Need Some Input, Blackhawk .45LC/.45ACP

[RikyRacr]

I just picked up my new Ruger Blackhawk Convertible .45LC/.45ACP revolver. Have not even fired it yet.
A .451" diameter pin drags in the .45LC cylinder throats and a .452" pin does not go. In the .45ACP cylinder a .450" pin slip fits in the throats and a .451" pin does not go. The barrel has not been slugged so I am unsure of it's dimensions. I have casted some 230 grain boolits using Lee mold #TL452-230-TC and sized them to .452 diameter. The cartridges I loaded up with the .45LC brass chamber fine, (the boolit does not quite reach the throat). The cartridges I loaded with .45ACP brass do not seat flush in the cylinder. The boolit is too large for the throat.
Should I seat the boolit deeper in the .45ACP brass or are the boolits oversized for this cylinder? I apologize if this seems like a weird question but I am pretty new to reloading and even newer to casting.
Basically I'm unsure if forcing a .452" diameter boolit through a .450" diameter cylinder throat is normal. Certainly do not want to damage my new firearm or worse.
Thanks in advance.

[crawfobj]

I sent my 45 colt cylinder to cylindersmith to have it opened up to .4525. Great service and results for less than the cost of a reamer.

[skeettx]

First, your combination seems just right.

What is your overall length with seated bullet?
OAL should be between 1.190 and 1.275
1.275 being SAAMI

If overall cartride length is shorter than 1.275,
you may not have taken enough flair out of the case
Here is a trick to check stuff.
With no dies in the press
Put a loaded round in the shell holder in the press
Lower the handle,
Screw the sizing die, minus decapping stuff to a stop point
Lift the handle of the press a small bit, screw the sizing die down one turn
Lower the handle
Now remove the cartridge and see if it fits in the cylinder
Please report back and we will go from there
Mike

[Outpost75]

On my .45 ACP Blackhawk cylinder there was a wire edge thrown up by the chambering reamer at the stop surface of the chambers where the case mouth rests. This prevented even some factory jacketed rounds from seating fully. The photo shows where Saeco #954 cowboy and H&G68 wadcutter bullets were marked when forcefully attempting to chamber them in the unlapped chambers.

I lapped the origin of the ball seat ahead of each chamber by taking a sized .30-'06 case, holding it in a 1/2" tap handle and coating with Wheeler 600 grit abrasive paste, inserting the lap into each chamber in turn, feeling the lap contact and turning it by hand for six turns, then backing out, recoating and goig to the next chamber, lapping each chamber a half dozen turns at a time, then after a complete sequence around, wiping out, inspecting with a loupe and then repeating another six turns in each chamber, repeating 4-5 times until the burr was gone and all six chambers appeared alike to visual inspection. I then tapped pure lead .454 balls into each chamber, tapped them out and measured them. VICTORY!

In the photo looking into the chamber you can see a polished bright surface ahead of the stop surface where the blue was polished away by the lapping. Only the origin of the ball seats are affected. If you work with slow, careful deliberation is it hard to screw this up, much safer than trying to use a metal cutting tool or anything run under power.

The entrances to the ball seats ahead of the chambers are now .452" and the unlapped portion of the ball seats at the front of the cylinder are untouched at the original factory dimension of .451". I load normal .451" cast bullets now and accuracy is wonderful with either factory jacketed loads or cast. Hand lapping my cylinder took about an hour of careful hand work. The accuracy results on the "after" target, five consecutive 6-shot groups off sandbags at 25 yards averaging 1.66" speak for themselves.

74255742567425774258

[RikyRacr]

First, your combination seems just right.

What is your overall length with seated bullet?
OAL should be between 1.190 and 1.275
1.275 being SAAMI

If overall cartride length is shorter than 1.275,
you may not have taken enough flair out of the case
Here is a trick to check stuff.
With no dies in the press
Put a loaded round in the shell holder in the press
Lower the handle,
Screw the sizing die, minus decapping stuff to a stop point
Lift the handle of the press a small bit, screw the sizing die down one turn
Lower the handle
Now remove the cartridge and see if it fits in the cylinder
Please report back and we will go from there
Mike

Outpost75 - there is no burr at the intersection of the chamber and throat. It is very clean with a really nice surface finish. I checked the diameter at both ends of the throat with the pins I mentioned.

The cartridge o/a is 1.210". Followed above instructions and cartridge still fails to seat. It misses by about the same amount the boolit drive diameter protrudes out of the front of the case.

Do I have an undersized throat diameter on this cylinder? I fully understand what Outpost75 has done and I can accomplish this. I could also purchase a reamer and open the diameter on the mill at work. I would be concerned with the surface finish though. I am a journeyman machinist/CNC programmer by trade. Maybe a combination of a reamer and hand lap? It appears the throat needs to be .0015" larger and that is a LOT of hand lapping. I really want this gun to be accurate. At the end of the day I will probably not shoot the ACP cylinder much but still want the gun to be as perfect as possible.

I tapped a fishing weight into the front of the barrel and the groove diameter is .252" with my cheapie caliper here at home. Really need to check it with a micrometer though and will do so Monday at work.

[Tatume]

Hi Ricky,

Why not try sizing your 45 ACP bullets to 0.451"? Sizing bullets does not irreversibly modify your gun. If you don't like them, drop them in the pot next time you cast. Reaming the chamber throats is forever.

Take care, Tom

[skeettx]

OK
Thanks for trying
Lets ask another set of questions
Have you tried your ammo with the cylinder in the gun?
The .45 Colt and .45 ACP headspace differently.
Have you tried a factory ACP round?
Any different in seating in the chamber from your handloaded ammo?
Thanks
Mike

p.s. just size a case, do not expand and see how it goes in the chamber, should
be the same as your loaded ammo for depth in the cylinder

[junkpile]

I'm probably significantly less cautious than you are, but I'd go shoot it before I start asking questions.

It's true... I shoot first, and ask questions later...

[RikyRacr]

OK
Thanks for trying
Lets ask another set of questions
Have you tried your ammo with the cylinder in the gun?
The .45 Colt and .45 ACP headspace differently.
Have you tried a factory ACP round?
Any different in seating in the chamber from your handloaded ammo?
Thanks
Mike

p.s. just size a case, do not expand and see how it goes in the chamber, should
be the same as your loaded ammo for depth in the cylinder

Tatume - I thought about just sizing them smaller for the ACP cylinder. The .450"/.451" boolit might be a little small for the .452 barrel?

junkpile - I know. My wife tells me I overthink everything. Haha! But, the ammo won't chamber so trying it is out of the question.

Ok Skeettx, I had already tried ammo with cylinder in and out of the gun. Same. I don't have any factory .45 ACP ammo on hand to test. I also had tried an empty case and it seats just fine. It is the .030"/.040" of the boolit in front of the crimp groove that sticks out of the case that will not go in the throat.

Don't you think the issue is the .452" boolit just won't go in the .450" cylinder. Maybe a roundnose boolit seated in the case all the way to the radius would give it enough clearance. But then wouldn't the throat "swage" the boolit down as it passes through? That really was my initial concern. The force of swaging .002" off the projectile. It seems the factory wants me to use a boolit that is .0015/.0020 smaller than the grooves on the barrel. Not very conducive for good accuracy from what I have read. I have some .452" 255 grain RNFP boolits that PS Paul sent me. I think I will seat one in a case and see how it behaves.
Then again I am probably WAY over thinking this. If I was only shooting store bought ammo I probably would not know the difference! I am too damn analytical for my own good sometimes.

[historicfirearms]

Slug your bore, it's easy.

Is a ball seat the same as a chamber throat?

[RikyRacr]

Ok. I seated a round nose boolit deep enough to get the diameter at the case to .450". The dummy cartridge seated properly. Then seated it so the diameter at the front of the case was .451". The dummy cartridge does not fully seat. Sooooo, I would need to use boolits that are .0015/.0020 smaller than the grooves in the barrel for them to chamber correctly in this cylinder. Heck, I don't think anyone even makes a sizer for .450".
I think I like crawfobj's method. Except I would probably go to .452" diameter. That would give me the best shot at acceptable accuracy.
What do you think?

[RikyRacr]

Slug your bore, it's easy.

Is a ball seat the same as a chamber throat?

I have heard it referred to both ways.

I tapped a fishing weight in the front of the barrel and got a good impression of the grooves at that point. They measure .452" with my caliper. I know I need to properly slug the barrel but I went and left my brass bars at work. There is no hurry, I don't want to mess up my new toy!

[skeettx]

:eek: My head hurts :)

[RikyRacr]

My head hurts :)

Haha! Mine too. Sorry guys. I am so knew to all this stuff and probably have done way too much reading.
If the cartridge would have chambered in the first place we would not have headaches right now.

[junkpile]

If you can't chamber a round, you should give Ruger's service dept a call. They will make it right.

[Dale53]

Rikyracr;
I bought a Ruger Bisley Blackhawk .45 Colt/.45 ACP a year or so ago. When I first bought it, I couldn't even load a .45 ACP round if any part of the full diameter of the bullet extended past the case mouth. With the .45 Colt cylinder serious leading occurred. I was loading my own cast bullets, sized .452" in both cylinders (different bullets in each cylinder).

I checked the size of the cylinder throats. They were pretty close to yours. Two of my friends bought the same revolver at the same time. Theirs also had undersize throats.

I borrowed a reamer kit (made for the purpose complete with pilots) and reamed all six cylinders (for all three revolvers) plus another revolver I had (a Ruger Bisley Vaquero).

After reaming the cylinder throats to .4525", my revolver shot like a dream. It would be competitive in NRA Bullseye, that's how accurate it is with both cylinders. I am NOW an extremely happy camper. Here is the first target after reaming with the .45 ACP cylinder (a target load of a Mihec copy of the H&G #68 200 gr SWC) at fifty feet (it was extremely cold outside and I chose the indoor range). This was fired from a makeshift rest. I hadn't even yet zero'ed it (hence the high point of impact):

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Dale53/img072.jpg (http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/img072.jpg.html)

I suggest that you might want to ream the cylinder throats on both cylinders or send them to cylindersmith (we have had many good reports on his workmanship and prompt handling). It is only necessary to send the cylinders to cylindersmith.

FWIW
Dale53

[RikyRacr]

Rikyracr;
I bought a Ruger Bisley Blackhawk .45 Colt/.45 ACP a year or so ago. When I first bought it, I couldn't even load a .45 ACP round if any part of the full diameter of the bullet extended past the case mouth. With the .45 Colt cylinder serious leading occurred. I was loading my own cast bullets, sized .452" in both cylinders (different bullets in each cylinder).

I checked the size of the cylinder throats. They were pretty close to yours. Two of my friends bought the same revolver at the same time. Theirs also had undersize throats.

I borrowed a reamer kit (made for the purpose complete with pilots) and reamed all six cylinders (for all three revolvers) plus another revolver I had (a Ruger Bisley Vaquero).

After reaming the cylinder throats to .4525", my revolver shot like a dream. It would be competitive in NRA Bullseye, that's how accurate it is with both cylinders. I am NOW an extremely happy camper. Here is the first target after reaming with the .45 ACP cylinder (a target load of a Mihec copy of the H&G #68 200 gr SWC) at fifty feet (it was extremely cold outside and I chose the indoor range). This was fired from a makeshift rest. I hadn't even yet zero'ed it (hence the high point of impact):

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Dale53/img072.jpg (http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/img072.jpg.html)

I suggest that you might want to ream the cylinder throats on both cylinders or send them to cylindersmith (we have had many good reports on his workmanship and prompt handling). It is only necessary to send the cylinders to cylindersmith.

FWIW
Dale53

Thanks Dale. This is exactly what I'm going to do. I would like my Blackhawk to be as accurate as yours. Of course then I will have to become a good shot because I will not be able to blame the gun.

[mroliver77]

Riky,
I think following Dales advice is the way to go!
J

[MtGun44]

Shoot it enough to know if you have a problem.

Don't fix what isn't broken. I had one with .449 and .450 throats
that would throw fliers enough with boolits to be a PITA. I reamed
to .452 and polished the throats, wound up with .453. It shoots
better now.

Bill

[RikyRacr]

Shoot it enough to know if you have a problem.

Don't fix what isn't broken. I had one with .449 and .450 throats
that would throw fliers enough with boolits to be a PITA. I reamed
to .452 and polished the throats, wound up with .453. It shoots
better now.

Bill

Can't shoot it. The .45 ACP cartridges do not chamber.

Scott

[DougGuy]

Can't shoot it. The .45 ACP cartridges do not chamber.

Scott

That's what I was getting ready to say. Do NOT seat boolits far enough in the case to make them chamber, all that will do is create a dangerous pressure event that could detonate the cylinder. One of two things needs to take place. Either send the cylinders to a shop and let them ream both cylinders, OR call Ruger and let them send you a prepaid UPS label and send it back to them. If it won't chamber SAAMI spec factory ammo, there is something VERY WRONG with that gun and going by what you describe, it's not a quality control issue, that is a safety issue that warrants immediate attention.

I have a Vaquero that had .4505" throats in the cylinder, I sourced the reamers and did mine to .4525" which has it shooting great. Ruger is notorious for tight cylinder throats in some large frame .45 models.

[RikyRacr]

That's what I was getting ready to say. Do NOT seat boolits far enough in the case to make them chamber, all that will do is create a dangerous pressure event that could detonate the cylinder. One of two things needs to take place. Either send the cylinders to a shop and let them ream both cylinders, OR call Ruger and let them send you a prepaid UPS label and send it back to them. If it won't chamber SAAMI spec factory ammo, there is something VERY WRONG with that gun and going by what you describe, it's not a quality control issue, that is a safety issue that warrants immediate attention.

I have a Vaquero that had .4505" throats in the cylinder, I sourced the reamers and did mine to .4525" which has it shooting great. Ruger is notorious for tight cylinder throats in some large frame .45 models.

The throats in my ACP cylinder are .4505" like yours were. In the .45 Colt cylinder they are .4515" to .4518".

Wouldn't want to loan me your reamer would you?

I am going to properly slug my barrel tomorrow but I'm pretty sure it is right at .452".

Scott

[historicfirearms]

Why can't Ruger get their 45's right? I had an old Vaquero 45 colt about 10 years ago with small throats that had to be reworked.

[pdawg_shooter]

If you try pushing a .451 bullet down a .452,3,4,or 5 barrel (I have seen all of these on Rugers) you will not be a happy camper. Slug the barrel, size the bullets .001/.002 over groove diameter and open the throats up to accept this bullet. Lap out the restrictions in the barrel and it will shoot OK.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Rikiracer: I haven't heard any one ask if you have tried a "Factory .45 ACP round yet?"

If a Factory round won't chamber, send the gun back to Ruger and tell them what is wrong and how you want it fixed. That won't cost you anything but some time.

If a factory round WILL chamber then I would suggest that you probably haven't crimped the round enough. The Taper Crimp for .45 ACP should measure .470 at the mouth of the case.

IF it is more than that you have found the problem.

I would suggest looking here right after you try the factory loaded rounds.

Randy

[skeettx]

See post #7, still you are on the right track
Mike

[DougGuy]

The throats in my ACP cylinder are .4505" like yours were. In the .45 Colt cylinder they are .4515" to .4518".

Wouldn't want to loan me your reamer would you?

I am going to properly slug my barrel tomorrow but I'm pretty sure it is right at .452".

Scott

As mentioned, have you tried a .451" factory round in the front of the cylinder? If it will go in the front, then the cylinder is likely just within SAAMI spec but may have one or more charge holes egged. My reamers are on loan out on a road trip of their own right now. I would offer to do your cylinders when they get back if you haven't gotten them done. If a factory loaded .451" won't go in the front of the cylinder, send it back to Ruger.


Why can't Ruger get their 45's right? I had an old Vaquero 45 colt about 10 years ago with small throats that had to be reworked.

I have a 1996 Vaquero and after reworking, it's the best Ruger I have owned out of all of them. I actually don't mind having to "dimensionally correct" them, at least they didn't make them too big and now requires much more drastic measures to get them to shoot.

[RikyRacr]

As mentioned, have you tried a .451" factory round in the front of the cylinder? If it will go in the front, then the cylinder is likely just within SAAMI spec but may have one or more charge holes egged. My reamers are on loan out on a road trip of their own right now. I would offer to do your cylinders when they get back if you haven't gotten them done. If a factory loaded .451" won't go in the front of the cylinder, send it back to Ruger.



I have a 1996 Vaquero and after reworking, it's the best Ruger I have owned out of all of them. I actually don't mind having to "dimensionally correct" them, at least they didn't make them too big and now requires much more drastic measures to get them to shoot.

A .451" diameter pin will not even start to go in either side of the throat. A .450" pin barely goes but the bores are not "egged", just small. A friend of mine is going to bring a few rounds of factory .45 ACP to work tomorrow so I will see if it will chamber. If it is .451" in diameter it won't.

I am going to email Ruger and see what they say.

I am going to slug the barrel this evening so I will know where I need to be with the ball seat diameter.

Agree that the diameter being small is WAY easier to deal with than being too big. It seems most folks are just reaming to .4525" and are happy with the results. I would do it right now to both cylinders if I had the reamer. Manson Precision sells the reamer with one guide for $80 bucks. A set of guides, (which I would need), is another $50 bucks. Cylindersmith will do both cylinders for $55 bucks plus $16 for shipping and insurance.

Anyway, when it cools off a little I'm going to go out to the garage and slug my barrel.

Thanks to everyone that has offered up their experience! I'll keep you posted.

[RikyRacr]

The barrel grooves are .4508" so a .452" diameter boolit sounds about right I think. Looks like I am going to need to ream the throats to .4525". The .45LC throats are around .4515" so they are a little small but not nearly as small as the .45 ACP throats that are under .451".

[pdawg_shooter]

I just dont think it should be necessary to rebuild a firearm you just spent 5 or 6 hundred bucks on. That is just wrong. It is almost as bad as the Mini 14.

[fecmech]

You need to seat your SWC's so that the front drive band does not extend past the end of the case. Ruger did not cut a bevel leading into the throat like a 1911, it's just a step and protruding lead hangs up on it. If your load was a safe one with a tiny amount ofr lead outside the case it will be safe with it inside. The gun will not blow up and shoot just fine. When I got mine I had to reseat all my acp's that I wanted to use in the Ruger, nothing to get excited about. Sending it to Ruger won't accomplish a thing as factory rounds will seat just fine and they will tell you it's in spec.

[azrednek]

If you can't chamber a round, you should give Ruger's service dept a call. They will make it right.

Don't count on any help from Ruger. My Blackhawk Convertible's cylinder mouth sizes were all over the board. At the last NRA convention held in Phoenix I approached a Ruger rep, told him the problem and asked if they would fix it. He said Ruger would test fire it with factory jacketed ammo and if it met their specs they would just return it to me. The rep was very polite saying he understands, claiming he was a lead slinger for many years.

Thx to board member JimInPhx. He reamed all the cylinder mouths to .452 for me. The shot to shot accuracy was like a night vs day improvement.

[makicjf]

I have 3 45 acp ruger cylinders and all have been reamed at the cylinder smith--IMO its worth the trip. I shoot a lot of the lee 230 tctl-- It is a stubby boolit and plunk test fits into both of my 1911's at 1.173, sized to .452, taper crimped to .470. This is also the oal that it plunks into all three of the reamed ruger 45 acp cylinders. I was concerned over the lenght so dug around and found a lee load listed which stated the load for unique topping out at 5.7 and the exact oal I had arrived -1.173 ish. ( from memory) . I have never had any issue with this boolit at the above oal over 5.8 of unique,YMMV. I have shot thousands of them.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Rikiracer: did you try a factory loaded round yet?

Go back and read post #25.

Randy

[white eagle]

You need to seat your SWC's so that the front drive band does not extend past the end of the case. Ruger did not cut a bevel leading into the throat like a 1911, it's just a step and protruding lead hangs up on it. If your load was a safe one with a tiny amount ofr lead outside the case it will be safe with it inside. The gun will not blow up and shoot just fine. When I got mine I had to reseat all my acp's that I wanted to use in the Ruger, nothing to get excited about. Sending it to Ruger won't accomplish a thing as factory rounds will seat just fine and they will tell you it's in spec.

I had the same problem with one boolit
till I seated them deeper my problem was still there however once I accomplished that it went away
try it

[RikyRacr]

Rikiracer: did you try a factory loaded round yet?

Go back and read post #25.

Randy

Yep, factory FMJ chambers fine. I put a micrometer on the jacketed bullet right at the case and it measured under .450".

As far as seating the cast boolit deeper and/or applying more crimp.......

That would allow the round to chamber but I would still be forcing a .452" diameter boolit through a .4505" diameter throat before it enters the barrel. That doesn't sound like a good recipe for accuracy to me. I am pretty new to all this stuff so I could be wrong that's for sure.

I am leaning towards the throat reaming. Remember my barrel slugged at .4508"/.4510". Everything I have read says to use a cast boolit .001" to .002" bigger than the grooves in the barrel. I will be shooting cast boolits about 99% of the time. At least. I have no plans on purchasing any jacketed projectiles.

[pdawg_shooter]

All but one gun I sent back to Ruger when I was a dealer came back "within specs". That one was a SRH with the barrel clocked incorrectly. Got it back with the sights where they should be, the barrel cylinder gap changed from .002 to .007 and the crown recut with what looked like a countersink for wood screws. Looked like a beaver gnawed it in. The barrel also now had a spot in the bore that looked the same way. No way to shoot cast. Thats Ruger service for you.

[opos]

I've had good luck with Ruger cylinders so maybe I'm just lucky....in the convertables I only fired factory 45acp and no issues...with the 45 Colts I shoot boolits made by Missouri mfg and don't cast..I'm old and it's too late in the game to begin playing with heat and melted lead. But one thing sounds strangely familiar about this post:

I used to own and shoot a lot of semi autos and I'm as guilty as the next guy about over researching things...I'd get a new gun and start tinkering with it...I'd replace this spring and that spring and this rod and that rod...I'd replace the plastic guide rod with a stainless one made from a door hinge pin, etc, etc, etc...usually long before I ever really fired the guns. Recently I contacted Cylindersmith about reaming a cylinder for a recent aquisition...an unfired original SS Vaquero Bisley...he asked if I was having difficulties and when I said I'd not shot it yet....he said "shoot it and then if you have issues we can see about addressing them"...I'm not of the level technically of many of you and I have way less experience in many of the gun things but my 75 years on this rock tell me to go and use a tool before starting to modify it...it might work just fine.

Got a buddy that is a master fuel injection and carburation specialist...has done major fuel system work for some of the major race teams in NHRA, etc. He talks about the number of brand new parts he had to "un repair" over the years from folks that read or heard about this or that being just the hot deal....he said most of the parts had not even been run yet and folks were trying to "fix them"...I've had luck with new weapons just firing them with factory ammo for a while to let everything settle in and then start with my handloads..On the one occasion I had a gun that would not fire factory ammo...it was on it's way back to that manufacturer the first day for repair..I don't buy a new car and then start repairing something before I know if it will work and for sure if something is wrong..the dealer gets it right now for their repair under warranty......just 2 cents from an old amateur.

[fecmech]

Everything I have read says to use a cast boolit .001" to .002" bigger than the grooves in the barrel.
Some guns don't believe everything they read, you should shoot yours with the deeper seating and see.:wink:

[RikyRacr]

Ok guys, lets shoot this baby and go from there. It will probably be the long weekend of the 4th of July before I can get to the range.
I'll load up some more .45ACP and seat the boolits so the cartridge chambers correctly. I'll reseat the 50 that are already made. I have 200 .45LC with 235 and 255 grain boolits ready to go.
I know I have a tendency to over think stuff. Sorry, been that way my whole life. I appreciate the advice from you all
I will report back here with the results of my trip to the range.
Good Shootin' everyone!

[W.R.Buchanan]

Riki: If a factory round chambers then Ruger is not going to do anything to change the gun . No gun manufacturer cares even one iota about their guns performance with YOUR reloads. In fact most makers expressly state they don't want reloads in thier guns.

WE just had a guy in our club blow up a brand new Les Baer Custom $3000 1911 with a double charge. The gun is locked shut and is not coming open. He is sending it back to Baer to get fixed. Pretty sure he'll be paying full pop for the rebuild after they get done laughing at him. The gun had less than 100 rounds thru it and the guy had reloaded less than 500 rounds in his life.

I submit that if your rounds are taper crimped to .470 they would chamber just fine cuz a .0005 -.001 interferance is not going to stop a round from going in the hole. It may not just drop in but it could be pushed in with very little effort. Also rise in chamber pressure would be negligable. If it was .003 or more then you'd have a problem.

If you seat the SWC boolit right to the radius on the forward driving band the boolit should be less than .450 in dia from there forward. The boolit in the pics is seated exactly like this and measures .446 just in front of the case mouth. Obviously it would work in your gun. That boolit is an X-treme plated cast lead boolit.

All in all, if that outfit will redo your cylinder for $55 I'd just send it to them. I am a highly skilled machinist/toolmaker with 30 years in the trade and I own my own shop. I wouldn't hesitate to send this gun out for redo to someone who does it everyday, as opposed to "learning how to do it" using my new gun as a test piece. All it takes is for the reamer to bite in one of the holes and you've got junk.

This seems like a no brainer.

Randy

[skeettx]

My head STILL hurts :)

[RikyRacr]

Riki: If a factory round chambers then Ruger is not going to do anything to change the gun . No gun manufacturer cares even one iota about their guns performance with YOUR reloads. In fact most makers expressly state they don't want reloads in thier guns.

WE just had a guy in our club blow up a brand new Les Baer Custom $3000 1911 with a double charge. The gun is locked shut and is not coming open. He is sending it back to Baer to get fixed. Pretty sure he'll be paying full pop for the rebuild after they get done laughing at him. The gun had less than 100 rounds thru it and the guy had reloaded less than 500 rounds in his life.

I submit that if your rounds are taper crimped to .470 they would chamber just fine cuz a .0005 -.001 interferance is not going to stop a round from going in the hole. It may not just drop in but it could be pushed in with very little effort. Also rise in chamber pressure would be negligable. If it was .003 or more then you'd have a problem.

If you seat the SWC boolit right to the radius on the forward driving band the boolit should be less than .450 in dia from there forward. The boolit in the pics is seated exactly like this and measures .446 just in front of the case mouth. Obviously it would work in your gun. That boolit is an X-treme plated cast lead boolit.

All in all, if that outfit will redo your cylinder for $55 I'd just send it to them. I am a highly skilled machinist/toolmaker with 30 years in the trade and I own my own shop. I wouldn't hesitate to send this gun out for redo to someone who does it everyday, as opposed to "learning how to do it" using my new gun as a test piece. All it takes is for the reamer to bite in one of the holes and you've got junk.

This seems like a no brainer.

Randy

Seating the boolit deeper allows the round to chamber. I am confused, though, how one could "push" a .452" boolit into a .4505" diameter throat. Not going to happen.
I do agree with letting someone that is intimately familiar with the process do it however. I am pretty sure I could do it but why take a chance. I am also a journeyman machinist/cnc programmer. Started in 1974 right out of high school. Of course, that was WAY before CNC machines were around.
Anyway, I am going to shoot this gun and go from there. I'm pretty sure the .45LC cylinder will be fine. Honestly, I would probably not shoot ACP's much but just want the option.

[W.R.Buchanan]

You are over estimating the resistance of lead into a .0015 press fit. Also the boolit doesn't have to go that far into that fit. what .02-03 maybe?

If it was a steel pin that is a different story however lead is pretty easy to deform.

Whatever,,, I still think sending the Cylinder to that outfit is the best solution.

randy

[RikyRacr]

The .45LC cylinder shoots fine. The groups are 5" at 50' from a rest but I am pretty sure the gun will do better as I get to know it. I will continue to shoot it and see if I can improve on this. I really like how the gun feels and shoots. Plus it is gorgeous and the fit and finish is excellent.
I have sent the .45ACP off to Cylindersmith to have the throats reamed to .4525". Since it costs about the same to reload both cartridges I probably will focus on shooting the .45LC mostly though. Just something about dropping that big ol' brass in the chamber.......