By Jim Dickson | Contributing Editor
The lure of one caliber for both the pistol and rifle is a strong one going back to the beginning of cartridge firearms and for good reason.
The logistical advantage of having to carry only one type of ammunition eliminated the problem of running out of one caliber first while the relatively small size of the cartridges suitable for pistol use meant that you could carry more rounds.
For a frontiersman far from sources of resupply this was critical. While a bit underpowered by today’s standards the .44 rimfire and its centerfire successor, the .44-40 Winchester got the job done. More North American game of all types has been killed with the .44-40 than any other caliber. Both calibers developed a loyal following.
As late as the 1980’s the only caliber you could always be sure of finding at some remote Canadian trading posts was the .44-40. As for the long discontinued .44 rimfire I well remember the time Frank Stahlkuppe and I were sharing a table at the Gainesville gun show when a very old man came up and bought all of the 28 examples Frank had brought. When I asked him what he was going to do with them he replied he was going hunting. Upon my stating that I could not guarantee them to fire because of their age he responded with the authority of long experience, “I can guarantee they will!” This was many years ago and that guy looked old enough to have bought his .44 rimfire lever rifle when it was new!
Today the .44 rimfire and .44-40 are outclassed by the .45 Colt and .45 ACP which offer a 250-grain and 230-grain .451 diameter bullet, respectively compared to the .429 diameter 200-grain bullet of the two .44’s. The reason for this increase in power was the U.S. Cavalry’s demand for a cartridge that would kill a horse at 100 yards and stop a charging cavalry horse in its tracks. The result was the .45 Colt and the .45 ACP. According to the Thompson LaGuardia Commission report, these two cartridges are the optimum for man stopping and that document was the most thorough and exhaustive report on the subject ever made. Since man stopping is the number one requirement for a pistol this means that these are the only two choices.
Some people will point to the magnum calibers which can be had in both pistols and rifles. I really like the .44 magnum in a rifle but have no use for it in a pistol. It bucks too much in the hand for rapid fire where it can be fatally slow, over penetrates on human targets without dumping sufficient energy in the target, and like all magnum calibers has too high a decibel level when fired in a pistol resulting in the shooter quickly developing permanent hearing loss when firing without ear protection. When you have to take a quick shot there is usually no time to don hearing protection so hearing loss is ultimately assured with excessive decibel levels of sound.
This problem is not limited to magnums. The army tested a .30 carbine pistol in WW2 but quickly abandoned the project as no one could bear the noise levels it produced. This is why the Kimball automatic and the Ruger revolver in this caliber flopped. In the old days when the .32-20 was loaded as a high velocity rifle round there was a saying that every .32-20 revolver had been dropped once when the new owner first fired it then grabbed his ears in pain.
To be successful as both a pistol and rifle caliber for all round use the cartridge must perform in both guns perfectly and that brings us back to the .45’s. As a manstopper they are well proven. As hunting weapons they have killed everything in North America successfully. Just make sure you have a hard cast lead bullet or a FMJ on the big game as that’s where you need the penetration. You already have a big enough hole. The toughest North American big game to put down is the American bison and the cavalry troopers in the 1870’s used to think it great fun to ride alongside the wooly beasts and kill them with their newly issued Colt Single Action Army revolvers. The .45 Colt and its later automatic version, the .45 ACP, were the favorite handgun calibers for bears until magnumitis swept the nation and they were never found lacking.
Of equal importance to the subsistence hunter is the fact that both of these calibers will kill small and medium size game without ruining a lot of meat like a high velocity round will. They are truly all round calibers capable of taking everything in North America that’s good to eat. You cannot fully appreciate how important that is until you have been a subsistence hunter depending on what you shoot for your next meal.
Now let us look at some of the combinations available in these two calibers today. In .45 Colt you can get a Rossi 92 carbine, a Colt SAA, a 4-inch barrel Ruger Redhawk 4-inch barrel double action and an American Derringer Corp. double Derringer.
Like the 92 Winchester it copies the Rossi 92 is as light and fast handling a little carbine as is possible to get. It is easy to hit with and carries all the romance of the frontier days with it. Quality is superb and the little gun is pretty to look at and a joy to use.
The Colt Single Action Army is the iconic handgun of the old West and one of the easiest handguns to hit with. Its speed and ease of accurately pointing are the stuff of legends. I have always found the 4 ¾- inch barrel ones to be the steadiest and best balanced.
For those who have taken the time to master double action shooting the 4-inch barrel Ruger Redhawk may well be the best double action revolver ever made. Its wonderful trigger pull enables it to be fired double action as accurately as single action.
The American Derringer Corp. makes a beautiful little .45 Colt double Derringer to round out the outfit. A close range back up gun is always worthwhile whether your antagonist is a man or a grizzly bear. A hideout gun has saved many a life over the years.
Now for all you moderns, to use a popular term of the 1920’s, we move on to .45 ACP. Here we have devastatingly effective firearms. For the carbine we have the Auto-Ordnance M1927A1 semi-auto version of the Thompson submachinegun. The handgun is the M1911A1 which is also made by Auto-Ordnance. And finally the American Derringer Corp. double Derringer which is also available in .45 ACP.
The Thompson’s twin pistol grips, set at the same angle as a Luger pistol’s grip, combine with sufficient weight for steadiness and a 15-inch-long length of pull and perfect balance to produce one of the fastest pointing, steadiest, and easy to hit with guns ever made. If those qualities don’t make it a first class choice for a subsistence hunter’s carbine I don’t know what does. It has plenty of aimed rapid fire firepower available form 20 and 30 round box magazines and 50 and 100 round drum magazines.
The M1911A1 pistol has been proving itself as the world’s best all round pistol ever since 1911. When Betty and I had Alaskan trapper’s licenses and were living in a one room log cabin deep in the Alaskan interior we found our WW2 Remington Rand M1911A1’s with G.I. Surplus hard ball ammo all we needed for everything we hunted or anything trying to hunt us. Ranges are short in the interior of Alaska. They don’t call it the Alaskan bush country for nothing.
There is always a place for a hideout belly gun. When it gets to rasslin range with man or beast it speaks with more authority than a knife. Here again we have the American Derringer Corp. double Derringer this time thoughtfully chambered for .45 ACP.
Some people will object that these calibers are not true long range calibers but most game is actually shot at less than 100 yards and 200 yards is a good limit for shooting game in order to insure a clean and humane kill. With the exception of the little Derringer all of these guns are fully capable at those ranges. Remember the .45 Colt was designed to kill a horse at 100 yards when fired from a pistol. You just have to allow for the trajectory and that was second nature to shooters back when this concept first came out. Choosing a pistol caliber for both your pistol and carbine offers you a first rate all round subsistence hunting combination. Sure there are more specialized guns that are better for specific tasks but we are talking about one caliber for everything here. For various reasons over the last 155 years there have been a lot of people who have had to go that route. Today the calibers and choices are even better.
