Im getting leading in my cylinder throats in my new usfirearms saa in .45 colt. there are what i would call pretty deep ridges about 1/8 inch before the forcing part goes into a well polished exit hole in the cylenders... but before the exit hole the ramp to it, which is rough, (the case dimention to the steeper forcing cone in the cylinders) is like pipe threads.. Is this supposed to be smooth or are my loads wrong?.. It is very difficult to take the lead out of the threads with an in and out motion with a bronze brush, so i have to use a drill.. My new marlin is squeaky clean with a couple patches and hoppies number nine.. Im not used to a half hour lead clean job on a revolver, and still have some leading in those darn threads.. Usually its my loads that cause the problems, but im asking if this is a cylinder throat problem or not?. Thanks for your time.. dave

The forcing cone should be smooth, not rough as you describe. See if you local gun smith has a forcing cone reamer to clean it up.

Send it back to USFA. They will probably fix it, or even install a new cylinder for free. Try to use ammo with bullets diameters that match the ID of your throats. Hot gases can blow by undersized cast bullets (especially hard cast bullets) and melt lead off the sides of the bullets. The bases of softer bullets can slug up to fit the bore upon firing, depending on your load. Oversize bullets can shave lead off as they pass through the throat. USFA throats are usually .451" to .452". Slug you throats to make sure.

My measurements (my measuring leaves alot to be desired) is .4525 on bullets and .4515 on throat.. so at that point i should be ok.. I am afraid to use local gunsmiths, they have no one to answer to if they screw it up, and its never thier fault, and factory will not fix others screwups except for full service charges.. found that out the hard way on another gun.. .. Ive gotten vice marks on frame on 1926 original colt, and dented barrel on my cimmeron with work done to guns by highly respected local smiths,. They have thier pet projects and thier get the !#&*(*% thing done jobs.. the front blade is too short also which will be quite a job, barrel will have to be reblued and re set and sighted in. Its been in once and usf took half the cyl/ barrel alignment problem out, not perfect but acceptable, about .005 off im guessing, becouse i can see a fired case edge on one side and not the other when cocked looking down the barrel.. , it was worse when i sent in in. I called before i bought the gun and they said if it was not strait they would fix it,, well i guess im the fool.. . If you think thats bad look down the other guns on the shelf sometime, its an epidemic of poor craftsmanship.. 'the old colts were nothing to rave about either.. If a .22 was off as much as most of the new .45s being made today youd loose a substantial part of the bullet.. You get within factory accepted standards replys.. Cylinder gap standards are somewhere around .008 to .010 of an inch acceptable.. But still im afraid it will have to go back in.. New cylinder! no thanks, ill be dead before it gets back and then its problems fixed.. they dont have time to return my pnone calls now. I think they are trying to do thier best, I hope all the repairs dont drag them down the tube..I hope thier just buisy for christmas.. They are as beautiful of gun as you can buy... Dave

I reamed the cylinder throats on my .45LC Ruger BlackHawk to .4525 and reamed the forcing cone just enough to clean it up. After that, matching the load to the bullet hardness resulted in almost no leading at all.

USFA is supposed to make some of the highest quality single actions available. If it has a defect, and this definitely sounds like a defect, I'd send it back.

Fitch