Shooting 45 Colt in SRH 454. Shooting Wayyyy Right.

Hello Guys,

Just hoping to get your input. I've been shooting my 45 Colt reloads (255 gr LSWC, 9.0 gr Unique vs 11.0 gr.).

I've put almost 300 rounds through this revo and it still shoots way right. I have to crank the rear sight all the way to the left (no more adjustments remaining), just to get the windage on point.

Don't have a problem with this with my other big bore Rugers. The barrel doesn't appear canted. I've shot it rested also.

Have u guys experienced this? Could the slower twist of the 454 be causing this to a slower 45LC load?

Another observation is the cylinder throats measure .4555. My bullets are .451. Wondering if this could be the cause also? Will be trying a bullet sized to .454 next.

I'd appreciate your input. Thanks in advance. :?

How does it shoot when using .454 ammo ??? I would guess the same. I have a couple .454's but never have shot .45 Colt through them, that is what my couple dozen .45 Colt chambered six shooters are for.
I believe I would be contacting Ruger service to discuss the situation. The twist rate would not cause that issue, but would possibly cause unstable bullets and open up the groups.

How does it shoot when using .454 ammo ???

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What he said ^^^

Would you be a lefty by any chance? I shoot heavy .45 Colt in my Ruger .454/.45 Alaskan and they hit just to the right a small bit. But I shoot mostly left handed with my revolvers.
I have a Schofield in .45 Colt and it wants to go a good bit right mostly due to the heavy trigger pull but I shoot it more on center with my right hand.

Curious... do you get any leading in the first inch or so of your barrel using lead bullets?
I was getting lead in my Alaskan I think due to the larger throat diameter of the .454 cylinder so now it is copper plated or jacket for that gun.

Hi Guys,
Thanks for chiming in. I haven't shot any 454's yet. It was my intention to shoot 45 colt loads only and some Ruger-only loads.

I am right handed. So it is even more mysterious. I have a SRH in 44 mag and I shoot straight with it.

After 300 rounds my 454 still hasn't shown any improvement, despite knowing I didn't jerk the trigger. However I am open to the fact that it may actually be me.

There is a lot of leading and accuracy was poor when loading up 11.0-11.5 gr of Unique. Keeping the load to 9.0 gave very good groups and minimized leading.

Will try with .454 sized bullets next time.

As a side note I have a GP-100, sbbh, and bisley 45 colt, with canted barrels, and none of them required the rear sight to be cranked all the way to one end. :?:

I bought my Alaskan for same reason..a short barrel DA revolver for any .45 Colt load you desire.
To eliminate leading I use only copper plated or jacketed bullets.
However I do have a bunch of 315 gr. Hammer head hard cast loaded up for any large issue.

When I bought a .454 Alaskan I noticed that when firing the .454 loads the recoil seemed to have a slight twist to is besides the recoil...and yes a handful..
Perhaps you are not holding on to it as solid as needed ??

hdonlybob said:

When I bought a .454 Alaskan I noticed that when firing the .454 loads the recoil seemed to have a slight twist to is besides the recoil...and yes a handful..
Perhaps you are not holding on to it as solid as needed ??

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Yes, the torque when firing .454 magnum loads is very noticeable especially with heavy bullets.
Try different things and see what works and what doesn't. If it still shoots way right with .454 loads (not .454 diameter bullets in .45 Colt loads) I would contact Ruger.

I would also try shooting off sand bags or other type off pistol rest. This may separate a shooter issue from a revolver issue. Worth a try ....

I have no great insight to that particular gun, but my go to answer to these type
question is usually the same......have somebody else shoot the gun and
see where it prints for them.
Usually do this before you pull all your hair out or get too far down the
rabbit hole.
Dave

Dave P. said:

have somebody else shoot the gun and
see where it prints for them.
Usually do this before you pull all your hair out or get too far down the
rabbit hole.
Dave

Click to expand...

My advice would be to do this and then if no light is shed on the problem, then give Ruger a call to send it back. My guess is it is a gun issue.

Personally, I had an issue with a SBH a few years back. I wasted a lot of time and ammo before someone on here was able to help. It ended up going back to Ruger and now I couldn't be happier. Truly, their service was great. I got it back with a new barrel in just over a weeks time.

Good luck and let us know what you find out.

Just try shooting it with your left hand and see if it still goes left. Yes you could have another person try it but his sight picture could be different too.

Like that Uberti Schofield I have it wants to go right when I shoot it with my left hand but when I shoot it right handed it's right on target.

I have a 5.5" Bisley .45 Colt that was shooting left even with the sight cranked right. I had two other shooters try it and it was left for them too.

I clamped the gun in a vise and clamped a straightedge along the side of the top strap and measured the gap between it and the front sight. I did the same for the other side. I found the barrel was slightly canted about 0.030" to the left. If you do the trig, it was just the correct amount for what we were seeing at 15 yards. I was having other issues with the gun, so I sent it in to Ruger and they fixed the barrel and the other problems.

My point is that I had to measure it to really see it. Looking down the barrel you really couldn't tell. You might want to measure yours.

In order to isolate the problem it would be advisable to have another or two experienced shooters give it a go and see if it still does the same.

Those laser bore sighting tools come in handy for issue like this!

Put a target on a wall aim at center using gun sights and see where the red dot is.
Then also pull the trigger,ensure gun is unloaded first, and see if you are pulling it to one side.

I've had an older Security six and a Redhawk and a Blackhawk that all had either canted barrels or front sight bases that were machined off center causing the bullets to shoot far left. The Redhawk was the worst and back in 2000 I sent that gun back to Ruger to wait 3 months and the gun, which was new came back with wrench marks on the blued barrel and they had torqued the barrel to line up the sights instead of just installing a new correctly made barrel. The work was shoddy and I sent it back again and waited another 3 months and finally got the store to refund my money spent on the gun towards a different model. The other two were bought used and I could make them work so I shot them for awhile and traded them off. From what I gather, Rugers turn around time is much faster and the work is much better so I'd just send that SRH back and have them diagnose and correct the problem.

300 of the same loads or different loads? Try different loads. Try a rest. Have another shooter try all the same.