ALAN HARTON RECHAMBER

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REP1954

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Jul 21, 2008
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Sent Alan Harton an OM 357 cylinder 2 wks. ago to be rechambered for 45 ACP. He got it and gave me a return e-mail as to what finish I had on the gun. It's for a 357 OM to 45 Colt conversion. Thought I'd let a pro deal with the head spacing and Alan did a pro job. Rechambered the cylinder to 45 ACP and polished the cylinder outside to match my gun almost perfect, reblued the whole cylinder and shipped it back to me. $165.00 total everything. Now my conversion is complete although a floral tooled leather carrying case with a place for ammo and to hold the extra cylinder would be nice for it. Well a big thanks to Alan for such a quick turn around and quaility work.
 

dougader

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Very nice.

Tell us more about the 357 OM conversion to 45 Colt.

I'm interested in this myself.
 

Dale53

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I don't have a single action .45 ACP but I DO have a couple of S&w 625's and they are my most used centerfires. The .45 ACP is an absolutely NATURAL for the reloader and bullet caster. Once fired cases are readily available for rational prices (late last year I bought 1000, same lot of commercial, for $50.00).

I am on schedule to shoot 5000 rounds of .45 ACP this year.

I believe that you will LOVE the combination (.45 ACP in a medium size Ruger Single Action).

Dale53
 
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I am on schedule to shoot 5000 rounds of .45 ACP this year.

I find it hard to match that when I haven't seen a box of large pistol primers in months and months and months! I was in H&H in OKC a few weeks ago and they had everything else. But no large pistol!

Gregg
 

Dale53

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I use mostly target loads in my .45 ACP's - 4.0 grs of Bullseye or equivalent behind a 200 gr H&G #68 SWC. However, you can safely load this platform to 900+ fps with the 250 gr Lyman Keith 454424 and that actually eclipses the original .45 Colt. Since the .45 Colt original factory load will shoot through a horse at 1000 yards (original U.S. Army tests) it should neatly handle deer, black bear, and hogs with dispatch.

I would consider the Ruger medium size action on a par with a late model Colt SAA for strength (less than a full size Ruger Blackhawk but plenty for the load mentioned).

Dale53
 

REP1954

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dougader":2ro12hm8 said:
Very nice.

Tell us more about the 357 OM conversion to 45 Colt.

I'm interested in this myself.

5 1/2" octagon barrel, 45 Colt/45 ACP, steel ROA grip frame with trigger window narrowed for thin trigger, barrel/cylinder gap .002",end play addressed, steel EJ housing, trigger tuned, Turnbull CCH,hand polished without buffing wheel,salt blue and nitre blue by Bachelders. I currently shoot 45 ACP on the Colt SAA platform in several guns.
OLD1.jpg
 

Dale53

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tulsamal;
>>>I find it hard to match that when I haven't seen a box of large pistol primers in months and months and months! <<<

The 2007 Thanksgiving, I was at a large dealer talking to the buyer. He told me his largest distributor told him that primers were scheduled for two large price increases (metals prices were climbing HIGH). I went home, did an inventory and discovered that things were getting rather low regarding pistol primers. I did a bit of research and determined who had the best price and bought 20,000 primers (10 small and 10 large). Man, did THAT turn out to be a good move....

Way too many of us have been doing without. Now, with the prices so high, even if you find some you very nearly can't afford to buy any (remember that old saying, "When it rains, it pours!").

Dale53
 

dougader

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REP1954":1k21p4pt said:
dougader":1k21p4pt said:
Very nice.

Tell us more about the 357 OM conversion to 45 Colt.

I'm interested in this myself.

5 1/2" octagon barrel, 45 Colt/45 ACP, steel ROA grip frame with trigger window narrowed for thin trigger, barrel/cylinder gap .002",end play addressed, steel EJ housing, trigger tuned, Turnbull CCH,hand polished without buffing wheel,salt blue and nitre blue by Bachelders. I currently shoot 45 ACP on the Colt SAA platform in several guns.

You did this work yourself for the most part, right?

Is this a 6 shot revolver? If so, what pressure levels do you hold your loads to in a conversion like this? 14k, 20k, 30k psi?

Thanks,

Doug
 

COR

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REP1954":15z7ggco said:
dougader":15z7ggco said:
Very nice.

Tell us more about the 357 OM conversion to 45 Colt.

I'm interested in this myself.

5 1/2" octagon barrel, 45 Colt/45 ACP, steel ROA grip frame with trigger window narrowed for thin trigger, barrel/cylinder gap .002",end play addressed, steel EJ housing, trigger tuned, Turnbull CCH,hand polished without buffing wheel,salt blue and nitre blue by Bachelders. I currently shoot 45 ACP on the Colt SAA platform in several guns.
OLD1.jpg

Now that's just flat showing off! Great work and Beautiful CCH! I love the 45acp option too, it's still actually relatively cheap to shoot and can nip the heels of the good ol' 45 Long Colt as others have pointed out. The 45 acp is actually still easy one the wallet if you reload and cast your own. Thanks for sharing that one.
 

REP1954

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Jul 21, 2008
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dougader said: You did this work yourself for the most part, right?
Is this a 6 shot revolver? If so, what pressure levels do you hold your loads to in a conversion like this? 14k, 20k, 30k psi?

Doug, This gun and another close to being the same were done by my friend and I with my friend doing the machine work. The gun has 6 shot cylinders. This gun is a little stronger than the Colt SAA sized guns but not enough to make it worthwhile to mess with. Most of the 45 Colt loads will be around 14,000 psi to 16,000 psi. The only loads that may get up to 20,000 psi to 21,000 psi would be if I was shooting some factory 45 ACP loads in it. Handloaded 45 ACP loads will stay in the same range of the 45 Colt loads. This gun was built as a fun enjoyable plinking and range gun. I have thought about the same size gun in a five shot for heavier loads.

COR said: Now that's just flat showing off!
Not showing off just sharing.
 
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