Good 45 Colt DA revolver?

[ramairthree]

I have a marlin Lever action 45.
An uncle also gave me a SA 45 Colt.

I am considering a da revolver to round things out.

This a a caliber and type of pistol I have little personal experience with.

There are a ton of judges lying in the cases at LGSs.

That is not the way I am looking to go.

[CAVDOC]

Older smith and Wesson model 25. Will have to be patient and hunt for a while to find one. Ruger did also make the redhawk in 45 Colt. If you want to go retro Colt made the new service in 45 Colt or the military issue M1909 Colt ( basically a military marked new service) easiest to find is likely the S&W 25. They were made mostly in 45 acp but they did runs of 45 colts at various times

[Pilot1]

I would start with a Ruger Redhawk. I don't know if you also have a .45 ACP, but they sell a convertible model for both .45 Colt, and .45 ACP.

https://ruger.com/products/redhawk/specSheets/5032.html

I like the .45 Colt cartridge as I reload, and can push it to magnum levels, but I choose not to as I only have a USFA SAA and you don't want to go over the standard load which is still quite capable.

[gaijin]

I'm partial to the "Mountain Gun" S&W.
4" skinny barrel. It recoils a bit but is great for packing all day. It would be a great companion gun to your Marlin.
A 250-270 gr. Keith type, cast bullet (gas check or flat base) at around 1100 FPS kills about like a .30/06 to 50 yds. with decent shot placement.

I have a pair of 625-6 that were the last of the "no MIM, no lock" guns that I've used hog and deer hunting.
I changed out FS's to FO (we hunt in timber/heavy brush and the FO is easy to pick up in shadow/low light), did "trigger jobs", opened cylinder throats and installed Herretts grips that I modified.

[sinister]

The Redhawk is nowhere near as elegant as a Smith and Wesson and the trigger is just OK in comparison -- but it'll take loads that will blow up a Model 25.

[Coal Dragger]

The Colt Anaconda was also made in .45 Colt.

Be warned those are insane money now.

[gunnerblue]

I’ve had a Redhawk and while nice overall, the trigger noticeably stacked much more so than any of my Smiths. RedHawks use a single spring for both hammer and trigger as opposed to S&W’s two-spring arrangement. Super RedHawks, on the other hand, also use two springs and may be a better comparison. As noted above, the Ruger products will be able to handle much heavier loads in a less elegant package. The Smiths are slouch in the power department- I’ve sent ~270 gr slugs at 1000 fps through several with no ill effects. I would not go much higher in either velocity or bullet weight but, then again, you may not need to for most uses.

[Lacos]

Ruger. Redhawk in 4" barrel or the Alaskan "snubbie".

[C-grunt]

Ive been on the hunt for a 4 inch S&W 25/625 for a long time. Problem is they are all over 1000 dollars now when you do find one. I ended up with a Ruger Blackhawk 45 Colt/ACP convertible and got a 629-6 for my DA big bore.

[ramairthree]

I handled a Blackhawk today. Have not found a smith to lay hands on.

Thank you for the recommendations.