linebgored cylinder

[sixgunner452]

I want to have a 44 mag cylinder re-bored to a tight 45 colt, is it worth the extra money to have the cylinder line bored to the factory bgarrel? Thanks, Randy.

[Bass Ackward]

I want to have a 44 mag cylinder re-bored to a tight 45 colt, is it worth the extra money to have the cylinder line bored to the factory bgarrel? Thanks, Randy.


Randy,

What makes it worth it, is what it's worth to you. And you have to do an honest cost analization too. I have a Ruger that has been completely redone. Great gun. Accurate to the point of being boring. It seldom get's shot really for this reason. But in the end, what I own is a Ruger.

If you are going to put so much money into a gun that you end up with the cost of a Freedom Arms, then why not own a Freedom Arms? Same specs, better resale.

So let's look at some of the questions YOU have to answer:

1. Is this a good barrel with a twist rate that is satisfactory for my purposes?
2. Is it in the center of my frame?
3. Are the threads going to allow concentricity after it is screwed into position?
4. What are my expectations for the gun?
5. Can I live with trying this barrel and rebarreling at a later date if I am dissatisfied?
6. How long do I want to own this piece?

And you can go on almost endlessly with questions. You stop answering questions when YOU have come to an answer.

[44man]

I think a line bored cylinder is necessary if there is zero side play in the cylinder. When there is a little play in the rotation, line boring is not worth the expense. I have seen no difference between Ruger's, BFR's and Freedoms as far as accuracy.

[lar45]

Has anyone seen the Ruger cylinder blanks at Brownells?
The have some 6 shot that are fluted or not and come with a base pin bushing-like Colt or not-like Ruger. They come with pilot holes of .307 and .375. The 6 shot cylinders are around $150-70ish
They also have a 5 shot cylinder for $3??

I remember reading an article about Freedom Arms many years ago. Their line boreing process included running a bolt up from the bottom of the frame to load the cylinder pointing up. This was supposed to simulate torque while fireing. Kind of like useing a Deck Plate while boreing cylinders on an engine.
The article said it turned their groups from small verticle spreads to small round groups.

I looked at a few of the Pistol smith's sites and it looks like they only charge around $150 for a cylinder rechamber. I don't know if that includes Line boreing??

I know the brass fired in my Ruger 45 will not fit my Seville 45 even after sizeing. I had to aneal the case bases and run them into my 44 Automag size die before they would fit the Seville. I only did a few just to see what it would take and have them set aside so they don't get mixed with my normal brass. Now I have my 45 loads segregated and label the top for Ruger or Seville.

If you could get it done for around $300 I would go for it.

Here's a link to Clements site. He shows fitting a 44 cylinder to Redhawk and rechamber to tight 45 Colt for $250. It should be less work for the Blackhawk. As long as it is there, you might as well get one of his Octagon EDM taper bored barrels to go with it?
http://www.clementscustomguns.com/handguns/Default.htm

Reeder doesn't do lineboreing.

[Dale53]

I have been very happy with my factory revolvers regarding accuracy. I have a number of guns, S&W and Ruger, that will shoot under 1" (cylinder full) at 25 yards. Since I shoot my revolvers standing or from other field positions, I couldn't make use of any better accuracy anyway. For me, there is little reason to spend all of that money just to have a revolver shoot a bit better. If I were shooting silhouette at 200 yards, I maybe (that's maybe) would think differently. If I was competing in some kind of bench match where better accuracy could be utilized, I would definitely be interested in spending serious cash on accuracy projects.

Make no mistake, I do not sneer at accuracy. I just think, in this case, that my money is better spent elsewhere. I have a couple of 1911 Colt's and they have had the "full accuracy treatment". However, in their case, I needed the improvements and that was the only way to get it. My Colts shoot extremely well at 25 and 50 yards and that is where they "work". If they had shot as well as my revolvers, I wouldn't have had them worked on either.

Just some idle thoughts from an idle fellow...

Dale53

[44man]

It is strange that blank cylinders sell for so much when Ruger will make, fit and proof a new cylinder for $70. These after market people sure know how to make money!

[scrapcan]

The difference is when you send it to ruger you get the same specs/tolerances in the newly fit part that you had. With the aftermarket, you or your pistolsmith can choose what to build it into.

Cutom comes at a price, a greater price than parts that are mass produced. that says nothing about quality by the way. You can get good or bad from both situations.

On another note I agree with the statement about asking your self what you want and what you expect. Keep pride in ownership in the back of the mind also.

[45r]

I would spend the money on F/A 83 myself.I have revolvers that shoot good at 25 yards,but go out to 100 and they wont touch my 454 shooting 300 grain cast GC bullets.I keep my 45 New Frontier and my old model 27 because they are so pretty and they shoot OK with certain loads but the only reason I would go the custom route would be if I was wanting pretty plus accurate.My model 83 has shot one hole groups sometimes when I did my part and the custom guys are not going to beat that.I have never heard of anybody wearing out a model 83 and they have better resale.I wish I could sale some of my other stuff for what theyre worth and get another F/A in model 97.I have accepted the limitations on my other revolvers and dont care because I still have fun trying to get them to shoot almost as good as the 1600 dollar model 83.My ruger 41 bisley hunter comes close but I had to firelap it and have a trigger job done and scope it.

[frank505]

A ruger 45 colt will usually run .480 or larger at the back end of the chamber and is usually straight without any taper. All the taper that is needed is thousandth or maybe to bit more. Of course the cylinder throats are way undersize but can be opened to 432. A tight chamber will shoot cleaner and the gun will run longer on a good jackrabbit day so why not have something done correctly for yourself instead of factory crap that just gives ok results.

[felix]

Frank, most are significantly larger than 480. I wish my 45Colt guns had cylinder holes that small. Including my Winnie lever gun. ... felix

[frank505]

the reason the 45 colt rifle chambers are really large is because there is no SAAMI specs for rifle chambers. Just revolver chambers and the people making our guns are not shooters nor do they care. A 44 magnum Ruger is usually close to being a good shooter with correct size throats and fairly good chambers. Why can't the 45 Colt be the same? Also the 44 Rugers have pretty good cast bullet rifling but not the 45's. Thank goodnews for talented people that can make good 45's from Rugers.

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive had custom built both linebored and not linebored. For the most part a linebored gun is a little more consistant then a non linebored gun. What i mean by that is that if i take say 5 different bullets and loads the linebored guns will probably average better then the non. It may happen that the non linebored gun will shoot one of the loads better then either gun though. I once had a sloppy ruger vaquero that rattled when you shook it (got that way from lots of real heavy loads) but still shot 1-1 1/2 at 25 and sent it in and had a new linebored cyl fitted to it and had it all tightened up and when it came back it shot slightly worse then in its sloppy state. Also a good gunsmith that will take the time to block and ajust a cylinder properly can line one up as good as any linebore job. The big reason they linebore is its easier and faster then hand fitting a gun.

[RugerFan]

Alpha Precision does line boring, but it is indeed pricey.

http://www.alphaprecisioninc.com/contact/prices.htm

[44man]

My old, tired Ruger has shot many groups close to an inch at 100 yd's with jacketed and cast. I ran 79 out of 80 in IHMSA with it. I was hitting pop cans with my SRH at 200 yd's with 240 XTP's. I hit can after can at 100 yd's with my BFR 45-70 and .475 with cast boolits. (Sandbags for all, of course!) After I lapped the throats on my .45 Vaquero, I shot several 3/4" groups at 75 yards when sighting for deer and that is HARD with those grooves for sights and from Creedmore position. All of you have seen the average groups I get at 50 yd's. None of my guns have had any work except I lightened the trigger pulls.
I would never accept 1" or larger groups at 25 yd's and never, ever shoot that close except with light loads for plinking. I see no reason for spending thousands and thousands for custom guns that won't shoot any better, except they are, indeed, beautiful. All of my friends have Freedoms, .454, 357 and .475. I have yet to shoot or see shot, any one of them that will match my cheap guns. The .357 is REALLY disappointing and 3" to 6" at 50 yd's with all sorts of ammo is common. I have had old, used .357 S&W's that would hold 1" at 100 yd's.
We can rehash and argue forever over this without getting anything settled about what is best. Throwing money at a revolver will never make it better, just pretty and desireable. I would love to have a safe full of Freedoms and custom revolvers, but that won't make them shoot better then what I have.
I think it is more the individual gun then saying all custom guns are better.

[45r]

I just shot some new bullets from a new mold out of my 45 redhawk and got 2 inch groups at 50 yards.I have tight 451 throats and I have firelapped it.It will shoot allmost as good as my linebored F/A at 50 only a half inch difference.IT cost a lot less and I love the 45 colt.Stock guns can shoot after being firelapped also.

[leftiye]

As far as I can tell, factory revolters all shoot 4'' plus at 25 yds, and 6"plus at fifty yards. Before y'all start screaming at me and tell me yours will hit a lark at 300 yards with your eyes shut, I admit that there are exceptions.

I've got a .454 Taurus that's plain scary about being accurate. But it it the proof of the pudding. Go check all of the improper machining on all the rest! Way oversize chambers, as mentioned. Undersize and oversize Chamber mouths, and barrels, barrels threaded non-concentric to the bore, Chamber mouths that don't line up with the barrel, cylinder faces that aren't perpendicular to the axis (varying cylinder gaps), and on and on ad infinitum. As with cast boolits, if you start with everything right, it may still have problems with accuracy. But if you start with everything wrong, you hardly have a chance.