Throat Reaming for Ruger 45 Long Colt

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Quigly

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I have a Ruger Redhawk chambered in 45 Long Colt. I think I need to have the cylinder throats opened up. I just slugged the throats and they measure .4515. I was researching ,on the internet, and discovered that ideally, the throats should measure, .4525.
I tried putting both a copper jacketed, and a cast bullet through the chambers, and could not, even after trying to tap it through, so I think this gun is a prime candidate for a throat reaming.
Sorry for the long winded explanation. What I need to know is the name of a good gunsmith that can do the work.
Thanks
 
vagrantviking said:
What's important is that the throat is slightly bigger than the groove diameter of the barrel. If that measures .451 or slightly less you are fine.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I will slug the bore to see what diameter that is. Any suggestions on what to use ro slug the bore. I have some pure lead wadcutters. Those should work right?
 
It's quite simple to ream out the cylinder mouths with the kits from Brownells.
I've done several.
My chum has the .45 kit and I think he has mine for .357.
It might be quicker and just as expensive to get a kit rather than have a smith do it and pay shipping two ways.

Then you can be a hero to all your .45 buddies.

.4525 sounds good, and consistency in important. Rugers tend to have small chamber mouths, and some variation between individual mouths.
 
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slug said:
It's quite simple to ream out the cylinder mouths with the kits from Brownells.
I've done several.
My chum has the .45 kit and I think he has mine for .357.
It might be quicker and just as expensive to get a kit rather than have a smith do it and pay shipping two ways.

Then you can be a hero to all your .45 buddies.

.4525 sounds good, and consistency in important. Rutgers tend to have small chamber mouths, and some variation between individual mouths.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I'll check out Brownell for the reamers.
 
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Personally, unless there is an issue, I wouldn't change just for the sake of numbers. You didn't mention any problems.

I have a Ruger Vaquero in 45 Colt. Throats are smaller than 451, IOW, a 451 bullet is a hard push through. The groove part of the barrel seems to be in the 451 slot. Here's the thing, it shoots better than just about any one of my other handguns. It does not lead, it doesn't streak the throats, it doesn't spray weld the forcing cone and the breech and barrel stay clean. It shoots to the sights and is accurate.

But still, all the books tell me I need 4525 throats.

Back in the day when I was racing cars, we had an expression, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

BTW, Ruger likes to have tight throats on their 45 Colts, they like real loose and big throats on their 44 mags, and on their 357's they are about in the middle. Mystery to me.
 
Years ago I bought a had reamer from Brownells and did the work myself I then sold the reamer to Peter at Rusty Wood Trading company in Mission BC he will ream your cylinder out for you.
 
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