SR1911 Barrel Slugging

[The Wall]

Have any of you Sr1911 owners slugged their barrels? If you have, what did you get? I put this here so the Ruger 1911 owners would be sure to see it.

 

[The Wall]

I did mine this afternoon. It measured .451 on the nose.

 

[fatmanonabikeTx]

While it seems like an interesting exercise, I'm not sure what I can do with that information. I'm pretty new to this firearm thing.

 

[Iron Mike Golf]

While it seems like an interesting exercise, I'm not sure what I can do with that information. I'm pretty new to this firearm thing.

It's useful to the owner if they shoot cast bullets and want to minimize lead fouling. You'd want to start out shooting a bullet about .001 inch bigger than the groove diameter.

It also gives the community of owners a feel for consistency of manufacture, if enough people contribute.

 

[mohavesam]

I've never ever slugged a 1911 barrel.
Too old to start now.
8)

 

[fatmanonabikeTx]

Thanks. I'm only several weeks into reloading OPB (other people's bullets) for a single caliber, .45 ACP. What I'm finding is the learning curve is a bit steep. I know just enough to be able to generate reliable ammo for my SR1911. So slugging is done to verify proper bullet to rifling interface. So there might be some real benefits to a .451 vs .452 bullets?

I'll do mine later today. Here's a couple more questions does it matter from which end of the barrel and should it be pushed the entire length of the barrel? There is always something else to learn.

 

[The Wall]

It's primarily for people that reload. I don't cast my own but still like to know the barrel actually measures for when I purchase bullets. I don't plan on using cast bullets in my 1911 right now but it's good to know for jacketed bullets also. If you're using all store bought ammo it's no big deal. Remember you can always Google any questions you have on anything that is mentioned in these forums. Just Google slugging a barrel, and you'll find videos and general information on the subject. Including, where, when, why, and how.

 

[Richbaker]

Fatman,

Go from the muzzle end, all the way thru the barrel. Start with an extremely oversize soft lead roundball and use non-steel mallet to start it. Finish it out with a wood dowel near bore size.
The latest American Handgunner has a very good piece on slugging a barrel...

 

[The Wall]

I used a fishing sinker and it worked just fine.

 

[DGW1949]

Me thinks that you'll find that sometimes we get bullets that aint the size (or weight) that the box say's they are. So, if we're going to slug the bore to get it's exact size for re-loading purposes, we might as well measure the actual diameter of the bullets that we've bought too. Otherwize, slugging the bore only gives us half of the information that we need.

Leastways, them's my thoughts on the matter.

DGW