Polishing up an ACP Blackhawk cylinder

[cabezaverde]

I just got done playing around at the range with my Blackhawk and 45 ACP cylinder. The things shoots great, but I really have to thumb the cartridges in hard to get them to chamber properly.

I am already using the thinnest brass I can find (R-P), and my taper crimp is around .471, slightly below the spec. Bullet is a 452460 sized .452, fits the throat great.

Any ideas on how to polish these chambers up slightly to get the rounds chambering a bit easier?

[Dale53]

I suspect you are having the same problem that I had with my relatively new (last year) Ruger SS Bisley .45 Colt/.45 ACP convertible.

My cylinder throats were so small that I couldn't even chamber my .45 ACP reloads with .452" cast bullets (the throats wouldn't admit even the smallest amount of .452" in front of the case mouth).

Since my revolver was leading even when shooting the .45 Colt loads, I knew what was required. I borrowed a reamer kit (Manson, from Brownell's complete with pilots) and reamed both cylinders to .4525". Now, the revolver shoots like a target revolver with both cylinders and I am extremely happy.

Check your cylinder throats and if they, too, are undersize (I also found two other identical Rugers with the same problem) then reaming them should solve it for you, too.

Dale53

[cabezaverde]

Thanks Dale,

The throats are OK, a .452 goes through just about perfectly. Just the chamber holes are a little tight.

[BossHoss]

Hi,

great work here.

www.cylindersmith.com

[cabezaverde]

I don't have a problem with the throats. I have tight chambers.

[subsonic]

You could probably use a split-rod in a drill with some emery cloth to open the chambers themselves up a little, but you'd have to be careful about not opening the throats on accident or messing with the lead into the throats. Definitely go slow and do 1 at a time if you try it and finish with something very fine to give the chamber a fine finish. Your odds of screwing this up might be 60%.

How does factory ammo chamber?

[WARD O]

Search for "Flex Hone" and get one in 45 cal. I hear quite a few cowboy shooters are using them to smooth up the cylinder chamber to get the brass to drop out more smoothly....

Ward

[cabezaverde]

Ward,

Does the flex hone remove metal, or just polish things up. How would it act on the throat, which is long on the acp cylinder?

[Char-Gar]

Cylinders with tool marks in the charge holes can make it difficult to load fresh rounds and hard to eject the fired cases.

First part of the plan is to purchase a round ceramic stone sold by Brownells, and work over the rear edge of the charge hole with that. It will remove and burrs and edges that might be there causing the cylinder to load hard. Most likely that will cure the problem.

If hard ejections continues, then polishing the charge hole is called for. The flex hone is one way to do it, but there are others.

[WARD O]

I first tried the flex hone on my SS 32 Mag in attempting to open the cylinder throats. I was trying to go from .311 to .3125 and wore out the flex hone on the first throat! I gave up on that use of the flex hone. It removes very little metal.

I did find that it worked pretty well at smoothing up the chamber in general - it made the brass eject easier and load easier as well. As I said, I have heard of the cowboy shooters liking it as it allows for a quicker reload and cutting time off their shooting is what they want.

Ward