ROA bore diameter?

[J-Bar]

I am not real good at measuring bore diameters. I have tried slugging bores but distrust my results.

Those of you who are better at this than I am, what is the groove diameter on a Ruger Old Army? Does it vary any from the early production models to the later, fixed sight versions?

The question arises because I want to use the best diameter bullet possible in a Kirst Converter, and also I am considering loading .45 Colt cases with round lead balls as an experiment because winter is long and boring.

Thanks for any enlightenment you can provide.

 

[mykeal]

The grooves on all 4 of my Old Armies measure 0.451 inches.

 

[damoc]

the data i have for loading my colt 45 cases says to use the .454 ball

 

[J-Bar]

Thanks for the quick response, particularly since the Bears just scored for the first time in the game!

Which of your references lists round ball cartridge loads?

 

[damoc]

Its a lyman bullet listing found in The Complete Reloading Manual for the 45 colt which i purchased through midway.

It does not list BP but i have used BP loading practice with the same ball
with good results in my pietta 58.

it does not like to work in lever actions though because its a little to short

 

[andrewstorm]

j bar

your r o a manual says use .454 conicals and .457 balls for best results, hornady .454 cowboy frontier bullets work very well,both in the r o a and cartridge models,try it youll like it also the kirst konverter 45 cal is designed for .454 lead bullets,

 

[Noz]

Let's reverse engineer this. If the book say 454s then the bore will be that or 1-2 thousands smaller leaving you in the vicinity of 452. I'd bet on 451-452.

I can't seem to get a consistent slug measure either. I always clamp the caliper down hard enough to cause the soft lead to deform.

 

[AbitNutz]

It seems that .451-2 is what I have. Bullets sized at .454 and balls fired at .457 work well. I also have an oversize cylinder that throws .456-7. It all works but I can get leading with the over-sized bullets that I never experienced in smaller diameter.

The larger diameter loads used the same pure lead bullet, RB and lubricant. I think I can mitigate the the leading and accuracy problems by messing with the loads and lubricants.

 

[ClemBert]

Groove diameter of 0.451. I use 0.452 bullets when reloading Colt 45 for use with my conversion cylinder.