Ruger with .451 Cylinders Question.

[The Kaiser]

Saw the thread on early Ruger cylinders of the early Vaquero variety. I have one of the first ones made and was wondering if my cylinders with a .451 bore are of concern? I shoot mostly lead sized to .452. Have never slugged my barrel. I just shoot casually and never really shot for accuracy till now. It seems to print on paper fairly well. Would opening up my cylinders to 452. improve my groups or should I just leave well enough alone? Gary

[40Super]

Does it lead the barrel or cones? If not and accuracy is good for your needs no need to change a thing. If it leads up, then it would be a possibilty.

[Guesser]

My convertible was inaccurate, worse than any hand gun I had ever cast and loaded for. Got to slugging and measuring. 12 chambers varied from .442 to .451. Bore slugged smoothly at .4515. I reamed all chamber mouths to .4525, sized my castings to .452. Now everything works the way it is supposed to.
That was 6 years ago, still works well.

[runfiverun]

the vaqueros are not target guns, especially the early ones.
they are really good "cowboy" guns.
not the play shooting ones,the real every day working need a gun sometimes ones.
stout nuff, will take some abuse, and are accurate enough to take a deer or bunny to 50 yds and a black bear/elk if needed.
if necessary they'll stop a big range bull short.
"target" gun accurate they are not.

[cajun shooter]

You may see some improvement by having your barrel throated to a 11 degree cone and the cylinder gap set.
There is a man by the name of cylinder smith that will make all of your cylinder mouth dimensions the same which will also help with the accuracy and stop any shaving of lead you may have.
Some Rugers have each chamber with a different size.

[44man]

It was and still might be common, not only the Vaquero but also the BH. Why just the .45 Colt????
I lapped my throats and shot honest 1" groups at 75 yards.
Cylinder Smith will make it right.

[Guesser]

I bought the tooling from Brownell's and did both my 45 cylinders myself. Less out lay than having it done by someone else, there is no mystery to the procedure and the tooling will last forever if I can remember where I put it.

[mdi]

It's all a guess until you have the facts; slug the bore for goove diameter and slug the cylinders (or a pin gauge set-up is better, don't bother with calipers). Use a micrometer to get a good accurate measurement. From there you can determine which way to go...

And I think it's ok for a "cowboy gun" to be accurate :bigsmyl2:

[The Kaiser]

Thanks all. Don't have a leading problem so I guess I'll leave well enough alone.

[bearstopper]

Thanks all. Don't have a leading problem so I guess I'll leave well enough alone.
There are enough variables just to finding the most accurate load and managing to test them with great shooting, to worry about reaming your throats until you have eliminated everything else to tighten your groups. I have found that shooting commercially cast bullets usually comes with some built in problems. First, they don't always come in the right diameter especially when you pick them up on a deal instead of made to order. They are usually too hard so they don't have as much forgiveness to them that a softer bullet may to overcome an issue like you may be describing.

[bigboredad]

if you have no leading and are happy with the groups I'd leave it alone and have fun

[geargnasher]

Like was said, if it ain't leading, don't monkey with the revolver. Cylinder throats being too small and thread choke in the barrel at the frame are problems that affect accuracy through the secondary effect of caking up lead in the barrel. As long as the cylinder throats are fairly consistent I woudn't mess with it. Monkey with your loads and try different boolit designs, primers, and lubes to fine-tune accuracy, or get it "good 'nuff".

Gear

[prs]

I have three Vaquero's and all had very tight cylinder throats. They were consistent, but way tight. I forget the pre-ream numbers, but way tighter than you have encountered. Hitting a dinner sized paper plate at 25 yards was more miss than hit, after a simple ream with a .452" Manson reamer and guide they shoot as well as the primitive sights allow me to aim and maybe my less than expert ability will allow even if they had perfect sights. BUT, I would NOT modify cylinders that are as you describe. Nothing wrong with .451" when using .452" or even .454" boolits and having .451" or ".4515 barrels. You are very unlikely to improve anything and extended honest use may open them a tad anyway. Sounds like Ruger has addressed the previous problem.

prs

[fredj338]

MIne were slghtly smaller @ 0.4505". SO I had a friend w/ a grinding shop open them to 0.4515". Accuracy improved & the early leading I had went a away.

[PS Paul]

I had mostly .451, but two were like .4505, so i opened all of them up to .4525 on Thanksgiving. Bore slugs at .451, so the .452 boolit fits perfectly in the chamber mouths now! Shot pretty good before, but groups tightened up considerably at the indoor range last night after work! I could not wait until my day off to shoot the new and imporved cylinder, so did about 200 rounds of different .45 Colt boolits/powders/lenghts with great results all around.

Further, I have a mold that casts around 290 gr. with my alloy of 12 to 15 BHN. These boolits were "long" for caliber, but do fit in the cylinder without binding. they would NOT chamber fully before, but since reaming they chamber just perfectly and shot about 1" at 15 yards offhand, even with my vision impairment!! I'm just thrilled!

Don't know if that helps or not, but I certainly would agree with mdi that accurate cowboy guns are "just fine". Just what worked for me, that's all.....
Paul