slugged my 1911

[weeple2000]

I had a mishap slugging my rifle. But I did have a bullet that I drove through my 1911. I did this before I got my casting equipment. I have a calipers and a mic. I measured the
the lands with the calipers at
.4415-.441

and with the mic at
.4435-.4425

grooves with the calipers at
.452-.450

with the mic they are
.451-.4505

The gun is a Springfield 1911 Range Officer.

I understand that the bullets should be .011 over bore, and that the smaller measurement at the lands is the bore. My mic is probably getting a bad reading as I think the lands are interfering with the diameter of the mic. This information leads me to believe I should size my cast bullets to .451. Am I missing something here?

The bullets I'm casting, for reference, mic at:
.4535 -.4545

with the calipers they're
.4535-.456

When I slugged this bullet, I drove it all the way through the barrel. Do the numbers seem off? Should I try to get numbers from both ends of the barrel without driving the bullet all the way through?

For what it's worth, the bullets I've been shooting are .4515 (cast by someone else, measurement was same with both calipers and mic). I know from experience that the limiting factor for accuracy is me, not my casting. But I would like to get to the point that the casting/sizing I'm doing makes a difference.

[tazman]

I have a couple of 1911 pistols in 45ACP and they thrive on boolits sized .452. I haven't slugged my barrels because the size I have been using works fine.
If you are getting good accuracy and no leading at .4515, .452 will probably work fine as well. If you really want to get something .4515, you may need to open up a sizing die slightly. Often enough, a sizing die gives a slightly oversize boolit. You would need to test it out and see.

[bobthenailer]

I have had over 12 45 acp pistols from various mfg and 1 S&W revolver all shot 0.452 dia bullets excellent ! im a high master bullseye shooter so accuracy is very important.

[anothernewb]

have over a dozen 1911's all eat .452 with zero issues.

45's all seem pretty consistent. Even to the striker fired ones I've read about people slugging.
IMO to me it seems it's more of the 9mm auto loaders that get all over the place size wise.

[lotech]

I also use .452" bullets in a variety of .45 autos and revolvers. Tried .451" bullets in at least some of the guns and overall accuracy was at least slightly inferior. I've never seen a need to slug any of the bores.

[WHITETAIL]

I also use .452 and have not looked back.
The guns I use are COLTS.
BE is the powder and CCI are the primers.:Fire:

[ShooterAZ]

Of all the 1911's I have owned, only one ever needed to be sized .451 to chamber and feed reliably. It was a Para-Ord P14-45. I might could have had it throated and fixed the problem (tight chamber). I think that gun was an oddity though, as everything else gets sized to .452 and works flawlessly.

[EMC45]

Here's another vote for .452

[Rich/WIS]

Got both a .451 and .452 sizing die for my SA Range Officer. Tried the .451 first and got excellent accuracy. Must have been made late Friday or Monday after a weekend drunk because it sized at .4517. Never did try the .452 die. Alloy is range lead and expect obduration is plenty to fill the bore. After I run through the remaining 400-500 lbs of range lead I have will get into the 96-3-1 alloy I have and the harder alloy may need to be sized larger if it won't expand into the rifling. I was also a bullseye shooter years ago (like 40 years ago) and by the new classification would be a high master but age and arthritis have caught up with me and on a really good day I can go 50 rounds before the pain shuts me down, usually 25 and I have stop. Not recoil but the weight of the pistol, my wrist can't take the weight.

[mdi]

When you slug a barrel, the largest outside diameter is the groove diameter, and for cast bullets, this is the dimension you need. Set the calipers aside and just measure the largest diameter of the bullet with your mics and start with a cast bullet .002" over the slug diameter. This is a pretty "standard" starting place...

FWIW; I like to know about my guns, no WAGs for me. I slug every gun I own, except 22 rim fires, half if I'm gonna shoot cast and half jes because I wanna know. There are reasons to slug bbls other than for cast bullets (anyone remember the Ruger revolver thread chokes?). One can just listen to internet "wisdom" and mebbe it will work out, but for me, I like to know for sure what I'm working with. It has worked for me since I started casting over 30 years ago...

[Char-Gar]

No need for all the slugging and angst over itty bitty measurments. Just like the boys said, size 452 and shoot. I have fired 1/4 million rounds through over a dozen different 1911 pistols and tall these bullets were .452.

This handloading stuff is not near as difficult as some would make it out to be.