I've been working with my .45 Ruger NMBH Convertible. Accuracy was not what I get with my .44 so I started looking into it. I read that I needed to ream the throats, so I got a Manson reamer and reamed both cylinders. According to the paperwork this should have put the throats right at .452. I tried pushing some commercial cast bullets through but they wouldn't come close to going through even though the box said they were .452. Next I pushed some of the bullets through my Lee .452 sizing die. The bullets were on the larger side, but after sizing them they still wouldn't go through the throats. After reaming my accuracy seems a little improved, but I'm still getting tons of leading in the barrel. I just ordered a .451 sizing die, and I'm going to try that next. Has anyone had a similar experience? Any answers or suggestions? With my .44 Special the bullets go through the throats with a tiny bit of pressure. That gun is as accurate as I can shoot it. BTW, in case you can't tell, I'm new to handguns and reloading. Thanks.
help with .45 ruger
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MikeJackmin
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Have you measured the diameters of your lead slugs?
98Redline
Member
The first thing you should do is not do any more reaming or sizing until you have the proper tools to measure what you are doing. Not saying this to be a jerk, however if you accidentally ream the throats too much or worse yet, make them oval or egg shaped, you can easily FUBAR the cylinder.
My recommendation is to send your cylinder off to Cylindersmith (http://www.cylindersmith.com/). For the $42 he charges ($30 for the work, $12 S&H) you will get back a cylinder that is properly and perfectly reamed. He has reamed more cylinders than just about anybody alive.
From that point forward, you can now work on your ammo and load development to improve your accuracy.
My recommendation is to send your cylinder off to Cylindersmith (http://www.cylindersmith.com/). For the $42 he charges ($30 for the work, $12 S&H) you will get back a cylinder that is properly and perfectly reamed. He has reamed more cylinders than just about anybody alive.
From that point forward, you can now work on your ammo and load development to improve your accuracy.
I've had a few sizers from LEE; the "452" is .4525, and two "451" read 452 when I measured them (one was checked by a LEE tech before being send to me).
What that tells me is that if yours is .4529 it might still be ".452" for some digital calipers everybody use nowadays.
Bear in mind that calipers are not the most accurate tool we can use, but good enough to compare our barrels, bullets and dies.
This would explain bullets not going through by hand ( As you found out, some commercial castings can be seriously off too).
It's no big deal and I think that, without knowing which cylinder might cause the problem and the loads and lubes involved, you might have a barrel constriction (Also Ruger .45 barrels can be up to .452, and slightly bigger bullets and throats wouldn't hurt).
So could you give us more details about your components and loads?
What that tells me is that if yours is .4529 it might still be ".452" for some digital calipers everybody use nowadays.
Bear in mind that calipers are not the most accurate tool we can use, but good enough to compare our barrels, bullets and dies.
This would explain bullets not going through by hand ( As you found out, some commercial castings can be seriously off too).
It's no big deal and I think that, without knowing which cylinder might cause the problem and the loads and lubes involved, you might have a barrel constriction (Also Ruger .45 barrels can be up to .452, and slightly bigger bullets and throats wouldn't hurt).
So could you give us more details about your components and loads?
robhof
Member
+1 on Cylindersmith, I was having trouble with leading and accuracy with my son's BH and after going through different bulllet wts and loads I decided to check the throats after seeing several blogs about Ruger 45's having tight throats and they averaged .449, one being .447. Sent to Cylindersmith and now it shoots everything I load for it very accurately, got a 45acp cylinder for it and after checking by trying to push through a few slugs, I also sent that in and now they both shoot accurate with a wide variety of loadings.
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