45 colt and 454 casull, How to select bullet diameter

[akbeard]

I own three guns that I want to use cast boolets in and after reading several articles, I'm a little confused on what diameter boolet to buy. I want to purchase some at first to see what works best for me and I am hoping that i can use the same bullet for all guns. I slugged all of the barrels and cylinder throats. The first is a FA model 83 with a cylinder throat of .4525 and groove diameter of .4525. Next is a Rossi M92 carbine that slugged at .452. Last is a new Bisley Blackhawk with cylinder throats at .453 and groove diameter of .4505. With the Bisley there is a pretty tight restriction that I plan on working over by fire lapping.
I've heard everything from going with the the cylinder throat diameter to .002 over. I like to use a 255 gr pb bullet for plinking and then have been using 300gr jacketed boolets for hunting deer, black bear and carrying for brownbear protection. It sounds like there are some advantages with using cast for my hunting/protection purposes and want to try some out. I would like to try some lead in the 325-335 gr and in the revolvers I want to run them in the 1100-1200fps and my carbine usually gets me another 300ish fps more. Should I use gc or can I get by with pb boolets? What diameters should I try first? .452, .453 or .454
Thanks

[Snyd]

I shoot several different boolits in my 45 Colt Bisley Hunter, 454 Redhawk conversion and 454 Puma 92. 200gr, 255, 335, 355 and even a 425. 452's all work great in all guns. 355ers are the bear protection loads in the 454 Redhawk. 425's in the 454 levergun.

[contender1]

Well, you will get several answers,,, but I'll give you my thoughts.
I own several 45's and a 454 FA myself. I use mostly a .452 bullet. I do not use a g/c bullet. I run mine in the 1100 fps range. Now,,, a carbine,,, it may need a g/c bullet. A lot will depend upon the hardness & velocity.

[44man]

.452" will do it. I hunt with my .45 using the Lyman 320 and the LBT 335 running at 1160 fps and penetration is unreal. These take a GC but I don't think you need one since I have shot the .454 over max loads with a PB, just WD, WW's.
I hate buying checks since you need to wait for the mining ship to leave the asteroid belt, the cost supports the space race! I think they change gravel to copper with the sorcerer's stone!
My .475 and .500 JRH both thrive on a PB. I push the buggers to just shy of brass sticking. 1316 to 1350 fps. I did not chrono the .454 but loads were over 50,000# and got super accuracy, less then 1" at 50 yards. No leading. Darn I might have reached 55,000#.
I don't think any handgun and many rifle calibers do NOT need the things unless you use a soft lead.
Go for it, money saved is a bottle of Jack.