Gents I have a Blackhawk in 45Colt that the cylinder is pretty lousy when it comes to tolerances. The bore slugs out at .451 and all but two cylinders are way off. Two are at .454 two at .453, one at .4515 and one at .452. I can easily drop a .452 bullet through the four cylinders and slight pressure for the other two. Now this explains why I have been having erratic velocities and my groups.
So I was doing a little research and saw on Gary Reeder's website that they do new cylinders and for about the same price I could do a 5 shot 455 GNR cylinder. So for roughly the same amount of money it would take to correct my problem I could have a 5 shot custom caliber done up.

The 455 GNR looks like it would be a great choice to give me everything from 45 Colt up to 454 Cas. levels. The barrel on my revolver is 7.5" already so I would think it would take advantage of the bottle necked cartridge.

What do you guys think about the cartridge? Is it really as simple as swapping out a cylinder or am I off base?

Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Palladin8:
Gents I have a Blackhawk in 45Colt that the cylinder is pretty lousy when it comes to tolerances. The bore slugs out at .451 and all but two cylinders are way off. Two are at .454 two at .453, one at .4515 and one at .452. I can easily drop a .452 bullet through the four cylinders and slight pressure for the other two. Now this explains why I have been having erratic velocities and my groups.
So I was doing a little research and saw on Gary Reeder's website that they do new cylinders and for about the same price I could do a 5 shot 455 GNR cylinder. So for roughly the same amount of money it would take to correct my problem I could have a 5 shot custom caliber done up.

The 455 GNR looks like it would be a great choice to give me everything from 45 Colt up to 454 Cas. levels. The barrel on my revolver is 7.5" already so I would think it would take advantage of the bottle necked cartridge.

What do you guys think about the cartridge? Is it really as simple as swapping out a cylinder or am I off base?

Thanks.

I don't think he will simply swap out the cylinders. It is going to be a full custom-new 5 shot cylinder, Barrel, ect. Check with Gary, but that is my understanding.

Thanks Tembo.

I sent an email to him and am waiting to hear back from him. It would be nice if it were as simple as a cylinder swap but I am betting you are correct on the full on custom. Not that it's a bad thing to have a custom gun built.

Palladin, I have a 411 GNR. It is the 44 Mag necked down to accept the .410" bullet. I bought it in a second hand market. The individual I bought it from included load data from Gary Reeder himself.

The individual I bought the revolver from indicated that even the starting loads Reeder gave for 170-grain Sierras were "kind of sticky". I did some research, and what Reeder enclosed were loads for 44 caliber 180-grain bullets.

It doesn't take a genius to understand that part of the pressure input to a load is barrel diameter. You can't use the same powder charge for a .429" barrel and a .410" barrel. Admittedly, I haven't shot the revolver, but I don't anticipate any different results from what the previous owner experienced. And I don't see much difference in 10 grains of projectile weight.

In short, there is no such thing as a free lunch. I am not all that impressed with the Reeder line of cartridges, based on what I have seen so far. It appears to me that the real proof of what you are looking for will be in handloading up. But don't be surprised if you end up stopping short of top end loads, even those recommended from Reeder himself.

And one final note: a lot of Reeder's work is based on what I call "hand rifles"... TC Encores, specifically. And the TC "handguns" are different animals entirely... they don't act like revolvers, IME.

never saw the use of the gnr rounds, if ya want to run a round slower or faster it just doesn't make a difference. want a round that can do from cowboy 45 colt to 454 levels, buy a 454 cylinder, get a tub of trailboss, titegroup, hs-6, and h110 powder and ya got it covered, repeat as necessary for 475's and 500 calibers. no sense in the brass limitations and/or trouble reloading imho.

Thanks for the input. I did some research on the cartridge and found very little out there on them. Still waiting to hear from Gary Reeder.
I am thinking that i'll just end up sending it back in to Ruger and have them fit a cylinder with better tolerances and maybe shorten the barrel to 4 5/8".

ya might consider sending it to jack huntington and having him fit a new cylinder, (i'd get a 454) shorten the barrel and do an action job and ya'd have a heck of a pistol and it'd be a bit better than the job you'd get from ruger.

Pallidin8

How much do you really want to spend? And if you ask yourself, be honest, what will you really be shooting in it? If you've shot the 32,000 cup range loads, do you really want more?

Your idea of returning it to Ruger would be the most inexpensive. Today their chamber dimensions are pretty good.
Next step up is: a good gunsmith could check the cylinder dimensions ( for alignment ) and possible donor 44 cylinder could be rechambered and fitted to your gun. Or possibly a 357 max cylinder shortened and fitted for a full window length cylinder.
Third is to have a new, custom 6 shot standard sized cylinder fitted to your gun.
Fourth: have a custom oversize cylinder fitted.
Lasty: a full custom 5 shot conversion

The questions still remain, what do you need? what do you want to spend.

For me, Option 1 or 2 will provide the best answer.

Hope this helps.
Todd

Todd, stop being reasonable!

quote:

Originally posted by kaytod:
Pallidin8

How much do you really want to spend? And if you ask yourself, be honest, what will you really be shooting in it? If you've shot the 32,000 cup range loads, do you really want more?

Your idea of returning it to Ruger would be the most inexpensive. Today their chamber dimensions are pretty good.
Next step up is: a good gunsmith could check the cylinder dimensions ( for alignment ) and possible donor 44 cylinder could be rechambered and fitted to your gun. Or possibly a 357 max cylinder shortened and fitted for a full window length cylinder.
Third is to have a new, custom 6 shot standard sized cylinder fitted to your gun.
Fourth: have a custom oversize cylinder fitted.
Lasty: a full custom 5 shot conversion

The questions still remain, what do you need? what do you want to spend.

For me, Option 1 or 2 will provide the best answer.

Hope this helps.
Todd

Thanks for the reply.

I have loaded it to the max and shot it quite a bit with max loads. I also have shot it a lot with mild and mid range loads and have never really found great accuracy from it. Since buying my Bisley I honestly put this one in the back of the gun safe since the Bisley proved to be more accurate and shooting it with wild loads was easier on my hands with the larger grip. For what I am ultimately wanting I think sending it off to Ruger is of course the cheapest route and the one I am leaning more towards doing. 45 Colt has always been my favorite cartridge so keeping as a Colt wouldn't hurt my feelings in the least.

Again thanks for your time.

The bonus with the 455GNR is 454 Casull velocities (and then some) without the wrist wrenching recoil and higher pressures of the 454. I have both the 454 and the 455GNR so I have the experience to know the pro's and con's. The 455GNR uses 475L brass so it utilizes a larger expansion chamber thus the lower pressures. It is a fine shooting 5-shot custom revolver built on the Ruger Bisley Hunter platform. The revolver must be a 5-shot conversion so the only downside vs the 45 Colt is the cost of the conversion...and that would be the same if it were a 454 too. I would not even go thru the trouble of a 5-shot cylinder conversion without going to the heavier/beefier barrel as well. I also have the 410GNR referenced above and have shot plenty of game with it..a 454 necked down to 41 caliber....way more potent than a 41 rem. mag for sure..about the same ballistics as the 414 SuperMag cartridge. Quite a powerful, flat shooting round.

Whitworth,
That's the first time I've been accused of being reasonable!

quote:

Originally posted by kaytod:
Whitworth,
That's the first time I've been accused of being reasonable!

Consider the source, Todd! LOL!