mike venturino and jim wilson beat this subject to death in the mid 90's. mikes tome on the long colt nomenclature is a classic. if i can shake my memory bank well enough he said a lot of the soldiers at the time did not like the recoil of the peacemaker and instead of using the 45 colt ie: long colt used the 45 s&w or short colt loads. can you imagine the logistics problems this caused in the army? the peacemaker could use either but the s&w model 3 users were out to lunch.
it was the opinion of the day that the s&w model 3 or schofield was a far superior cavalry firearm because of of it's breakopen action which facilitated easier reloading for a horseman. simply lift the latch, place the barrel against your leg, force open the action, all the used casings popped out grab the barrel with your left hand and load the fresh ammo with your right all the while maintaining control of your horse with the reins.
in my opinion the schofield was one of and still is one of the most beautiful revolvers ever made. i just love the lines of that piece. strength was not it's major factor. but with ballistics very similar to a 45 acp, who gives a rats rump.
stepping back, mikes loads are more for the peacemaker crowd, while jim wilsons loads were for the handgun hunting crowd, like me. mr wilson was a ruger b/h man from the word go. any of the loads he built were ready willing and able to harvest whitetails and texas hogs. i still use his hodgdon u/c load with oregon trail 255swc bullets for whitetails every year.
if you like the 45 colt, long or short versions you will like mike and jims articles from shooting times also. they were priceless. as far as i'm concerned the 45 colt beats the 44 mag hands down.
let the flames begin.
