The modern sport of cowboy action shooting has resulted in .45 Colt carbines being offered for the first time. The 357 is the more versatile, and with 38 spl. .45 Long Colt - The premier revolver cartridge of the black powder era, it remained our most powerful handgun cartridge until the advent of the .357 Magnum. Muzzle energy of handgun between 143 and 360 foot pounds. Historically, it was never chambered in rifles. If you take a low energy HP or JHP then the .45 acp is going to do more damage to soft tissue. A 260 Grain 45 Colt load leaves an 18 inch barrel at about 1850 FPS. The initial cost spread out over many reloading times waters the price per shot cost difference. What is the difference between .357 Magnum and .45 Colt? Any farther, and you encounter massive drops in energy and substantial bullet drop. The .45-70 is commonly thought of as a long-range round. With gravity acting the same on both, at 200 yards they could be about the same as far as drop. We learned a lot when testing the 357 Magnum and the many loads available for it. The .357 and .45 Colt are best at bowhunting distances inside 50 yards. Standard Projectile weights are significantly different . For a 260 grain Colt to go so fast, it would have to be loaded pretty hot, while a 158 grain 357 would be about average. If you took a round nose FMJ for both the .357 is going to out perform a .45 acp. The projectile sizes are different- one is .357-.358 inch in diameter, the other is .452 -.454 inch in diameter. There was little point in doing the same with the 45 Colt here; we wished to test only the high-penetration loads. For sure use more powder - maybe 25% more. Yes, I know you can get 180 grain 45 Colt bullets but I feel most would use a larger, more period correct lead cast bullet in the 45. The .44 Magnum can stretch that a bit more, with the ideal range being 50 to 100 yards—only a marginal increase over .357 and .45 Colt. The .45 acp practice round hps & jphs are typically 230 gn moving at around 700 fps with about 400 ft lbs of energy. .357 180 grain jhp over 2400 gives between 600-950 fps (handgun min/max) and same load fires 1143-1500 fps (min/max) from rifle. The 45 Colt has slightly more potential, _if_ you handload for it,but in factory loads the difference is negligible. SAAMI Standard MAP (Operating pressures) 45 Colt operates circa 14,000 psi piezo. I obviously won both, but the 357 magnum was far more efficient, and would have done better in the second than the 45acp. A 158 Grain 357 load leaves an 18 inch barrel at about 1830 FPS. For instance, when deploying the 357 Magnum, we tested a number of fast-opening JHP loads. Low energy as in practice rounds for both. the easiest to find ammo and components for. After the second fight, I went back to the 357 mag. the 45 colt has the edge in power however it also had the edge in cost to shoot unless you hand load. 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