Jim Taylor
Today was The Day Of The .45
Tuesday, February 22, 2022, 18:14

Originally I had 2 Ruger .45 Colts. One had been given to me by Uncle Bill and one I picked up along the way somewheres. I shot both of them a lot. Eventually I had Uncle Bills gun rebuilt by John Linebaugh.

I had previously flat-topped it, making the top strap resemble the original Rugers. I also milled off the rear of the cylinder so that the cartridge rims were not recessed. I also heated and straightened the trigger somewhat for a better feel for target shooting.

John Linebaugh rebarreld the pistol with an 8" barrel. The barrel was hand-rifles and hand-lapped in Montrose, Colorado by an old time barrel maker. John also replaced the cylinder with a non-fluted cylinder from a .44 Magnum Seveille. He rechambered it to tight .45 Colt specs. Dad and I put a Taylor Throat in it.

I also ran the rear sight all the way down and faced off the screw so that it did not protrude through the frame. I took the rear sight apart and removed the spring, then cut a small peice of metal and installed it in the sight. I screwed the sight blade over against it. On the range I shot the gun, taking the rear sight apart and filing the metal shim until I had the gun shooting center. I filed the rear notch, making it deeper until the gun was hitting 'on' at 25 yards. Then I super-glued the inside of the rear sight, locking it all in place. So though it is an adjustable sight it no longer is adjustable.

Shooting the gun at 200 yards, I filed a notch in the rear of the front sight blade and filled it with solder. That is my 200 yard notch. At 200 yards I hold 6 o'clock on the target with the rear sight level across the 200 yard notch.
I sent the gun to a shop in California and had it black chromed. I had the aluminum grip frame re-anodized. The grip frame is an early Ruger XR3 grip frame, nearly identical to the Colt SAA.

Sam Bass made the elephant ivory grips and Twyla scrimshawed them. I killed a record-book Javelina with this gun as well as a lot of other game. It was my primary gun for many many years.

This gun was the one I used to develop heavy .45 Colt loads back in the 1980's when most people were saying it could not be done. Working with John Taffin and using data that Elmer Keith sent me and that he wrote about, I worked up heavy loads with the 300 gr. Lyman #457191.

These battered the gun fairly heavily. The first problem was the recoil plate set back from the primer hitting it and eventually locked the firing pin. I case hardened a new one and installed it and it is still in the gun, working fine after 40 years.

The other problems were the ejector rod housing being ripped off the gun by the rapid recoil and the cylinder pin latch being beaten until the cylinder pin would not stay in the gun under recoil.

I fiddled around trying to fix them but eventually John Linebaugh's remodel took care of all that.

I had not fired 20 shots with this gun since 2007 or 8 ... I just put it away and never thought about it. After moving back to the States I had it in my gun safe but just never shot it but once. Today I fixed that! Today was the DAY OF THE .45! I went out on the range this afternoon.

Temperatures were in the 80's .. there was a nice breeze blowing, and the old Ruger and I got re-acquainted.
I shot paper plates with a dot aiming point at 25 yards. I did some offhand shooting, standing up on my hind legs like a real human, just to get the feel of the gun. Then, sitting down and using an Outers Pistol Rest I shot some targets. The longer I shot the better the groups got until after an hour or so my eyes started watering and hindering me seeing the sights clearly. But hey, they been around for a long time and are still sorta working so I ain't complaining.

The 2 best loads were the 225 gr. cast round-nose .45 ACP bullet (Lyman mold) over 8.0 grains of Unique and the 260 gr. Keith cast semi-wadcutter (RCBS mold) over 15 gr. 2400.
It was a good day. Shooting the old gun brought back some good memories. I'm happy I took it out today.