Ream Cylinder Throats on Ruger 45 Long Colt

[Montana Cowboy]

Howdy Folks
Have any of you reamed your cylinder throats on your Ruger revolver? I have been considering doing this and was wondering if it is worth doing. Reason for wanting to is to increase accuracy and help reduce leading. I get a lot of leading when shooting lead bullets. I'm not shooting hot loads I use loading data from several books and I do not load max loads. Usually I will load a mid range load and sometimes btween mid and max load for the particular bullet being used.
I've used Laser Cast bullets and Redline Ballistic lead bullets. MC

 

[contender]

Welcome to the Forum!
First, you need to know what the dimension of your throats are, as well as your bore.
You need to visit the forum; castboolits.com to study about proper measuring throats, bore & cylinder reaming.
And yes, a lot of us have reamed our throats in our 45 Colts as that caliber seems to be the worst offender.
Next, matching velocity & bullet hardness is a factor in leading. Bullet lube plays an important part in this as well.
Study before you make a decision.

 

[eric conrad]

Another suggestion, look at the site www.cylindersmith.com Cas is one of our oldest members and does Excellent work.
45 colt Rugers are famous for being undersize.
Eric

 

[Montana Cowboy]

Thanks for the reply Contendr and Eric. I did measure the cylinder throats and they measure .450, used a ball gauge and 1 inch mic. ook the measurement three times and came up with the same dimension. Haven't slugged the bore yet will do that next. I have looked at cylindersmith.com and I will swing on over to castboolits.com to see what info I can find there. I would like to do the reaming myself but will weigh out purchasing the reamer and what it will cost to have it done. Thank you for the welcome. MC

 

[contender]

If you have the skills & patience, as well as more than one 45 Colt,, get the tols & enjoy the project yourself. If not, cylindersmith does a good job!

 

[Montana Cowboy]

Contender, I do have the patience and it looks like a straight forward process. only have the one Ruger .45 LC, my hunting partner has one too so if he is interested we can split the cost of the reamer. Have a C&R license so I can sav a little on the reamer. Need to get a lead egg sinker to check the bore diameter nd procede from there.
Contender did you do or have your cylinder throats reamed and if so did you notice a difrence in accuracy or leading? MC

 

[contender]

Yes, I have the reamer & other tools to work on my guns. The 45 seems to be the biggest offender when it comes to undersized throats. But as I mentioned, you need to make sure they are undersized & need uniforming BEFORE you proceed.
A side note. Go to the Reloading section here, & see the sticky at the top about casting bullets. An excellent read. I printed a copy & put it in a booklet for reference.
Another consideration is the "bore restriction" where the threaded portion of the barrel is in the frame.
All of these things contribute to accuracy & leading.
And yes, in general, my 45's did improve with uniforming the chambers. (As well as doing other things.)

 

[tek4260]

I wouldn't sweat the cost of the reamer. They take about ten minutes to sell here in the classifieds section

 

[Rclark]

did you do or have your cylinder throats reamed and if so did you notice a difference in accuracy or leading?

I sure did in my original Vaquero. My group size was cut in half. Also had to firelap that revolver. With the BH, I recall it cut the group size but not as drastically. Because of my experience with them, I also reamed my two flattop convertibles before I even shot them! Minimal leading or non-existent in all .45s now. Sounds like your cylinder throats do need reamed. The other cause of leading is a constriction in your barrel. You should be able to feel it when you shove the lead slug down your barrel. If you have a constriction you'll probably find it right where the barrel is screwed into the frame. Might also want to check your forcing cone for 11 degrees too. The order of things would be 1) ream the throats and test. 2) Forcing cone next. 3) Then fire-lapping to remove constrictions and smooth up the bore. Laser cut bullets are really hard (made for high pressure loads). You might back off to say a softer bullet. I use Rimrock which are BHN 15 which work well for me.

I just picked up a New Vaquero and a .451 gauge would fit the throats, but not a .452 plug. The plug fit the same in all throats so they seem 'consistent'. The accuracy seems ok, and no leading. So for now I am leaving it alone. Want to test it more for better accuracy when the weather gets 'warmer' and I can feel my fingers.

 

[xtratoy]

In my experience Laser Cast Bullets need to be run at max loads since they are so hard and don't obturate at lower velocities. This allows hot gases to flow around the bullet and can create leading. I haven't had any experience with the other brand mentioned.