Confused About .45 Colt Cast Bullet Dia.

[ezypikns]

I have just purchased a S&W Mountain Gun in .45 Colt. At about 20.00 for a box I decided to reload. Been reloading .45 ACP and .38 Special for a while.
I purchased a box of Meister cast bullets marked for .45 Colt. They're .452 dia. When I checked in my Lee Modern Handloading book, they show the diameter for .45 Colt to be .454. Only .002, I know, but will .452 dia. work fine or do I need .454 dia?

 

[Wil Terry]

THE .452" BULLETS WILL WORK FINE IN A MODERN MADE S&W SIXGUN.

Do some testing and see how they fly.
Now, the interesting thing is many modern 45COLT sixguns shoot great with .454" bullets too, even if they're set up for .452" bullets.
Most of the current production 45COLT sixguns are made for the smaller bullets but many of the foreigh imports, and some COLT made sixguns too have cylinder throats big enough to demand usage of the larger bullets from the gitgo if you want to hit anything small.

 

[OrvilleYertleson]

Most ammunition for the .45 colt these days is .452. You will be fine, Enjoy.

 

[stans]

How do the 0.452" bullets fit through the cylinder throats in your revolver? Ideally they should go all the way through with just a little push from a pencil or ink pen. I expect the groove diameter on a modern S&W to be 0.450"-0.451", so that should not be a problem. The serious problem arose in the old 45 Colts where the cylinder throat diameter was 0.452" and the groove diameter was 0.454" or more! Bullets just sort of rattled down the barrel with minimal engagement of the rifling and accuracy was just about non-exsistant.

 

[JoeHatley]

S&W Mountain Gun is a great handgun.



.451 or .452 are correct. Since WW II, almost all .45 colts have used the "newer" dimentions.

Joe

 

[Ultima-Ratio]

IF I Was Giving Odds Guys-

Hello and greetings from Alaska, since myself and my 20yr shooting bud both collect and shoot the crap out of our .45LC S&Ws I gotta say that all of them needed their chamber throats opened up for best accuracy with cast bullets.
Each example whether the Mtn guns (625-7&8 and the 25-13) were right at .450

 

[perry1963]

.454 is the old dia., colt changed to .451 when they started making the 2nd gen. SAA.