bullet dia.

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zacharoo

Bearcat
Joined
Sep 4, 2009
Messages
56
I have been given a lage amount of 45 lc cast bullets. Hard cast from a major manufacturer. I normally shoot .452 dia. cast but these are .454 same weight I normaly load with. 255 gr.SWC how do i have to adjust my loads with a difference of .002 in the same revolver? What difference will the pressure be?

Zacharoo
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
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Lake Lure NC USA
You MAY also get extra leading due to the size differences. It all depends upon your pistols throats & bore diameter.
 

flatgate

Hawkeye
Joined
Jun 18, 2001
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6,784
Location
Star Valley, WY
Depending on your cylinder's chamber dimensions, you may experience chambering difficulties, i.e. the cartridges won't fit.......

I'd certainly start by making up a dummy round.

flatgate
 

zacharoo

Bearcat
Joined
Sep 4, 2009
Messages
56
My throats are larger than they should be in on of my revolvers that is why I kept them. In the on ruger the cylinder will let .452 bullets fall through with no pressur on there own weight.
The .454 will go through with little pressure. My mycrometer is broke but I suspect the cylinder throats to be up to .455 or.456
Zacharoo
 

Cherokee

Single-Sixer
Joined
May 21, 2003
Messages
472
Location
Medina, Ohio, USA
My Ruger 45 Colt's have 452 throats and shoot 454 bullets just fine without any leading in standard loads, but my bullets are not "hard" cast.
 

Budman45

Bearcat
Joined
Jun 9, 2007
Messages
1
Location
Palm Bay, FL
My Blackhawk has .454 cylinder throats and .452 barrel. I shoot 255gr harcast SWC sized to .454 with liquid alox up to 10gr of Unique with no leading. I also shoot 300gr lead RNFP with a GC at the max load of 296 and have no problem. I size or buy all my cast bullets sized at .454 to fit the chambers. If the bullet is a snug fit in the cylinder throat and the cylinder throat is as large or larger then the barrel, then leading is usually not a problem. Check out the writings of Glenn Frixel on the LASC Los Angelos Silhouette Club. Also the Cast Bullet Association.
 

Bucks Owin

Hunter
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Messages
3,196
Location
51st state of Jefferson
zacharoo":21ypek2n said:
My throats are larger than they should be in on of my revolvers that is why I kept them. In the on ruger the cylinder will let .452 bullets fall through with no pressur on there own weight.
The .454 will go through with little pressure. My mycrometer is broke but I suspect the cylinder throats to be up to .455 or.456
Zacharoo
Then you may find increased accuracy with those .454" bullets. Mine has a .452" groove dia and .456" throats and I get better accuracy with .454" lead bullets, especially at lower velocities. I wouldn't loose any sleep regarding an increase in pressures, a .452" lead bullet is going to "bump up" in a large throat too. If you get a little leading, try a coat of Lee Liquid Alox on those .454's but I doubt you'll notice much difference leading wise, in fact you may experience less. (Linebaugh recommends .454" boolits in large throats too BTW)...JMO, Dennis :wink:
 

tek4260

Buckeye
Joined
May 31, 2008
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Location
carroll county ms
All my 45's had tight throats from the factory. How do you end up with oversized? Does Ruger start with a reamer that is oversized to get a little more life out of the tool, then replace when it gets to say .450? If that was the case, the oversized would be the first cylinders thru after reamer change. Or is my thought all wrong?
 

bear62041

Bearcat
Joined
Nov 26, 2009
Messages
10
O.K., now I'm confused. I'm reading that Ruger Blackhawks have larger chamber and throat diameters than I was told. I've reloaded a lot of ammo for other calibers, just got my NM Blackhawk in 45 Colt, and I was lead to believe that I was to use .451 bullets. So I bought Nosler JHP 250 grain .451 bullets. Are these wrong ?? Nosler's chart shows their 45 Colt 250 grain listing as having the .451 bullet diameter I just described. Please let me know ASAP. Thanks.
 
Joined
Sep 8, 2003
Messages
1,480
Location
So. Ca.
I'm with tek4260 on this. ALL my 45 rugers had tight throats (thanks cas)
bear, if a .451 bullet will push through your throats with just a little push you should be ok. Most people shoot cast in the 45colt. If your throats are tight you could send the cyl. to cas and have it reamed to .4525.
wwwcylindersmith.com
Eric
 

zacharoo

Bearcat
Joined
Sep 4, 2009
Messages
56
I am going to try the liquid lube by Lee just in case . How is it use I mean applyed?
Zacharoo
 

1ruger

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Messages
151
zacharoo":2pm6zlyw said:
I am going to try the liquid lube by Lee just in case . How is it use I mean applyed?
Zacharoo

Put about 50 bullets in a medium size plastic tupperwear and squirt some Alox in it. Put the lid on and shake the container so the bullet is all covered with the Alox. Then take them out and stand them on the base one by one on baking sheet. Alox is pretty darn good lube.

It's pretty simple once you try it.
 

Bucks Owin

Hunter
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Messages
3,196
Location
51st state of Jefferson
tek4260":lrvhp77c said:
All my 45's had tight throats from the factory. How do you end up with oversized? Does Ruger start with a reamer that is oversized to get a little more life out of the tool, then replace when it gets to say .450? If that was the case, the oversized would be the first cylinders thru after reamer change. Or is my thought all wrong?
As far as I can gather it depends on the vintage. "Old" New Models like my pre warning have large throats, .455-457" and the latest Bisleys , at least, have tight ones, .448-451". Barrels are fairly consistant in all .45 BHs at .451-452". That's my hearsay from a couple different forums, maybe someone will chime in with a definative answer and prove me all wet.....Dennis
 

Rick Courtright

Hawkeye
Joined
Mar 10, 2002
Messages
7,897
Location
Redlands CA USA
1ruger":2a7axshl said:
Put about 50 bullets in a medium size plastic tupperwear and squirt some Alox in it.

Hi,

And if you warm the LLA first by sitting the bottle in a mug of boiling water, it's gonna squirt a whole lot easier! It only takes a few drops... ;)

Rick C
 

Cary

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 28, 2005
Messages
113
Location
Boise, ID
Good advice on using the Lee Liquid Alox. One word of advice I would add is use very little of it to coat the bullets or you will end up with a mess. It only takes a little in the tub to coat the bullets when you swirl them around. It is a lot easier to apply two coats if needed than try to deal with bullets that have had too much of the alox applied. Let the alox dry on the bullets before adding another coat. I have some wax paper I pour them onto to dry. I also heat the alox in hot water before use to thin it out some.
Cary
 
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