5of7 said:
Al8--I agree that bullets undersized to the throats will cause leading, but the best bet is to have throats .001" to .002" larger than the groove diameter and bullets sized to match the throats.
It does not hurt anything at all if the bullets enter the barrel a couple of thousandths oversize relative to the groove diameter of the barrel. That condition insures that the bullet will make a good tight seal so that the hot gasses cannot leak around the bullet, which will result in leading and poor accuracy. 8)
Absolutely.
The point I'm attempting to make is that you have a gun with a fixed bore size that the bullets must match closely. Yes, you can oversize the lead bullets a couple of thousandths without problems assuming you have the hardness matched to the chamber pressure. That said, you want the bullets to pass thru the throats without an interference fit, like a half-thou or so clearance. So, you then must examine the throats to see how they match up to the bullet you are using, one that is properly sized to the bore. If the throats are undersized, reaming them to a proper size is an everyday chore for gunsmiths, and not prohibitively expensive. If the throats are oversize, you have a more serious problem.
Bottom line is, you
can't really change the bore size, but you
can ream the throats to fit. I'll suggest anyone interested read IOWEGAN's lengthy discussion on lead bullets on the "other" Rugerforum site. He spells it out quite nicely, and I've followed his thinking on several Ruger revolvers with total satisfaction.
For what it's worth, the several .45 Colt Rugers I've dealt with
all had grossly undersized (and out-of-round) throats. Once reamed to 0.4525" for use with 0.452" lead bullets in the 0.451" bore, leading simply disappeared.
Oh . . . and 0.451" jacketed bullets work just fine as well.
JMHO
:mrgreen: