OM Blackhawk 45 chamber dimensions

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bchannell

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 12, 2003
Messages
14
Location
Parkersburg, WV USA
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

Buckeye
Joined
Jun 8, 2003
Messages
1,973
Location
Single Chute, SD USA
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.
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
11,654
Location
Kentucky
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.

:D :D :D
 

flatgate

Hawkeye
Joined
Jun 18, 2001
Messages
6,784
Location
Star Valley, WY
+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

Blackhawk
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
631
Location
florida
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

Blackhawk
Joined
Sep 30, 2000
Messages
977
Location
Not in IL anymore ... :)
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
 
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