Blackhawk Convertible solution needed

[cabezaverde]

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I have a 45 colt - 45 ACP Blackhawk.

I checked the cylinder throats, and the 45 Colt is just the way I like it - .454.

The 45 ACP cylinder is a little trickier. The throats are .453 - .454. The challenge is that the chambers are just right for a 45 ACP loaded with a .451 - .452 cast bullet. Any bigger, the round won't chamber without a mallet.

I have not used the ACP cylinder a lot, but the little I have used it has given less than stellar accuracy.

Any thought on what could be done with this cylinder?

[218bee]

Wondering what your barrel slugs at? Does the Colt shoot good?

[cabezaverde]

Shoots good with the Colt cylinder.

[StarMetal]

I have an old three screw Blackhawk in 45 Colt. It shoots pretty decent with the 45 Colt. Many years ago I sent it back to Ruger to have them fit a 45acp cylinder. First a little about the cylinder. It has the tightest chambers I've seen on any type of 45acp handgun including match barrels for 1911's. It has been a real pain to reload for, but the way it shoots pays off for those fruits of labor. The first cast bullet I shot from it was the Lyman 230 RN and my eyes popped out. It outshoots the 45 Colt cylinder by far.

Maybe if you play around with some carefully reloaded ammo and try some different bullets, you may be pleasantly rewarded. Don't give up.

By the way my groove diameter is dead on .452. I use .452 cast with the 45 acp cylinder as that's all the larger bullet that will let me chamber them in that tight cylinder.

Joe

[MT Gianni]

Joe's experience mirrors mine. I like the 230 BD45 in my Blackhawk. It is tight chambered but experimenting will bring it in.

[felix]

Tight neck systems outshoot the other configurations BY FAR!!! The downside is that the arrangement is for STRICTLY TARGET operations. Useless for combat applications. ... felix

[cabezaverde]

I have heard R-P 45 ACP brass is a little thinner. Anyone know anything about that? Maybe it will help me out.

[felix]

ALL brass is lot dependent. Has nothing to do with brand, per se. Everybody and anybody makes military cases by the millions, and there is no telling who made that "Remington" brass. Depends on who contracts who to make the cases per headstamp. ... felix

[cabezaverde]

Felix, I meant commercial R-P brass. I do realize Remington might not be the manufacturer. I will have to do some measuring.

[scrapcan]

My experience with a friends convertible in 45acp/45 colt mirros what was said above. I also had a 357/9mm convertible of my own that now resides at a new home.

The 45 convertible also found a new home after it was sent off to be line bored and re-chambered to correct the chamber/throat issues. It just never did shoot well with the acp cylinder. Bore slugged at 452. ACP cylinder throats were originally 4505 to 451, but you could not chamber a cartridge loaded with 451 sized brass.

Nice idea but just did not materialize on teh two specimens I have worked with.

[S.R.Custom]

I have heard R-P 45 ACP brass is a little thinner. Anyone know anything about that? Maybe it will help me out.

I've not noticed a big difference in thickness at the case mouth between the brands, but what I have noticed is this: Certain brands get thicker as you go down the case wall a lot quicker than others. For loading fat or deep-seated (heavy) bullets, I've ranked the commercial brass as follows for desireability:

1. Federal
2. R-P
3. Winchester/WCC
4. PMC

[runfiverun]

you could get the cylinders honed out and the throats re-cut to match the colts dimensions.
and maybe have it also recut for auto-rim brass.
have you tried to measure the length of your brass? the acp head spaces off the case mouth and a few thousandths makes a difference.

[tarbe]

Felix, I meant commercial R-P brass. I do realize Remington might not be the manufacturer. I will have to do some measuring.

The R-P brass is definitely thinner.

I just finished prepping 1,200 ACP cases. You can easily tell when you run an R-P ACP case into the die, they are that different.

[beagle]

Fortunately, I must have gotten a good .45 convertible.

The .45 ACP cylinder shoots as well as does the .45 Colt. In fact, I burn more .45 ACP through it than .45 COlt as I have a more plentiful supply of brass.

Both will shoot .451" bullets accurately. The .45 Colt cylinder seems to not care. It digests anything from .451-454 with accuracy.

Throats/barrel dimensions. I'm happy with it as is and don't want to know./beagle

[scrapcan]

Beagle,

I think if the gun I mentioned had had the owner with the same thoughts it would still be in the gunsafe. I think things went way to fast and he should have shot it much more. I did not get to handle, reload, and shoot until all of hte work had been done. The 357/9mm was a much different story, it was just plain a bad shooter and I need a new toy more than spending a lot of time with that one. Today I would probably think different on it also.