S&W Schofield 2000

[rando8586]

Bought 1 Saturday. Think can load with my 45acp dies.

[Old No7]

No pictures?

Forum Rules say "it didn't happen"...

Old No7

[Blaine]

Those Schofields are an itch that I have failed to scratch....Congrats!!

[Ysabel Kid]

No pictures?

Forum Rules say "it didn't happen"...

Old No7

+1

[rando8586]

Need the easiest instructions on How to Post Pics!

[campsalot]

Bought 1 Saturday. Think can load with my 45acp dies.

I load 45 Schofield using 45 Schofied dies. My first inclination is to say what you want to do won't give a full length resize and probably won't crimp right. 45 Schofield is a good bit longer than 45 ACP or 45 Auto Rim. Also, while the 45 Schofield rim is the same thickness as a 45 Colt rim, I think it is slightly larger in diameter - it may not fit in a 45 Colt shell holder.

All that said, I've never actually tried what you want to do. If I get a minute I'll give it a try and let you know what happened. Ill try to use a 45 colt shell holder and 45 acp dies.

Like Aaaarnold used to say "I'll be back."

[campsalot]

Bought 1 Saturday. Think can load with my 45acp dies.

The short answer is - it works - sort of.

A #3 RCBS Shell holder (45 ACP) won't work (of course). A #20 RCBS shell holder (45 Colt) doesn't work either. I used an RCBS #6 which, I think, is a 45 Auto Rim shell holder. The #6 works but there's some vertical play (to be expected because the rim on 45 Auto Rim is thick).

I seemed to get a full resize using a 45 ACP sizer die.
Belling was, of course, no problem.
The 45 ACP seat die worked. I didn't try that many but I wasn't getting what I wanted for a crimp - hardly surprising since 45 ACP headspaces on the case mouth. A nice taper crimp should hold given that a bunch of people shoot 45 ACP in revolvers and 45 Schofield isn't a hot cartridge.

Anyhow it seems to work.

My Schofield dies are Lyman and the Lyman shell holder for 45 Schofield is an X-14B.

I hope that is helpful.

[AmBraCol]

Need the easiest instructions on How to Post Pics!

send them in an email to webservant@sixshootercommunity.com

include a link to this thread and a request to include them.

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[Ray Newman]

Blaine: failed to scratch the itch because you really don't want one or can't find one? I know there is a range rumor about a Navy Arms Schofield -- US cavalry Schofield reproduction, .45 Colt, New in the box/unfired, made in 1995, serial number not quite 500. If you are interested, I could track down the source of the rumor ....

[44shooter]

Is the case too short to adjust a 45 Colt die? I mean I have dies that say 38sp/357mag/max. That is a lot of length difference

[campsalot]

Is the case too short to adjust a 45 Colt die? I mean I have dies that say 38sp/357mag/max. That is a lot of length difference

I tried it. The short answer is that it doesn't really work.

45 Schofield cases won't fit in an RCBS #20 shell holder (for 45 Colt) so I, again, used an RCBS #6 shell holder (which I think is for 45 Auto Rim). As I said before there is some vertical play when you do that.

45 Colt dies will full length resize 45 Schofield cases without a problem (not surprising).
45 Colt dies will bell 45 Schofield (again, not all that surprising).
However, using 45 Schofield cases in RCBS 45 Colt dies I could not crimp. I could seat the bullet to the proper depth but the die was bottoming out on the shell holder before I could get any sort of crimp.

If one is trying to avoid buying 45 Schofield dies. I think the best bet is get a shell holder that actually fits 45 Schofield (making due with an Auto Rim shell holder doesn't work all that well because the rim on 45 Auto Rim is a lot thicker and the rim on 45 Schofield seems to be a tad wider so its loose vertically but a tight fit when one takes the case in and out. Then, if one can live with a taper crimp use the 45 ACP dies with the 45 Schofield shell holder.

When I decided to load 45 Schofield I just went ahead and bought 45 Schofield dies.



My bizarre question is: Would it be possible to load 45 Cowboy Special with a 45 ACP taper crimp? I shoot a lot of 45 revolver (45 Colt, 45 ACP, 45 Auto Rim, 45 Schofield). A Smith and Wesson model 25 in 45 ACP should be able to headspace on the case mouth even without moon clips (won't extract without moon clips but it should headspace on the case mouth). If one were to reload 45 Cowboy Special with a taper crimp wouldn't it do the same thing. I know the rim is too thin so it probably wouldn't extract properly (moon clips are why 45 Auto Rim has such thick rims) but shouldn't 45 Cowboy Special, with a 45 ACP taper crimp, headspace and fire properly in a 45 ACP revolver?

I'm sure that sounds bizarre but I can be sort of absent minded when gathering up stuff for the range and having some ammunition that would fire in a 45 ACP revolver or a 45 Colt revolver (that I could just leave in my range bag) has some appeal to me. I haven't wanted to spend the money for 45 Cowboy Special brass for an experiment I wasn't sure would work.

[2ndovc]

Is the case too short to adjust a 45 Colt die? I mean I have dies that say 38sp/357mag/max. That is a lot of length difference

I tried it. The short answer is that it doesn't really work.

45 Schofield cases won't fit in an RCBS #20 shell holder (for 45 Colt) so I, again, used an RCBS #6 shell holder (which I think is for 45 Auto Rim). As I said before there is some vertical play when you do that.

45 Colt dies will full length resize 45 Schofield cases without a problem (not surprising).
45 Colt dies will bell 45 Schofield (again, not all that surprising).
However, using 45 Schofield cases in RCBS 45 Colt dies I could not crimp. I could seat the bullet to the proper depth but the die was bottoming out on the shell holder before I could get any sort of crimp.

If one is trying to avoid buying 45 Schofield dies. I think the best bet is get a shell holder that actually fits 45 Schofield (making due with an Auto Rim shell holder doesn't work all that well because the rim on 45 Auto Rim is a lot thicker and the rim on 45 Schofield seems to be a tad wider so its loose vertically but a tight fit when one takes the case in and out. Then, if one can live with a taper crimp use the 45 ACP dies with the 45 Schofield shell holder.

When I decided to load 45 Schofield I just went ahead and bought 45 Schofield dies.



My bizarre question is: Would it be possible to load 45 Cowboy Special with a 45 ACP taper crimp? I shoot a lot of 45 revolver (45 Colt, 45 ACP, 45 Auto Rim, 45 Schofield). A Smith and Wesson model 25 in 45 ACP should be able to headspace on the case mouth even without moon clips (won't extract without moon clips but it should headspace on the case mouth). If one were to reload 45 Cowboy Special with a taper crimp wouldn't it do the same thing. I know the rim is too thin so it probably wouldn't extract properly (moon clips are why 45 Auto Rim has such thick rims) but shouldn't 45 Cowboy Special, with a 45 ACP taper crimp, headspace and fire properly in a 45 ACP revolver?

I'm sure that sounds bizarre but I can be sort of absent minded when gathering up stuff for the range and having some ammunition that would fire in a 45 ACP revolver or a 45 Colt revolver (that I could just leave in my range bag) has some appeal to me. I haven't wanted to spend the money for 45 Cowboy Special brass for an experiment I wasn't sure would work.

Just got a big box of .45 Cowboy Special dropped of yesterday.
This is what Starline states in it's description: " Generally these can be loaded using .45 Colt dies and a modified (shortened) crimp die, or .45 Auto Rim roll crimp die."
I should have time this weekend to experiment a bit and will post how it goes.

I have to include a picture of my Uberti, Wells Fargo model and the Case Bowie I stole from Blaine!

jb

[44shooter]

I don’t see why Cowboy Special wouldn’t chamber and fire just fine at proper 45 ACP length headspaced on the mouth. Not sure why anyone would want to with ACP brass being much more available and auto rim brass being a superior option.

[marlinman93]

If I already had a die set in .45 Colt, I'd simply order another seating die for .45 Colt and have a machinist cut the bottom off enough to shorten it. Then bevel the hole to clean it up and it's ready to go.
I've actually done the same by just using my belt sander to remove excess length, as the cut at the bottom doesn't need to be super precise, just fairly straight.
It will work better than any other methods and cost you less than a complete set.