OM Blackhawk 45 chamber dimensions

[bchannell]

I'm in the process of buying an OM Blackhawk. What are the chamber dimensions of the older, first year, guns? Are they .454 or .452?
I'm hoping to 'maybe' shoot lead bullets in it, but want to know what to expect as I've only seen pics of the gun.

thanks

 

[WIL TERRY]

They are neither !!! They're smaller than that and shoot like a million bucks. Both the 4 5/8" and 7 1/2" 45/45 convertibles are tackdrivers in both calibers capable of taking the x out of the x ring and never come close to cutting that ring.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

It depends.

You can find them with properly-sized throats as Wil mentions, or you can find them with drastically undersize throats which can fortunately be remedied by a simple, inexpensive reaming operation.

Some of them have had somewhat oversize chambers for cartridge body fit, but this hasn't been any real problem to me.

Bottom line: if you can find a decent OM .45 for a good price, buy it. If for any reason you decide you don't like it, someone here will take it off your hands in a heartbeat. They were only made for three years, so they are actually "rarer" than .44 Flattops.

 

[flatgate]

+1 to Ale-8(1)'s post.

The two OM .45 shooters I have had tight chamber throats which responded nicely to my Manson reamer.

flatgate

 

[Sonnytoo]

Both of my 4 5/8" OM .45's are 98% or so, have nice throats, .453-.454, and shoot like a million bucks, although I rarely have shot either one.
sonnytoo

 

[J Miller]

My first year OM .45 had .449" to .450" throats. They were also out of round. Getting them reamed out made a world of difference.

The chamber dimensions are on the generous side, but still within specs.

Joe

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Joe, that's essentially my experience, as well.