I'm kind of a Jack of All Trades but Master of None!

I'm currently on the verge of buying a new Ruger Blackhawk in 45 Colt. Typically I read voraciously about a subject and research like crazy before making the jump. Basically I drool all over myself!

I read in the June 2004 issue of Handloader magazine, From the Hip by Brian Pearce about "Experiments w/ a Colt Anaconda 45. The chambers throats measured .458". By the time the bullets left the chamber they were hitting the throat "out of true" and accuracy was horrible, as was the leading. His remedy was to have a new 44 mag cylinder reamed out to 45 Colt and the throats were .452". Accuracy was much improved and leading was minimally normal.

My questions.

1. Can I use my dial caliper to measure the inside of the chambers throats? If not, then what do I measure with and how much does it cost?

2. I'm looking for two loads; the first for general plinking, daily carry, work, etc. The 2nd would be a heavier "oh my god!" load. Something cast, not cast by me but purchased. I can cast but my stuff has been in mothball for 20+ years and at present have no desire to break it out. What bullets (250 gr & 300+gr) that I can buy would you suggest; plain base or gas check? How hard? I understand that too hard wont obturate and too soft will lead. Should I purchase Saeco bullet hardness tester or depend upon the quoted brinell hardness specified by the manufacture? I suppose I should slug my barrel. With what and how? Soft lead slug or cerrosafe? Are Ruger's chambers loose to shoot blackpowder loads or did they tighten them up for smokeless loads? I handled a 45 BH yesterday @ the local Sportsman Warehouse and the trigger was much stiffer/heavier than I think I will need for accuracy. Is this something I can do, say drop in parts or will it definatly need a gunsmith? Also the aluminum grip frame. Should I replace it with steel and since Brownells sells the steel versions in the white will cold blue suffice? Is their any fitting necessary?

Ok, lots of questions. Any help will be appreciated?

Personally I am a believer in using cast bullets for all applications with the 45 Colt. For velocities under 1000 fps softer bullets are better - less lead in the forcing cone area due to easier obturation. At higher velocities harder bullets are better. One potential issue with store bought bullets is lube. They (all that I have encountered) use some sort of hard lube which may or may not work best. Almost everybody sells a 255 Keith type SWC and that is about an ideal bullet for most applications. The inexpensive trigger job on a Ruger SA is to take off the grip panels and unhook one arm of the spring - makes a noticeable difference.

I have 6 or 7 45 Colts, mostly S&Ws, one Colt Anaconda and one Ruger 45 5/8 inch.
My shooting bud has three 45 Colts, one Ruger 7.5 and two Anacondas.
Both of us have found .454 diameter bullets, at all velocities, work best.
A suggestion.
Take a ,452 bullet and drop it in the cyclinder. Does it require any effort to push it thru with a pencil or dowel? If it falls thru get the larger diamter bullet.
You may need to lap the barrel just beyond the forcing cone of the barrel, where the barrel screws into the frame to remove some constriction.
All of my 45s needed lapping to eliminate all leading. I can now shoot 1,000 rounds without cleaning, aside from just a wipe down.
Jim

Take an oversizes soft lead round ball or bullet and take it through the cyilinder (take your cylinder out of the revolver) and then mike it. You will get a wee little spring back, but this will be accurate enough for what we're doing here.
I haven't seen many Ruger 45 LC's with drastic oversized cylinder throats/mouths. You can do the same with your barrel. Tap bullet through the barrel with wooden or brass dowel. Pay attention when the bullet gets close to where the barrel threads into the frame. If you notice it's tighter then you may want to lap that section out or have someone that knows how to do it for you. If your barrel mikes out to say .451 to .452 and your cylinder throats are a little bigger, then you are fine. You want to cylinder throat to be larger then the barrel groove diameter. If it isn't you're firing an undersize bullet through your barrel.

On the aluminum frame over a steel one, the heavier steel frame will dampen the recoil some. I've heard tale that very heavy loads using the heavier bullets like 300 grs having eventually broken the aluminum grip frame, but haven't seen it first hand. I've had my 45 LC Blawkhawl old model from 1972 and haven't had a lick of trouble with it and let me tell you it's had some really hot loads put through it.

I have an early model Smith Model 25 45 LC and the cylinder throats on it are about .456 or tad larger and it is one of the most accurate revolver I've shot. The barrel groove diameter is .451-.452.

One thing not mentioned about shooting bullets that are sized to .454 is depending on the brand of loading dies you have, you may not be able to get such a fat bullet into the seating die. I had this with Redding dies and had to sent the seater back to have it honed open a little larger.

quote:

One thing not mentioned about shooting bullets that are sized to .454 is depending on the brand of loading dies you have, you may not be able to get such a fat bullet into the seating die. I had this with Redding dies and had to sent the seater back to have it honed open a little larger.

I have Lyman, RCBS and Redding dies. The Redding dies are 8 or 9 years old. I've never had a problem with any of the seating dies, using .454 bullets.
I guess I've been lucky over the past 35 or 40 years with finding dies that will take .454 bullets.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by arkypete:

quote:

One thing not mentioned about shooting bullets that are sized to .454 is depending on the brand of loading dies you have, you may not be able to get such a fat bullet into the seating die. I had this with Redding dies and had to sent the seater back to have it honed open a little larger.

I have Lyman, RCBS and Redding dies. The Redding dies are 8 or 9 years old. I've never had a problem with any of the seating dies, using .454 bullets.
I guess I've been lucky over the past 35 or 40 years with finding dies that will take .454 bullets.

Jim

Jim,

Almost the same problem with rifle dies, especially for the old military rounds, that were designed to seat jacketed bullets and you find your cast bullets too tight in many instances. My Redding dies are from about the 1989 era.

Maybe the secret, for me, was to use Lyman 'M' dies for all of my cast bullet rifle shooting. Currently I load for 405 Winchester, 45-70, 30-06, 45 Colt for a Rossi, using cast bullets.
Since all of my handgun loading is for cast bullets I've have real good luck using Dillon's powder thru case expander.
One thing I do that may be different is I polish down the part of the expander that opens up the case body so that I get real tight fit on the bullet.

Jim

Jim,

I've polished down all my expanders from day one, many many many years ago.

When I was describing the problem in my last post, I wasn't describing a shooting or accuracy problem. I don't have a problem there, quite the opposite...fantastic results.

Joe

I've got a 4 5/8" stainless 45 Black Hawk and really like it. I put the Houge Mono-Grip on. It does a great job with HEAVY loads.
With heavy loads you may need to get a taller front sight blade.

http://www.mtbaldybullets.com/asp/products.asp#Revolver
Mt. Baldy Bullets has a great selection of bullets for the 45 Colt. They even have the 45-270 SAA. You could load this one bullet and do all jobs with it from plinking tin cans to hunting Elk.
Mt. Baldy uses Carnauba Red lube on their bullets. It's a semi-hard lube that works well at lower pressures and velocities, but it really shines when the pressures and velocities are on the high end. I've shot it to 2700 fps in my 30-06 with no leading at all. I also use it for my pistol loads from 357 to 500 S&W.
They just sent me a box of 450gr Keith SWC for the 500 S&W and they are some great looking bullets. Now I just need to pencil in some time at the range.

Back to the gun, a dial caliper will work fairly well and give you 3 decimal places. If you have some low temp chamber cast alloy, you can use it to check the barrel and the chambers if you want.

The poor boy trigger job does make a big difference. Just pull the grip panels off and unhook one leg of the spring. Another thing to try for smoothing out the sear. Unload the gun, cock the hammer and push forwards fairly hard on the hammer, then pull the trigger with the pressure on the hammer. Do this 20-30 times to smooth out any burs that may be there. You can also do this with bolt action rifles or any other new gun.