What's the right size to - uhm - size it to??

[96wa6]

Hi, gang. Lurker here.

I have a question about sizing cast slugs for .45 Colt. I have 3: a Ruger Bisley 5-1/2", a Smith Mountain Revolver, and a Smith 25-7.

The Ruger has throats from .450 to just barely .451.
The Mountain gun has throats almost uniformly at a scosh over .452.
The 25-7 has throats from a tight .452 to a tight .453.

Is there one size I can size my slugs to to fit all guns and still get good accuracy? Or is it like swaged lead slugs in my .45 1911 - they bump up and everything is fine?

Other data:
Slug in question is a RCBS 255 LSWC (I forget the number, but it's a classic). I will be adding a 270 SAA mould soon.
I intend to get meat with it, and it could be in any of the three guns listed. I also shoot a lot for fun.
A friend is casting me the slugs. He's particular, so I'm sure they'll be of good quality. (I gave him a Saeco bottom pour I had laying around.)
Ths boolits will be probably BH 8-ish or so, if I have my terminology correct (always a risky bet)
I'm new to sizing, not new to pistols or shooting. Mostly my sport is Bullseye.
I have a Star waiting for the right size die. It has a heater attached.


Thanks in advance.

96wa6

[Buckshot]

................I'd size up 75 of'em or so to the tight .453". Load 25 for each revolter and take them for a trip to the range. A 10 round group and three 5 round groups from each shold tell if that's going to be the magic diameter.

.................Buckshot

[missionary5155]

Good Morning and MERRY CHRISTMAS !! Jesus was born to die for our SINS !
Yur question... That is a tall order ! Buckshot gave you the BEST answer that I can ponder up here at 8000 feet... BUT you really need to treat those 3 revolvers as individuals IF you want the best performance out of them.
I load for a bunch of 41 mag revolvers.. FORTUNATLY many 41´s have real .410 barrels and .410-.4115 throats so life is rather calm... there are oddballs. But THE BEST performance always comes from taking the time to slug the Throat/Barrel of each. Find those diffrences and load for accuracy.
Back in 72 when I bought my first new 2 wheeler anyone could ride a Honda.. but few would take the time to fine tune a 750 Norton Commando... The word at Ft. Hood was Dont race the Yeller Norton.
You can hold The MOST accurate revolver in your hand that piece of iron can be.... or just shoot another run of the mill .

[bobk]

The easy way out might be a GC design, like the SAECO # 945. Other than that, it seems that you have to move up into the 300 gr range to get a GC.
The other route would be to ream the Ruger's throats. We're only talking 0.002 here, max.

Bob K

[DLCTEX]

I'd ream the Ruger.

[mtgrs737]

Dale beat me to it, ream the Ruger to .452" and size your boolits to .452" you will be happy with the results in all your 45's.

[sundog]

Ream the Ruger. It's not difficult. Buy or borrow a reamer or contact the cylinder smith on the net.

[Tom Herman]

.45 LC is my most common caliber here at the house. I load for everything from Colts, Smiths, Ruger Redhawks, and the Taurus Thunderbolt. Everything gets a bullet sized to .452. I use either the Lyman 452424 or 452664... Good results all around.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom



Dale beat me to it, ream the Ruger to .452" and size your boolits to .452" you will be happy with the results in all your 45's.

[MtGun44]

Reaming talk is premature without knowing groove diameter(s).

Need to provide results of slugging all the bbls., cyl mouth is only half
of the story.

Bill

[96wa6]

Aha! Groove diameter! Uhm, ideally, what should it be? Like .001" under cyl. throats?

96wa6

[beagle]

I'd load some .453s and give it a try before I reamed.

I have a .45 Ruger convertible and it's not at all picky about diameter. Shoots .451-454 equally well.

You might get lucky./beagle