45lc lead bullet diameter

S

senecahornet

New member
Is there any danger in reloading a .454 dia. bullet hard cast in my SAA Clone Pieta ??
Have been shooting .452 dia. lead bullets
 
Only that .454" is the wrong diameter for the Colt. The 2 thou in a cast bullet won't damage anything though. The bullet will just get squeezed to .452".
 
I load for a two Colt single actions, one a 1908 model Ruger Blackhawk and a Ruger Bisley. I cast all my own bullets and run them .454". Works just fine.
Paul B.
 
No problem shooting those .454" bullets, Mike. I shoot .455" lead bullets out of my S&W Model 25-5 and 25-2, both of which have the oversized throats these revolvers are noted for.

Don
 
Actually, 0.454” is not the “wrong” diameter, what matters is the diameter of the cylinder throats. I had an M25 Smith with cylinder throats so large that a 0.458” rifle bullet would pass through. Many revolver makers seem to be challenged in providing the correct throat diameter, many report Ruger cylinders with throats as tight as 0.450”. But even then, a 0.454” bullet would be safe.



.
 
Prior to WWII, the usual "Standard" bore diameter for the .45 Colt was .454. Afterwards, over time the makers shifted to .452" barrels as they work fine with .454 bullets and do better than .454" barrels when shooting .45acp bullets.

Squeezing down a very slightly oversize lead bullet does not raise pressures to any remotely dangerous level. Accuracy can be affected by bullet, bore, and chamber throat size, but safety is not.
 
As said above the bullet needs to fit the throat. If oversize it will get squeezed back down. Easy test is trying to push a bullet through the throat(s). Should not fall through (implies under sized bullet), but should ease through with finger pressure. Since most modern .45s have .451 bores, the cylinder throats should be set at .452. I have had to ream the throats of most of my Ruger Revolvers to make it so... The only time you need to use .454 is if your throats are over size. Again ... fit the bullet to the throats.
 
It should be said using near throat-size bullets is principally for best lead bullet accuracy (bullets equal to throat diameter or half a thousandth under throat diameter seem to be about ideal). Jacketed bullets are less affected. You can prove the effect on lead to yourself by checking your throat diameters with pin gauges. It is not uncommon to discover they are all different. Production methods seem to have a different reamer finishing each chamber. And if you pick the chamber closest to the size of your lead bullet without being smaller, and then load and shoot a group entirely from that same chamber, it will typically be tighter than groups fired either from the other chambers or from a mix of all the chambers. Lots of experiments have shown bullet base erosion by propellant gases bypassing the bullet while it is in a loose throat deteriorates accuracy. It builds up forcing cone and throat lead deposits as well as lead in the throats themselves.

Squeezing bullets (sizing them) in a gun's throat typically produces a pressure rise, but it isn't huge. Even oversized jacketed bullets (wrong caliber) have been fired through high power rifles at times and usually without apparent damage, though this does raise pressure and should not be done on purpose, and accuracy is poor. Lead bullets, if you've ever sized one, do not demand particularly high pressure to get them narrowed, and thus are not a hazard to shoot this way. Still, ideally, you have throats one or two thousandths over groove and bullets to match, as minimizing bullet distortion also helps with accuracy.
 
senecahornet said:
Is there any danger in reloading a .454 dia. bullet hard cast in my SAA Clone Pieta ??
Have been shooting .452 dia. lead bullets
Click to expand...
I had bought .454 bullets that I resized for one gun and not the other, based on throat diameter. The mismatch of .454ish throats and .451 slug size made me decide to part with the gun.
 
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