kinda pushing the edge. I think the way to go is to swap out the cylinder for one chambered for a genuine antique cartridge like the 455 Eley. That way, everyone is happy.

[Don McDowell]

Barrel is going to tell them its a 45 colt.

Not once it has been re-chambered.

45 ACP is allowed, but it is kinda pushing the edge. I think the way to go is to swap out the cylinder for one chambered for a genuine antique cartridge like the 455 Eley. That way, everyone is happy.

Rechambering won't remove the 45 colt stamp from the barrel..

[KirkD]

Barrel is going to tell them its a 45 colt.

Not once it has been re-chambered.

45 ACP is allowed, but it is kinda pushing the edge. I think the way to go is to swap out the cylinder for one chambered for a genuine antique cartridge like the 455 Eley. That way, everyone is happy.

Rechambering won't remove the 45 colt stamp from the barrel..

No, but it is going to be removed once the re-chambering is done to avoid confusion later on.

[Mike Hunter]

Kirk

I've been down this road before, best bet is find another cylinder and have it rechambered.

Some of the SAA clones, have cylinders that work well.

V/R

Mike

[piller]

Just a question. If you get another cylinder, and have it bored for the Schofield, does keeping the other cylinder cause you andy penalties based on Canada's laws?

[KirkD]

Just a question. If you get another cylinder, and have it bored for the Schofield, does keeping the other cylinder cause you andy penalties based on Canada's laws?

No. But the moment the old cylinder is installed into the antique, it becomes a restricted, non-antique. It is best to not even keep the two together but store the old one in a separate place so there is no appearance of any shenanigans.

Mike Hunter: Thanks, Mike. The sleeving idea occurred to me as a possibly cheaper fix, but now it looks like it is not such a good idea after all. I'm advising my friend to get another cylinder bored for 45 Schofield. I gave my 45 Schofield cylinder reamer to another fellow up here who does stuff like that, so I can direct my friend to him.