.45 Schofield - Synonyms

Synonyms

• .45 S&W
• .45 S&W Schofield
• .45 M1877 ball revolver

Many reports indicate that while the .45 S&W cartridge could be used in a gun chambered for the .45 Colt, not every chamber in the gun could be loaded at the same time. Because of the larger diameter rim (.522 inches) on the S&W cartridge, the rims would sometimes interfere with each other when attempting to load every chamber of a .45 Colt chambered revolver. Current production .45 S&W cases have a head diameter larger than .45 Colt but smaller than the originals to circumvent this problem on the Colt Single Action Army revolver.

Because of this, the Frankford Arsenal produced the .45 M1877 Military Ball Cartridge which was identical to the S&W cartridge but had a slightly smaller rim diameter of .512 inches (identical to the rim of the .45 Colt cartridge) which could be used in either the Colt or the S&W revolvers. Production of the .45 Colt cartridge was then discontinued by the Frankford Arsenal with the .45 M1877 ball revolver cartridge being adopted as the only .45 revolver cartridge issued from then on.

In the early 1880s the Benet (inside) cartridge primer was retired and the modern Boxer type (externally visible) primer was adopted for all future military production of revolver ammunition.