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Ok. What I really want is for Colt to produce what would essentially be a clone of the Uberti "Buckhorn" .44 Magnum revolver, which itself is a slightly scaled up SAA-style frame and cylinder chambered in .44 Magnum. This revolver should be called the "Colt Single Action Magnum" or the "Single Action Magnum Colt", i.e. the S.A.M. Colt 
Unless and until that happens, I am interested in coming up with something of Colt SAA hotrod, but not real interested in blowing the topstrap off. One route is the hot loaded .44 Special, Elmer Keith style, but that makes me a little nervous. I am wondering if going to a somewhat smaller caliber with thicker chamber walls may allow for loads producing even higher muzzle energies while still maintaining a greater safety margin than can be done with a .44 Special.
I've read a little about the ".400 Colt Magnum" cartridge that Colt and Winchester developed in the 1960s but dropped while still in the testing stages when S&W came out with the .41 Magnum. Apparently, ballistic performance of the .400 Colt Magnum was similar to the .41 Magnum, or the Herters .401 Power Mag. The .400 Colt Magnum uses a .40 caliber bullet.
The SAA is of course available in .357 Magnum, and when loaded to its full potential, the .357 is certainly nothing to sneeze at. As such, in order to be worthwhile, a .40/10mm magnum cartridge such as the .400 Colt Magnum would need to outperform the .357 Magnum by a noticeable degree.
The question is, could the modern, current production SAA be safely chamber for the .400 Colt Magnum or its functional equivalent? The idea would be to use a cartridge that uses .40 caliber / 10mm projectiles and launch them at velocities that produce muzzle energies of up to 1000 ft-lbs when fired in a SAA with a 4.75" barrel.
The 10mm Magnum cartridge already exists. Colt may have some old data somewhere on the .400 Colt Magnum. The same or a similar cartridge today might also be named ".41 Colt Magnum" or ".40 Colt" or ".40 Colt Magnum" or ".40 Magnum" or whatever sounds best, etc.
What do people think about this??? Thanks!
Unless and until that happens, I am interested in coming up with something of Colt SAA hotrod, but not real interested in blowing the topstrap off. One route is the hot loaded .44 Special, Elmer Keith style, but that makes me a little nervous. I am wondering if going to a somewhat smaller caliber with thicker chamber walls may allow for loads producing even higher muzzle energies while still maintaining a greater safety margin than can be done with a .44 Special.
I've read a little about the ".400 Colt Magnum" cartridge that Colt and Winchester developed in the 1960s but dropped while still in the testing stages when S&W came out with the .41 Magnum. Apparently, ballistic performance of the .400 Colt Magnum was similar to the .41 Magnum, or the Herters .401 Power Mag. The .400 Colt Magnum uses a .40 caliber bullet.
The SAA is of course available in .357 Magnum, and when loaded to its full potential, the .357 is certainly nothing to sneeze at. As such, in order to be worthwhile, a .40/10mm magnum cartridge such as the .400 Colt Magnum would need to outperform the .357 Magnum by a noticeable degree.
The question is, could the modern, current production SAA be safely chamber for the .400 Colt Magnum or its functional equivalent? The idea would be to use a cartridge that uses .40 caliber / 10mm projectiles and launch them at velocities that produce muzzle energies of up to 1000 ft-lbs when fired in a SAA with a 4.75" barrel.
The 10mm Magnum cartridge already exists. Colt may have some old data somewhere on the .400 Colt Magnum. The same or a similar cartridge today might also be named ".41 Colt Magnum" or ".40 Colt" or ".40 Colt Magnum" or ".40 Magnum" or whatever sounds best, etc.
What do people think about this??? Thanks!