ruger blackhawk 45/45acp reloading problems

[carolina sorillo]

How is the accuracy with 45 ACP in 45 Colt cylinders? I haven't worked up a load specifically for that cylinder but the loads I had for the 1911 showed promise. From 15yards I got a 3.5" group. Not great but good enough for SD.

I never looked at it from the speed aspect. That's what the 625's are for. Getting cylinder machined about $150, Smith 625 about $700, or more!

I might rethink that it if I own one of the Sheriffs/Shop Keepers models without an ejector rod. That's what this is, 3.75" Birdshead Vaquero!

Thanks,
C.S.

[siamese4570]

Thanks for all your suggestions. Loaded 15 rounds seating and crimping in separate operations. That should tell me if that's the problem. I did notice my crimp die won't smooth out all the case mouth flair. The caused the loaded round to chamber hard. Ran the finished rounds into the carbide sizer die just far enough smooth this out. Will go try them out this weekend. Hope it works.
Siamese4570

[CraigOK]

I had the same issue with mine using 230 lrn bullets that I used in my glock 21. Bought 200 pieces of startline brass to use just for the Blackhawk. I just switched over to hornady HAP bullets bc I had some. While that solved my problem short term I look forward to seeing how what you try pans out bc I dont buy jacketed pistol bullets anymore.

[Whiterabbit]

Recently got a ruger bisley in 45lc/45acp. Had DougGuy open up the throats, so that is OK now. As you probably know in this gun the 45 acp headspace on the rim. When I shoot lead in the 45acp, the little shoulder that the case headspace on shaves a little lead which builds up quickly and prevents the following rounds from chambering. Anybody loading for a ruger like this and encountered this problem?
Siamese4570

You know, it took till now, but I can keenly visualize the exact problem. Sounds like a headspace "issue". Of course, zero headspace doesn't sound feasible (or frankly desirable), so the best solution is not readily apparent to me.

Have you considered casting harder bullets to try? I bet if you started using hardball the issue would go away.

You aren't using hard lead now, are you?

[siamese4570]

Nope. Using range scrap. I think it's pretty soft. I tried seat and crimp in separate operations. Seemed to fix the leading problem. Want to try some more just to confirm the problem is fixed. Encountered another problem. The recoil it pulling 5th round (only loading 5). Tried a little more crimp to see if that fixes it. This has been a process. Will keep you posted.
siamese4570

[Whiterabbit]

My two cents:

put somewhere between half a SFRB and a full SFRB of linotype into your MFRB of range lead, and it will be much harder to shave the lead.

Next, pull your expander plug and polish it with some 320-600 grit wet sandpaper. Goal would be to increase neck tension to also help you with bullet pull.

I bet both will also totally fix your issues.

[EDK]

Some info?
I bought S&W 625-2 revolvers, model of 1989, new. They would shave lead and not let lead boolit reloads chamber after 2 or 3 rounds in each chamber. S&W sent out new chamber reamers to service centers to correct the problem. The old time machinists at Smith put a minute radius on the chamber reamers, BUT this wasn't mentioned in the dimensions...just something everyone knew was done. The old guys had retired or whatever and new guys made up the new reamers for the 1989 guns...with a square/90 degree edge. Engineering scratched their ***...er, noses...and finally called a retiree who immediately diagnosed the problem.

On the RUGER single actions, some posters reported on CAREFULLY machining the back end of the 45ACP cylinder so it will accept 45 Auto Rim cartridges. You might want to do some measuring and see how much of the ACP case is not supported.

My NEW GLOCK 41 left a bit of swollen case above the web...once fired would go in only so far in a DILLON case gauge. You could reverse and put it in to about the same point. I cured it with a KKM after market barrel.

A LEE CARBIDE FACTORY CRIMP die is under $20. Opinions differ about its effects on accuracy, but it does help solve the problems associated with brass used in GLOCKS.

[Whiterabbit]

You would not BELIEVE how often problems happen on production lines because someone with 20 years experience retired, and there was no documentation in place with respect to "his way" of doing things that naturally hid or resolved potential issues noone had dreamed of.

Most of the time, access to the retiree or person who moved to another company is not available, leaving the rest of us to fight the fire and reverse engineer the whole issue. The solution is almost always documentation.

And the really sad thing is that documentation is a dying art. prints don't exist anymore, only 3D models. Schematics don't exist anymore, only netlists. And nothing is printed, only stored as a PDF.

[robertbank]

The headspace ledge is quite wide and has no taper or leade at the rear end of the throat. Cast bullets that intrude into the throat can be a problem loaded into the charge hole. Cast bullets that do not intrude can hit that sharp wide ledge and scrape lead, which seems to be the issue in this thread.

This is what I found using my 200 gr LSWC bullets. I found seating the bullets so the mouth of the case just met the start of the olgive prevented the build up of lead. It meant seating the bullets a few thousanths deeper than I would for my 1911. The seemed to allow the 45acp cartridges to seat in the cylinder. Prior to seating the bullets deeper I found every so often, and more often than not the cartridges would not seat flush in the cylinder.

I have the Ruger Lipsey flat top convertible.

Take Care

Bob