Is cylinder reaming necessary for average shooter?

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triker

Single-Sixer
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Dec 14, 2010
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175
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Iowa
I am not a good shooter or bad shooter but I do like to shoot cast lead ammo through my 45 colts. Looking to buy a new Blackhawk in 45 colt. Will I even notice if the cylinders are a little tight just being average shooter anyway? I'm older, Shakey and don't see as well as used to. In my case maybe just shoot as it comes? Thanks. Triker
 

rkrcpa

Single-Sixer
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Aug 18, 2009
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352
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SE Pennsylvania
I think the driving factor is whether or not the tight cylinder throats cause leading issues moreso than accuracy. To me, even if accuracy is unchanged, no leading to clean up is a plus.
 

contender

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In MY opinion,, if my physical abilities were shaky, I'd want all the help I could get. And luckily, a cylinder reaming isn't expensive.
 

daveg.inkc

Hunter
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Nov 14, 2015
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Kansas City, MO
My 4 5/8" Stainless .45 Blackhawk leaded barrel, until I reamed to .4525". Accuracy improved on all 6 of mine. The other Rugers in different calibers do not have tight, undersized throats. No reason not to. Compress a .452" bullet to .450"? , .451"? I'm glad I opened mine.
 

Johnnu2

Hunter
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Jun 26, 2003
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NYS
As with all things....... opinions will be varied, and still "opinions". I have always been interested in accuracy, especially out of my woodchuck rifle. That being said, I have tried to never get "overly interested" in anything. I've shot my Ruger OM Blackhawk for 40+ years (give or take 10) and was always happy with it. It did have the cyl. reamed just because I had sent it to a well known gunsmith for some custom work (weld-up holes in top strap, and CCH to hide the work, and flattop-ing) and he just opened them up without me asking. Never really took note of the change. I have a Ruger NM Bisley that shoot very well for my purposes; never bothered to measure it. From the way you describe yourself (sorta like me :), I would not bother giving it a second thought. If you can hit the plates at 25 yds., you are probably gonna be happy with whatever you get. I know that I am...!!
 

woodperson

Single-Sixer
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Sep 27, 2004
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Knoxville, TN
Buy the gun. Shoot the gun. Then decide if it needs reaming. If you just have to mail the cylinder that is not too big a deal.
 

RUFFBIRD

Blackhawk
Joined
Sep 17, 2003
Messages
563
Location
northern ontario, CANADA
I did ream my 45's for accuracy & reduce pressures if I ever wanted to shoot higher pressure loads.
So far I have never fired any heavy loads in any of em, but reaming did help with tighter groups...
I would shoot a bunch of different ammo with standard bullet weight & see how your gun does.
Then you will have a better idea & will help you decide to open the throats or not...
 

mohavesam

Hawkeye
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Jan 4, 2004
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Rugerville, AZ
With all the hand-wringing about Ruger's products needing aftermarket machining to work correctly (safely?) I often wonder why people still go out and buy them?
Is it thought that Ruger's degree'd ordnance engineers don't understand what the kitchen-table tinkerers understand?

None of my Ruger 45s have ever needed machine work to shoot accurately.
 

contender

Ruger Guru
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mohavesam, the engineers at Ruger use a jacketed bullet. And, as such,, if it works within specs for jacketed bullets,, it's "fine" with them. Cast bullets can be a whole different animal unto themselves. So,, to make them more accurate or especially to avoid leading,, chamber reaming has been a big benefit for the cast bullet shooter.
Cast bullets, when used properly,, follow the pattern of slugging the bore to determine the best diameter for the bore,, AND to measure the throats of each chamber to get a proper bullet to fit the firearm.

And if you really want to know if there is necessary work needed to make a gun shoot better,, start shooting at longer ranges than most would normally consider. Start at 50 yds & go out to 200 yds & see how accurate the gun REALLY is,, or if some tweaking might be necessary.

Too many folks feel that 5, 7, 10 or maybe 15 yds is the "correct" distance to judge how accurate a gun is. Well, I can tell you that real serious shooters usually begin testing a gun at 25 yds to get a base line & work out to longer distances to see how good a gun really is.
And for those who feel it's "magic" or "almost impossible" for a handgun to be used effectively at 100 or more yards,, all I can say is this; "Try your hand at handgun silhouette shooting,, where you have to knock over 50 lb (or so) steel rams at 200 meters." When you see it done,, you will be impressed,, especially when guys do it on a regular basis. That "game" proved that handguns can be very effective at long ranges,, AND that serious attention must be paid to being able to properly shoot a handgun for such accuracy.

So,, while you may feel that the engineers at Ruger are smarter than many average people,, (kitchen-table tinkerers,,, your words,) often they do NOT have the field experience NOR the trigger time MANY others who have serious knowledge about such a subject. Remember,, the engineers are there to build a product,, using normal common ammo, and make them rugged & reliable.

Or,, how about builders of the 1911 handguns? If they are so good,, then why are there MANY businesses out there to customize & make more accurate the proven 1911 handgun? Nobody disputes the genius of John Browning,, but as requirements required of the 1911 to do what shooters asked of it,, modifications abounded,, making the 1911 into a seriously accurate handgun. Wilson, Les Bauer, Jim Clark, and many others built a life long business making a good gun even better. Why dispute someone doing the same for a Ruger?
 

DougGuy

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 21, 2014
Messages
171
In a perfect world, a revolver's bullets are .001" to .002" greater than groove diameter, in order to keep this bullet to groove relationship, cylinder throats need to be sized .0005" to .001" greater than the bullet diameter. This works in all centerfire revolvers that I know of, it is not caliber specific, all of them work quite well with this arrangement.

triker when you get your BH, see if you can push the bullets you reload with into the front of the cylinder throats. They need to go through with a light drag fit and if they have to be beat or pushed forcefully through, then the cylinder is serving as a multi port sizing die each time you shoot the gun. Reaming/honing the throats will always improve groups and reduce leading if they are too small to push your bullets through.
 

10mm

Single-Sixer
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Mar 4, 2004
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Location
Republic of Texas
Can only speak to my experience, but I had a Ruger in 45 Colt with undersized throats all around and, 2 of the six throats were of different measurement. When just shooting casually or at really dangerous game such as empty milk jugs it was not obvious nor a concern that 4 of 6 rounds would print to point of aim and 2 would look like flyers. I just blamed it on me getting older and bad eyes. This became obvious however during load development when shooting off a rest through my chrono. I had read about truing up cylinder throats but never really thought much about until that day. So sent my cylinder off to a forum member here, Dougguy, to get the throats trued up. Back to the range with a rest afterwards and the flyers were gone. Result was a group commensurate to my skills and printing to point of aim. I did see improvement, YMMV. Is it totally necessary, that's an individual choice. But, as I have the money, I'm slowly sending my 45 and 41 cylinders to Doug for honing.
Regards,
10mm
 

contender

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One other thing not mentioned above is the fact that when test firing & building a gun,, jacketed bullets are used. Lead bullets are a whole different animal & require different things.

I just got one of the newly released SBH Bisley Hunters in 45 Colt. I cleaned it,, then using pin gauges,, I checked the chambers in my cylinder. A .452 pin went through one chamber w/o much of an issue. 2 other chambers allowed it to pass about 1/2 way through. 2 more let it get to almost the throat, and one about 1/4" from the throat. A .451 would go through the one chamber easily, the 2 next ones it almost made it out,, and progressively tighter. A .450 passed through all with a little stickiness in a couple.
I used my Manson reamer to uniform the chamber throats to .452 & today,, I will be zeroing the UltraDot,, and using powder coated bullets in .452 & .453 to see how it does! I'm starting at 25 yds for dot adjustment & to check POTENTIAL accuracy. Once I get a baseline,, I'll be shooting at 100 yds to really check the accuracy.
 
Joined
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Every Old Model .45 Blackhawk I have owned had undersize throats, and not just a little bit, either. Many were as small as .447" and many were out-of-round. There would usually be several different-sized throats in a single cylinder.

I had each cylinder reamed for .4525" throats, and this produced much better consistency in grouping. In addition, I'm pretty sure that the chamber pressures now are not increased by stuffing bullets thru throats that were considerably undersized. I shoot .452" lead bullets almost exclusively at .45 Colt load levels and see very little leading. As far as I'm concerned it was all worth the minor hassle . . . and I know that the throats are "right".

JMHO
:mrgreen:
 

needsmostuff

Blackhawk
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Sep 4, 2008
Messages
525
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Tucson,AZ
Triker,,, perhaps look at it a different way.
For me it has little to do with how well YOU shoot. It has more to do with the individual revolver as they all come out a little different.
Get it measured and if it needs it get it reamed. Talk to 2 dogs,,, it's not a big or expensive deal.
Get it shootin right before you consign yourself to average shooting.
 

contender

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The results of my newest .45 at 25 yds showed a nice tight 2" group. In fact,, I shot tha very first group to set the dot,, and it was at an 8" Shoot-N-C and that almost ragged one hole group had a lot of sun shining from the backside quickly. And,, it was only 2-1/2" High, and 2" left of center.
I dialed it over,, left the elevation alone,, and went to 100 yds.
At 100 yds,, my group was a bit low,, and more open,,,,,,,,,,, to about 7". Much of that was MY eyes & such with the dot at such a distance. All it needs now is a little tweaking with the load & me all being on the same page.
I KNOW the reaming had a lot to do with all of it.
 
Joined
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Having the chambers corrected at least removes one unknown from one's shooting results. Can't blame errant hits on the gun quite so much.

:wink: :lol: :lol: :wink:
 

BucolicBuffalo

Single-Sixer
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Nov 23, 2014
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261
Location
Land of Lincoln, not Chicago
I like shooting Keith Style bullets. That shoulder can prevent a cartridge from dropping all the way into the cylinder. My Birdshead grip .45 Colt had this problem. The chamber depth was inconsistent. Made sense to send it to someone who knew what to do.

My S&W Model 22 Classic would not even chamber cast lead rounds. It was so tight that only the smaller jacketed bullets could be used. My pin gauges confirmed this was my problem. DougGuy has taken care of me every time and made them all more shootable.
 
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