Beretta 45 Colt Stampede (SAA Clone) Cylinder throat question

[savage1756]

I have a Beretta Stampede in .45 Colt. I slugged the barrel and got .4480 groove diameter. I slugged the whole way thru and just the first 1 1/2 " of the barrel as I thought I might have had thread crush issues. For bore size a .4395 minus pin will slide the whole way thru and a .4400 minus pin will go up to 1/4" away from the forcing cone end. The cylinder chamber throats are .4545 all 6 cylinders and appear to have been honed. I bought the pistol used. The bore looks a little rough and had planned to fire lap it, which probably will take care of that last 1/4" mention above.

I also got with it .452 dia. and .454 Dia. soft lead boolits greased with SPG. I plan on using BP anyway.

IF I understand correctly should I be using .450 or .451 dia. boolits with the bore dimensions?

What issues, if any, will I have with the throats being .4545 Dia? If Iuse a boolit sized to .451 or use a jacketed boolit is that too much space in the throat?

Being that the groove dia. is .006 smaller than the .454 boolits, can I fire lap the barrel to .453 or is that too much to hope for? or even .451 for the .452 boolits?

Hope to get some guidance...Thanks!

[dubber123]

I personally would size to .454" and not worry about it a bit. Ridding yourself of the constriction is a good move too.

Your dimensions are common to older Colt SAA revolvers, and from my understanding those dimensions were what the Italians copied when they produced many of their guns. I believe newer samples are said to have tighter throats. I have fired .006" over bore boolits with no issues whatsoever, lead is pretty forgiving stuff.

[Wheelguns 1961]

I have a beretta stampede in .45c. My throats were tight at .450-.451. I reamed them to .4525. I also had a small thread constriction which I fixed by shooting approx. 200 xtp’s through it. I shoot .452 bullets. The gun is accurate with no leading at all. It is one of my favorites.

[nicholst55]

If your listed barrel dimensions are accurate, I strongly suspect that you would have a smoothbore by the time you firelapped it to .453". I suggest that you slug your bore again, and have someone who uses a micrometer on a daily basis measure the slugs. It's very easy to distort lead slugs and get a false reading, especially if you don't use measuring tools regularly. A .448" groove diameter is quite small for a .45 barrel.

[savage1756]

I'm actually a machinist and use mic's and height gages on a daily bases holding +- .0002 daily. I'm sure the groove diameter is .4480. Being that you would have no idea what my job is what you said is fair advice. I guess I just have a barrel made with worn out tooling. Once I get the .440 pin to slide theu that would give me .004 depth of rifling and that sounds about right for a barrel. My main concern is the .4545 throat diameter and using .454 soft lead slugs vs .451 slugs.

[DougGuy]

I wouldn't use anything smaller than .454" you want a light drag fit in the throats.

I have a Uberti Old West with .451" barrel and .4565" throats and I shoot 454190 sized to .456" with SPG lube and it is a fly's worst nightmare at 10yds.

Soft lead and SPG lube should shoot quite well even with the barrel dimensions you list. The thing about a soft boolit, if there is enough pressure behind it, it will easily obturate to fill a changing bore as it travels. Boolits sized .451" may not shoot well at all unless they are quite soft, in which case pressure will bump them up upon firing and they will leave the cylinder at throat diameter, so you really aren't shooting .451" at all, you are shooting .4545" at that point. Harder .451" boolits will start degrading in performance rather quickly.

The groove diameter seems small to me. I have to use mostly .442" and .4425" pilots on most 45 caliber barrels, very seldom do I need one smaller than .4415" so that sorta reads a little odd in my experience. The pilot in the Brownell's forcing cone kit is .442" and I have only seen one or two times where I needed a .4415" pilot to recut a forcing cone.

[Walks]

I've got a buddy who has never sold a gun in his life. Just holds on to anything & everything.
Except for one. A Beretta Stampede.

We were unable to get it to group better than 8 inches at 21 feet. Tried every thing, he finally sent it back to Beretta. They sent him a new one. He put 5rds of Factory REMINGTON 255gr RN through it. No better then the first one. He sold it back to the Dealer. No wonder they stopped making them.
Good Luck & Good Shooting.

[Wheelguns 1961]

A beretta stampede is an uberti, and mine is superior to most of my Rugers. It is accurate and the fit and finish is great, and the blueing is better than any ruger I have ever seen.

[Walks]

The 2 revolvers my friend had was not marked any where by UBERTI. The finish was no better or worse than any other Italian clone.

[Wheelguns 1961]

That’s strange!Attachment 226609Attachment 226610