From: kkrh@troi.cc.rochester.edu (K. Karcich)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Colt Anaconda in .45 Colt - a review
Date: 19 Dec 92 00:24:37 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York

Several months ago, I became aware of the fact that Colt was chambering a
run of the Anaconda model in .45 Colt. Since I have done a lot of cast 
bullet shooting with my Ruger Blackhawk in this cartridge, I was interested
enough to place an early order. I was apprehensive, however, since I have
read several posts in this group stating that the quality of the Anaconda
was poor by Colt's earlier standards. Anyway, one week ago, my gunshop called
and said my new toy was in, come and get it.

Overall impressions

Fit, finish and overall polish was good with no rounded off corners but the
matt finish stainless was not as well polished as earlier Colt revolvers.
The Colt rubber grip was poorly fitted with a painful projection just behind
the trigger guard. I solved this problem by reshaping this portion of the
grip with a dremel sanding drum. I did not care for the barrel crown which
while functionally good was not pleasing in appearance and showed evidence
of tool marks in the recess. The barral interior appeared to be extremely
smooth, in fact smoother than my ruger or even my Freedom Arms Casull. I
hoped that this bode well for my cast bullet loads. Cylinder to barrel
gap was uniform at .006, the trigger excellent at 48 ounces with a clean
no travel break (Single Action mode), and double action was smooth and very
consistant.
	Cylinder throat dimensions were disappointingly large at .455. I didn't
like this even though this meets SAAMI specs. I feared that the rest of the
chamber would be large, allowing excessive case expansion when firing heavy
loads. The SAAMI specs allow .006 radial clearance between the unfired case
and the chamber wall which is too much and results in bulged cases. By 
comparison, the .44 mag allows only .003, which is why this cartridge has
does not bulge cases with heavy loads. My lead slugs came out at .486, so
this chamber meets the SAAMI spec but just barely. Custom chambers for the
.45 Colt are usually cut much tighter, about .483 for the chamber and .453
for the throats. The implication here is that this gun may bulge cases and
may not do well with .452 jacketed bullets. The bore is right on the money
at .452.

Initial Firing Test

I did't have any factory ammo, so I grabbed a box of lead bullet loads 
develloped for the ruger. This load is hot, with a substantial quantity
of H110, pushing a 260 gr keith hardcast plain base slug with LBT Blue
(These slugs are sized .454 for large throats)
lube. I started at 15 yards because I didn't know where the sights where.
The first shot was dead center with a 6 oclock hold. I thought I missed
the second time because there was only one hole, but it turned out that
the second slug went thru the first hole. The rest of the five rounds
went into about 1.5 inches offhand, with 3 holes touching. Since I am
not the greatest pistol shot I think it says quite a bit about that heavy
shrouded barrel and excellent trigger. I stepped back to 25 yards, and 
the point of impact was about 1" higher, the group was slightly larger,
but the result was otherwise the same. All cases extracted easily and
case expansion was not as bad as I feared, being about on the order
of what I see with my Blackhawk. Since I get about 15 reloadings from the 
Blackhawk with these heavy loadings, I think that is ok. The accuracy
is as good as my Casull for offhand work, at this range. The real test
will be at 100yds, but I expect that benched, this Colt will do as well
as my Casull and much better than my Blackhawk.

Overall Impressions

If they are all this good, these Anacondas are a super deal at the price. 
Time will tell whether the Colt will hold up to a steady diet
of heavy loads.

Please note that I am not recommending any loads not found in standard 
loading manuals.

regds,

Ken Karcich