Roll vs. Taper 45 ACP Ruger blackhawk

[mugsie]

Now I'm really confused. I plan on buying a Ruger Blackhawk with convertable cylinders, .45 ACP & .45 LC. If I purchase a set of dies for the 45 ACP wouldn't they be taper crimps, but since the round is being used in a revolver, shouldn't it be a roll crimp?:banghead: The .45 LC will take care of itself because it's made for a revolver, but what do I use on the ACP? Will a strong taper crimp be OK even with hot loads? Helppppp!

 

[Steve C]

In the Ruger BH convertible the .45 ACP cases still need to headspace on the mouth of the cartridge, in the single action no moon clips are used as the camber of the ACP cylinder is cut to keep the cartridges in place like a semi auto barrel. This means that you can't agressivly roll crimp the ACP cartridge without shortening the OAL. This works fine in SA revolvers as the spent cases are pushed out with the extraction rod rather than being plucked out from the rear. Since the ACP has a smaller case capacity than the LC you won't be able to use as heavy a bullet or hot load it like you can the bigger cartridge with a slow burning powder like 2400 or H110, nor should you try to stuff too much fast powder in it as pressure builds quite rapidly with fast powders. Any .45 acp load listed in the manuals should not be hot enough to pull bullets under recoil from a taper crimped cartridge esp in as heavy a gun as the Ruger.

 

[Hazzard]

In the ruger with dual cyliders, the 45acp will still headspace on the case mouth. Get the regular dies with a taper crimp die for the 45acp cylinder. YMMV.

 

[Tom C.]

I shoot both .45 ACP and .45 AR in my Blackhawk .45 ACP cylinder. I taper crimp both so I don't have to mess with my loading setup beyond switching the shell plates. Taper crimping works fine for less than thumper loads.

 

[JoeHatley]

.45 AR in my Blackhawk .45 ACP cylinder

Do you have enough headspace to load AR?!?



My Bis-hawk .45 convertable won't even begin to allow the thick AR rim...?

JOe

 

[Jet22]

You have to have a gunsmith trim the cylinder to chamber 45AR. You can still shoot 45ACP rounds cause headspace dosen't change.

 

[TonyT]

Any cylinder which is chambered for 45 ACP should accept the 45 AR. The case length for both is the same. One can be classed as the rimless version of the other or vice-versa. In DA revolvers you need moon clips to make up for the lack of a rim but in a SA revolver no such need.

 

[Jet22]

Any cylinder which is chambered for 45 ACP should accept the 45 AR.

That is only true if the cylinder is out of the gun. There is not enough room for the head of the AR cartridge between the cylinder and the frame on the Ruger. That is why the cylinder has to be shortened so the rim of the AR cartridge will fit. I would say this was already done on Smiths and Colts but quite the reverse. The Colts and Smiths were designed for moon clips and the AR cartridge was designed later to give the owners of these guns a cartridge with a rim on it so they would not have to use moon clips. By the way, you don't have to use moon clips with the ACP cartridge when fireing the Colts and Smiths, but you might need a rod to get the empties out!