.452" in a .454"

COREY

COREY

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Howdy,

I cast and load for the 45 Colt now; I have been loading for a Ruger New Vaquero Bisley. I have been using a sizing die for .452" with respectable results.

I have been mulling over a Pale Rider revolver; 1858 New Army with a 45 cylinder. The thing is that the bore on those is .454".

Has anyone here had any experience shooting .452" 45 Colt rounds through a revolver with a .454" bore? I can buy a .454" sizing die and load specifically for that revolver, but it would be much easier to load the same round for both. The other question would be, has anyone seen any major leading issues with pushing a .454" bullet through a .452" bore?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
 
Your stuck with what fits the cylinder.....if tight they can be honed out if needed..........Harold
 
Depending on what the actual bore is it may be a perfect fit so long as it doesn't bulge the case to much. I've done 2 thou over for 9mm (.357 in a . 355 bore) and haven't had leading.

Worst case get a Lee push through sizing die to drop it down to what you need.

I'm basing the above that you want to using a 454 in a 452, your title suggest the other way around.
 
You sure about the bore? The cap and ball cylinders typically call for a .454 or 457 round ball which ends up being cut down or swaged to some smaller fit during ramming home. So the balls or conicals are already sized to something smaller during loading. If the bores are .454 and the grooves even larger that's putting a lot of reliance on the projectiles obturating out to fit well. So it seems to me that they'd want to bore at .452'ish and then cut the lands out a hair larger.

I've got a couple of Uberti 1858's that I use for fun and black powder cowboy action. I've never slugged the bore. It might just be worth doing for giggles. Of course there's no assurance that the bore and groove size for my guns would match what you would be buying. Mine were produced back in the early 90's.
 
not to mention all ruger 45 colt bores are 452, and have been for years0 my old army is a 452, even though they recommend a 457 soft lead ball-
 
I am set up for .452" right now; if accuracy and leading are not an issue, I would stick with .452" for both guns.

I would appreciate it BCRider, and maybe some others, to see what your bores slug out to on your Uberti 1858's; that is what I am looking at actually.
 
check the throats on your Ruger. They are notorious for being undersize, in the neighborhood of .448 to .449. If they are, whatever you shoot is being swaged down to that anyway before they hit the bore. Dave Manson makes a reamer kit to open them out to 0.4515. Out of my six Ruger 45 colts revolvers, five were undersize. An older (1970's) Blackhawk has 0.456 throats and does best with soft lead that bumps up, or hollow base bullets
 
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