Tight Ruger 45 Colt

[Static line]

Something that has me just a little worried about my new Ruger NMBH in 45 Colt.
I cast my own 255 grn. SWC bullets and also use other manufactured cast bullets as well,all are sized at .452" dia.
Upon slugging my Chamber Throats and my Bore Groove dimention,I find everything measures pretty tight.
I slugged all six chambers and I have four that mic at .450" ,one at .4505" and one at .449".
I slugged my bore 4 times and I keep coming up with .449".
I used .490" lead round balls for a 50 cal. muzzleloader.The gun was cleaned very well,making sure there was no leading to give me false readings.
Do you see that any of this is a problem? Should I return the gun to Ruger? or just ream out the cylinder throats so they are uniform and a little bigger then the bore diameter that I have? or do you feel that the bore diameter is to tight for a .452" sized bullet ? What are your thoughs?
Static line

[RobS]

.459 groove diameter???? for the bore. That is huge and if so then I would be sending this back to ruger. Ideally you would want your cylinder throats .001" or so over and at worst the same diameter as the groove diameter. I've cut several Ruger 45 Colt cylinder throats to a .4525 diameter. Your throats sound like some Rugers I've seen but the barrel is way out of spec.

[Static line]

Rob,that was a mistake.I made the change above to what I ment. .449" bore groove diameter. Thanks for the catch.

[RobS]

Well you look to be ok in reference to having your boolits leave the cylinder throats at or larger than the barrel's groove diameter. However the inconsistency in those throats may lead you to a change of impact on the target. If it were me I would go ahead and ream the throats to a consistent diameter. The standard .452 boolits will shoot fine with the bore groove diameter being .449. I have a Ruger 45 Colt Bisley that came to me with just about the exact same diameters (groove diameter and cylinder throats) as what your revolver is showing. I reamed mine myself to .4525 and haven't looked back.

Reaming the cylinder throats is a simple process with the right tooling (sharp cutter and pilots) and is actually easier than tapping threads.

[RobS]

I'm sure forum member DougGuy will chime in here as he typically does regards to helping people out if they don't have the tooling. He's done himself a good deal of business on the forum helping members out with these sort of issues.

[robertbank]

Welcome to Rugers. I ran into the same problem you did with the throats. If you are going to shoot cast cut the throats all the same and cut your forcing cone to 11 degrees. Makes a world of difference. If your gun s stainless get a 'smith to do it unless yo have some experince in this area.

Take Care

Bob

[Groo]

Groo here
Sounds like you got thread choke [ barrel too tight]
When you slug the barrel [ from the muzzle] did the slug get harder to drive as you got to the frame???????

[Static line]

Groo here
Sounds like you got thread choke [ barrel too tight]
When you slug the barrel [ from the muzzle] did the slug get harder to drive as you got to the frame???????
Yep,there is a slight hint of throat choke.

[Hickok]

Static line, I have had 7 different Rugers in 45 Colt over the years (Blackhawks, Old Vaquero, New Vaqueros) and they all had .449-450" chamber throats. I had them opened up to .4525".

Wonder why Ruger can't see fit to correct these demensions?

[Static line]

Static line, I have had 7 different Rugers in 45 Colt over the years (Blackhawks, Old Vaquero, New Vaqueros) and they all had .449-450" chamber throats. I had them opened up to .4525".

Wonder why Ruger can't see fit to correct these demensions?

As soon as my gunsmith gets back from sunny California,he is going to ream the cyl. throats out for me.I am a little puzzled that my bore measures .449" as well,at the muzzle. When I slugged the muzzle,I pushed the slug back out of the muzzle so I wouldn't take any reading other then the muzzle end.

[RobS]

If your bore tapers or funnels toward the muzzle that is not a bad thing.

[Static line]

Thanks for following me along on this topic.It enlightens me now that what I have is not a big deal to fix by a little reaming to the cylinder throats.
Now if I do have a little throat choke,I say little because I can just barely feel a small amount of resistance as the slug passes through , should I fire lap it before I ream the chamber throats or after?

[DougGuy]

My turnaround time is beyond funny, a cylinder came at 3:30pm yesterday, it was reamed, honed, and back in the box with a shipping label at 4:25pm.. Snow day, didn't have other work to do..

I ream and hone your throats to .4525" they are perfectly round, and within .0002" of each other. Factory can't spend the time to fine tune a cylinder like this. The work is fast, very affordable, and professionally done. A PM will get things started.

If you are going to firelap, it makes no sense at all to lap with boolits downsized by your too tight cylinder throats, you should firelap after they are reamed.

Also, is your gun stainless? .449" is a LOT of choke really. A stainless barrel will take over a hundred rounds and probably still not have the choke out, but you run a very real chance of ruining the remaining good part of the barrel.

A choke of .449" is below SAAMI specs, and by this standard alone, Ruger -should- fix it. If Ruger won't fix it, I have a Taylor throating reamer that works for barrels like these where nothing else is practical. I did it to a Vaquero of mine which I still have and shoot, it's a good shooting pistol.

[Static line]

My turnaround time is beyond funny, a cylinder came at 3:30pm yesterday, it was reamed, honed, and back in the box with a shipping label at 4:25pm.. Snow day, didn't have other work to do..

I ream and hone your throats to .4525" they are perfectly round, and within .0002" of each other. Factory can't spend the time to fine tune a cylinder like this. The work is fast, very affordable, and professionally done. A PM will get things started.

If you are going to firelap, it makes no sense at all to lap with boolits downsized by your too tight cylinder throats, you should firelap after they are reamed.

Also, is your gun stainless? .449" is a LOT of choke really. A stainless barrel will take over a hundred rounds and probably still not have the choke out, but you run a very real chance of ruining the remaining good part of the barrel.

A choke of .449" is below SAAMI specs, and by this standard alone, Ruger -should- fix it. If Ruger won't fix it, I have a Taylor throating reamer that works for barrels like these where nothing else is practical. I did it to a Vaquero of mine which I still have and shoot, it's a good shooting pistol.

Check your private messages.

[RobS]

See I told you DougGuy would be around............another forum customer!!!

[Static line]

See I told you DougGuy would be around............another forum customer!!!

Yes and he is a big help in answering my questions and making sure I do things right in checking my bore on the Ruger and how and what to look for.

[robertbank]

Yes and he is a big help in answering my questions and making sure I do things right in checking my bore on the Ruger and how and what to look for.

If I was in the US with a problem like yours I would send the gun to him and just ask him to fix it. Ream the cylinders, cut the forcing cone and look nto the barrel situation. The barrel may not be as bad as you think.

Take Care

Bob

[Tar Heel]

My turnaround time is beyond funny, a cylinder came at 3:30pm yesterday, it was reamed, honed, and back in the box with a shipping label at 4:25pm.. Snow day, didn't have other work to do..

I ream and hone your throats to .4525" they are perfectly round, and within .0002" of each other. Factory can't spend the time to fine tune a cylinder like this. The work is fast, very affordable, and professionally done. A PM will get things started.

If you are going to firelap, it makes no sense at all to lap with boolits downsized by your too tight cylinder throats, you should firelap after they are reamed.

Also, is your gun stainless? .449" is a LOT of choke really. A stainless barrel will take over a hundred rounds and probably still not have the choke out, but you run a very real chance of ruining the remaining good part of the barrel.

A choke of .449" is below SAAMI specs, and by this standard alone, Ruger -should- fix it. If Ruger won't fix it, I have a Taylor throating reamer that works for barrels like these where nothing else is practical. I did it to a Vaquero of mine which I still have and shoot, it's a good shooting pistol.

His work is TOP NOTCH. He worked both my NMBH and a Vaquero. I suspect Ruger has such tight throats to utilize factory jacketed ammo which runs at .451

[nicholst55]

A choke of .449" is below SAAMI specs, and by this standard alone, Ruger -should- fix it. If Ruger won't fix it, I have a Taylor throating reamer that works for barrels like these where nothing else is practical. I did it to a Vaquero of mine which I still have and shoot, it's a good shooting pistol.

Ruger didn't fix my Vaquero that had almost identical measurements. They did replace the cylinder that Doug had reamed for me with another one that needs reaming, and then they test-fired the gun. They sent me a color photo of the test target - two distinct and separate 3-shot groups measuring 2" at 15 yards, and said that it was "within specs." Once I save up some pennies, I'll be sending Doug the entire gun for Taylor Throating and reaming of the 'new' out-of-spec cylinder.

I'd like to see the gun shooting 2" at 50 yards, not 15. Maybe an unrealistic expectation, but I can always hope!

[robertbank]

His work is TOP NOTCH. He worked both my NMBH and a Vaquero. I suspect Ruger has such tight throats to utilize factory jacketed ammo which runs at .451

Or they don't replace their cutters often enough. They are very nice kit guns though. Keeps guys like Doug busy which is not all bad.

Take Care

Bob

[M-Tecs]

I didn't know about the "Taylor Throating Reamers"

Sounds interesting

http://web.archive.org/web/20020606140647/www.sixgunner.com/dad/throat.htm (http://web.archive.org/web/20020606140647/www.sixgunner.com/dad/throat.htm)

http://www.grantcunningham.com/blog_files/c5f2ab48855cf4d62d3f8c67333d27b7-412.html (http://www.grantcunningham.com/blog_files/c5f2ab48855cf4d62d3f8c67333d27b7-412.html)

http://singleactions.proboards.com/thread/2587 (http://singleactions.proboards.com/thread/2587)

http://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/ross-seyfried-lipseys-ruger-flattop-44-special-bisley-revolvers/ (http://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/ross-seyfried-lipseys-ruger-flattop-44-special-bisley-revolvers/)

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=102555 (http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=102555)

[Static line]

I didn't know about the "Taylor Throating Reamers"

Sounds interesting

http://web.archive.org/web/20020606140647/www.sixgunner.com/dad/throat.htm (http://web.archive.org/web/20020606140647/www.sixgunner.com/dad/throat.htm)

http://www.grantcunningham.com/blog_files/c5f2ab48855cf4d62d3f8c67333d27b7-412.html (http://www.grantcunningham.com/blog_files/c5f2ab48855cf4d62d3f8c67333d27b7-412.html)

http://singleactions.proboards.com/thread/2587 (http://singleactions.proboards.com/thread/2587)

http://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/ross-seyfried-lipseys-ruger-flattop-44-special-bisley-revolvers/ (http://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/ross-seyfried-lipseys-ruger-flattop-44-special-bisley-revolvers/)

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=102555 (http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=102555)

M-Tecs,
Thanks for putting together all those links for me.I read them and found the subjects very interesting and informative..It gives one lots to ponder on.