45 colt cylinders

[Rick James]

Hey guys, new here. I just bought and am waiting to take delivery of my new 5.5" Blackhawk Bisley Convertible in 45 colt/45ACP. It's one of the stainless ones that I believe was distributed from Acusport.

Anyhow, I've done a ton of reading on this gun and it seems that a lot of the older Rugers in 45 had undersized throat diameters. Has anyone bought one recently? Are they still this way? Is anyone having good accuracy with them despite this, or is it pretty much a given that the gun will need to go to www.cylindersmith.com?

Can't wait to get my hands on the gun, it should arrive next week. I'm really looking forward to cooking up a good load to carry this for deer and bear this year.

~Matt

 

[Kanook]

I would plan on it going out and be surprised if it was right. I'm not complaining/bashing Ruger.

Get 12 45 slugs that measure .452, measure them yourself to make sure then check all the holes.

Don't remember when I bought my Alaskan, (the second year it was out) but it needed to be fixed.

 

[Hondo44]

Welcome to the forum.

I understand that has been corrected at the factory. They used to ream all 6 chambers at once with 6 different reamers. Since they wore at different ratse the reamers would be replaced one at a time. So you might have 6 different results in the chambers. Now the ream one chamber at a time with the same reamer and get uniform results. But if you got a cylinder that was the last one reamed before the reamer was changed, your cyl throats would be uniform but all on the tight side.

You'll know when you do the bullet check. But I have old and new Rugers and have never felt that accuracy was an issue and never reamed any of mine. Just Lucky? Could be.

 

[Rclark]

You was 'lucky' :) . I've had to ream all of mine. The older ones were the worst. In the original Vaquero I cut my group size in half. The BH almost in half. The newer ones I never bothered to shoot before and after, I just tested diameter with a .452 bullet, reamed (bullet then slide into throats with slight finger pressure), and then began shooting the heck out of 'em :) . The newer ones were much 'better' but still slightly undersized. That was my experience!

 

[pisgah]

My Bisley .45 is 1998 construction, I think. Never measured the throats, don't know if they were opened up before I got it, but its'a a tackdriver with every bullet tried, cast or jacketed.

 

[MG-70]

Welcome RJ! If you don't mind stating the price you paid, I am curious as to what they're selling for.

I hope you like it!

 

[dlhredfoxx]

I own seven 45 Colts, all Ruger SA's (BH's and Vaqueros)... every, and I mean every one of them had to have the throats opened up, without exception. All were undersized from the factory, or from the owner that I bought the gun used from. In every case accuracy improved a lot and leading of the bbl and forcing cone was either eliminated or drastically reduced. That's been my experience.

 

[mindustrial]

I bought a new flat top convertable, one cylinder was .451 the other .452. I went ahead and reamed them all out to .4525 to make them uniform. My Redhawk .45 (1990's) was undersized...I did that one too while I was at it.

 

[M'BOGO]

Test it and see, the one I recently played with like yours (manufactured this year, from the current run for Williams) had the multi sized throats. I've seen a Blackhawk with tight throats that would shoot.

Welcome to the forum, chin up, it's better they are undersized, than oversized like most of the other .45 Colts... It's easier to remove than add, or play with oversized slugs.

 

[Bountyhunter]

I bought a new flat top convertable, one cylinder was .451 the other .452. I went ahead and reamed them all out to .4525 to make them uniform. My Redhawk .45 (1990's) was undersized...I did that one too while I was at it.

The .451 was the acp cylinder and the .452 was for the Colt loads.

 

[bigboredad]

I have one just like yours and it needed to be reamed. All I shoot is lead and they shoot beutiful small groups now

 

[zac0419]

Welcome RJ! If you don't mind stating the price you paid, I am curious as to what they're selling for.

I hope you like it!

There's some for sale now in the classifieds for $550 shipped i think. That's a very fair price for the convertible bisley.

 

[s4s4u]

If you going to shoot cast, you should have them checked. I don't shoot cast and have not had any problem.

 

[w5lx]

All of my older Ruger .45 Colt cylinders needed reaming. Most of them went to Cas at http://www.cylindersmith.com. My latest purchase was a 60th Anniversary Vaquero and all cylinders measured .4525 to .4535 right out of the box which is just about perfect. Others have reported that even the newer models needed reaming, so it's pretty much of a crapshoot what you will get.

 

[Rick James]

Welcome RJ! If you don't mind stating the price you paid, I am curious as to what they're selling for.

I hope you like it!

Thanks for the welcome! It was a gunbroker auction for a new one, I paid $565.

Thanks everyone else for the help. Looks like once I get it I'll be sending to cylindersmith. All I plan to shoot out of this one is cast, and for not a lot of $$$ it seems to be a no brainer.

Thanks!

 

[pisgah]

Thanks for the welcome! It was a gunbroker auction for a new one, I paid $565.

Thanks everyone else for the help. Looks like once I get it I'll be sending to cylindersmith. All I plan to shoot out of this one is cast, and for not a lot of $$$ it seems to be a no brainer.

Thanks!

Yes, a no-brainer -- provided you shoot it first and find it wanting. One that shoots right, right out of the box, I personally wouldn't send anywhere.

 

[GAR]

Have one just like you purchased and all the throats were differant.
So, off it went and it was throated correctly.
Have had to do each and everyone that I own (5 total).
Worse one was a Redhawk Hunter.

Tom

 

[kelbro]

Just picked up a very nice 1979 Blackhawk and a .452 Berrys plated bullet slides through every throat with a slight push. One hole is a hair larger. Maybe it was luck. Maybe the previous owner had it reamed but he didn't mention it.

 

[Rodfac]

My New Vaquero in .45 LC (New in April '09) needed reaming...all chambers measured .450-.451...cylindersmith.com opened them uniformly to .4525 and accuracy with cast LSWC bullets sized to .452" went from 3+" to sub-2"...truly a worthwhile fix. Rod...

 

[Rodfac]

Cylindersmith.com did my work on a NV .45 LC.... (.450 to .451 before and a beautifully polished .4525" after...) He truly does great work...and turn around was less than two weeks...this was two years ago...Rod

 

[Rick James]

Thanks guys. Got the gun this past weekend and put about 100 rounds through it. At 25 yards off a sandbag, I was able to put them in about a 3-3.5" group. I'm thinking the gun is capable of more so I sent both cylinders off yesterday. Hopefully he can get them cranked out pretty quickly as I'd really like to shoot next weekend.......