Why did Ruger make the Old Army a .457 ball and not .454?

[Tallbald]

I bought my first ROA maybe 12 years ago and read up on it. Learned that a .457 ball was needed. It doesn't really matter a bit to me because I cast my own, but just why would Bill Ruger make what it looks like is an oddball (pun intended) bore? Wouldn't it have been more marketable to make it .454 like so much of the rest of the world seems to use as ".45 caliber"? Don

 

[Bullseye]

I just sold one and I believe they shoot .457 balls and .454 conical pure lead bullets.

 

[rodwha]

I'd venture to guess because they used a common .45 Colt barrel with a .452" groove. To load a ball into a chamber that will create a ring at loading that is over bore you'd need something a little larger than a .454" ball.

 

[243winxb]

Barrel groove is .452" Pure lead at .454" works better for accuracy, less skidding of the ball. The .457" ball seals/swage into the cylinder to prevent cross fires. Or in other words, touching off 2 cylinders at a time.

 

[45 Dragoon]

I think mostly since the twist in the barrel is the same in the .45s (faster than a norm. c&b), the fatter ball lends more surface (like a conical) and the loaded ball is more oblong than a smaller ball would offer. Revolvers with slower twist would probably loose accuracy with .457s

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com

 

[Tallbald]

All those make sense to me now. Thanks to each of you. Don

 

[rodwha]

Uberti and Pietta have the same twist as a Ruger these days. Uberti has been using it longer from what I understand as Pietta just began using it a few years ago as I know my '13 Pietta '58 has a 1:16" twist as does the Ruger.

I doubt they's lose accuracy with a very slightly longer ball though.

I figured my Pietta had the slower twist and had a custom bullet made that was only .400" long, but it still shoots it just as well as it does my .460" long bullet as does my Ruger. Groups are similar with the same powder charges with each bullet. This was just as 15 yds. Maybe a longer distance would show a bit of difference though.

 

[45 Dragoon]

rodwha, you are probably right about the accuracy thing, it may make a dif. at longer ranges. I was glad to see the twist rate changes by the Italians, the .45 conversions work very well in them!! All of my current opentops have the fast twist except my '60 ( its a '98 manu. Pietta). At close range though, it groups quite nicely.

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com

 

[AJumbo]

I use .454s all the time; I get best accuracy around 25 grains or so.

 

[DPris]

Ruger did that to enable them to use the same barrel stocks they were using for the .45 Colt Blackhawks.
Denis

 

[Dframe]

Because they could.

 

[45 Dragoon]

DPris,
I for one am glad they did!!

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com

 

[BCRider]

Well, we know we want to swage off a ring of lead. And we want to leave the ball once "ringed" at a size which will be big enough to form into the grooves for a seal. So if we start with a .457 and swage it down to .454 then push it into a .452 groove diameter barrel it'll require a .002 compression of the ball as it forms to the bore through the forcing cone. And by all accounts a .001 to .002 interference fit is pretty much optimum.

On the other hand if we start with a .454 ball we don't have the lead needed to allow for the two sizing events.

 

[jaxenro]

To use the tooling they had for 45 Colt barrels