A good friend bought a Judge in 45/410 caliber / gauge. He said he couldn't find any .45 long Colt ammo for it. Is there a difference between .45 colt and .45 long Colt in the Judge? I have no experience with the Judge or caliber.

There is no such thing as “long” Colt. It’s just 45 Colt.

Good to know. I'll pass it on. Thanks, guys!

Historical note. There were actually 2 .45 colt cartridges, not including the .45 ACP. One was the 45 Schofield which could be fired in a Colt SAA as was the other 45 Colt. In order to avoid confusion or for quartermasters to avoid getting the wrong cartridge, rather than call one the 45 short, folks referred to the other as the 45 Colt - Long. At some point they put the "Long" in front of the word Colt. The .45 Schofield is all but extinct and the other became the only "standard" 45 colt. Many still call it the 45 Long Colt only because they know about the history or they just learned it that way.

Its a voluminous case because it was loaded with a 255 grain projectile behind up to 40 grains Black powder and it completely filled the case. I believe it was over 900 fps and capable of bringing down a horse.

One word of caution, while I do not believe there is an official +P designation, there are some really hot loads that are earmarked for Ruger or Contender only. They can be fired in a .454 Casull or a .460 S&W as a reduced load, nearly the equivalent to the .44 mag. To complicate things I believe the old Rugers are quite capable but one of the later Ruger models, is not. I believe it was designed to compete with the Italian Colt SAA type firearms in Cowboy SASS.

The echo field was actually a Smith and Wesson, not a Colt.

I would not shoot the 45 colt loads marked for Ruger/TC only in a Judge, the Judge has very thin cylinder walls.

There's no 45 ACP either but people write it all the time.

The Ruger that can't take giant loads is the New Vaquero. And no, there is no such thing as an Old Vaquero technically.