.45 Ruger Blackhawk

[Wally]

I have an unusual situation...last year my .45 Ruger Blackhawk's extractor screw broke off. I returned the pistol to Ruger---with a polite letter requesting thet they exchange the .45 Colt/ACP cylinders with cylinders having mouths of .451~.452", as mine were in the .455~.456" range. They did so (God Bless Them)...but now I have 1,000 loaded rounds with cast lead bullets szied to .455". They shoot ok, but the accuracy is not all that great--I would assume their being resized so much (from .455" to .451") is the cause...has anyone else ran into this? They chamber just fine and there is no sign of any excessive pressure---they also extract normally. Looks like I will have to pull those bullets, recast then and resize to .452", to load them again...I have my work cut out for me!

[Cherokee]

If they chamber, they will work, as you have learned. As to the accuracy, it may not be the bullet size. Why not try some new cast bullets sized 452 and see if that makes a difference.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Just how bad is accuracy?

I absolutely hate pulling bullets so if there is no safety problem with shooting them I would just shoot them. I own a NM Vaquero with chambers around .451~.452 I have shot boolits from 451 up to 455 with out much difference. If you are unsatisfied with accuracy I would start adjusting powder charges and other components. Give the 452 diameter boolits a try but resizing that many could be a painful and unnecessary step.

[lathesmith]

I would assume that the gun was a tack-driver with those loads before being sent to Ruger. If so, it would beg the question, "why fix it if it ain't broke?" If it wasn't, then why did you load up 1,000 rounds of mediocre ammo? You should think about looking elsewhere for your accuracy "problem". As 2ndAMNT points out, most of the time sizing won't make much noticable difference in group sizes, if the ammunition chambers and fires satisfactorily to begin with. There are always exceptions of course, but it sounds like you just need to burn up this sub-standard load and try a completely different powder/bullet combination.
lathesmith

[Wally]

I made a mistake of loading too many using 6.0 of Red Dot powder. I Chronographed them to find the largest spread in FPS that I've ever recorded..207 ... Probably it is best to shoot them as they are difficult to pull. I had a batch of 260 garin Kieths with the same powder charge--they too were oversized...however they were easy to pull as they have large tips.

[lathesmith]

Been there, done that. A guy learns to check his loads before getting carried away loading too many. After I've done this a couple of times it helped me to remember to fire a box or two in my pet blaster to make sure it's as good a combo as I thought it was. Then load up a bunch...and of course, with a major change to the gun, you have to start all over again. Oh well, as good an excuse as any to do more shooting...
lathesmith

[Wally]

I loaded the rounds before the ejector screw broke off. They were about as accuarte as any other load that I had been using. As mentioned Ruger replaced the cylinders with .452" chambers so the now my bullets were oversized and I found my accuracy & the spread was worse than it was before. IOW I would not have loded them the way that I did had I known I'd have the cylinders replaced.

[Charlie Sometimes]

Do your cylinders now match the bore diameter?
I had to ream the cylinder mouths on my Blackhawk to a uniform 452- some were too small.
That improved my accuracy, but you had to go the other direction?
You are swaging down your oversized boolits now to fit the cylinder, but what about the bore?
Maybe the extra pressure in down sizing the boolits, causing more recoil, is throwing you off.
Many factors/ possibilites here.

Shoot them up and start over with a new load, and proper sized boolits to see if that changes anything.

[Wally]

A .452" bullet is a tight fit in the cylinder chamber mouths---a .451" bullet can be pressed through with a bit of resistance. The barrel has a groove diameter of .451". So, the chamber mounths are baiscally the same diameter as the groove diameter of the barrel.

I agree...those WW/quenched bullets sized to .454" are being resized down by .003" and that has got to affect the recoil and that probably accounts for my not getting good accurarcy with them.