Ruger Blackhawk issues
- Thread starter Wendyj
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Driftwood Johnson
New member
Howdy
Been away from my computer a few days.
Calipers are not the ideal tool to measure small holes such as revolver chamber throats.
Every pair of calipers I have ever owned have a small flat along the edge of the inside measuring jaws. This leads to inaccuracy in measuring the diameter of a small hole because the flat will bridge a small arc of the diameter. In other words, unless the inside measuring jaws come to a true knife edge, you will not get an accurate measurement. The number will come out a tiny amount smaller than the diameter actually is.
The best way to measure small holes is with an inside measuring micrometer, which uses a knife edge to measure to the inside of a diameter, or a set of gauge pins. I use set of small hole gauges to measure chamber throats.
http://www.starrett.com/category/precision-measuring-tools/small-hole-gages/111401#currentPage=1&displayMode=grid&itemsPerPage=24&sortBy=wp/asc
You place the gauge inside the chamber, then open it until it touches the chamber throat on both sides. Then you pull it out and measure across the diameter of the gauge. It takes a little bit of practice to get used to them.
You could also shove a slightly oversized bullet through a chamber throat and measure its diameter.
I have never felt the need to ream the chamber throats of any of my Blackhawks or Vaqueros, they all work fine for me. Frankly, if the gun is shooting better than you, I would not worry about it.
Regarding the diameter of bullets for 45 Colt, before World War Two, the standard diameter for 45 Colt bullets was .454, because that was the rifling diameter. After WWII, 45 Colt rifling groove diameter was changed to .451, to match 45 ACP. A .452 bullet should work fine in any modern 45 Colt revolver.
I have always shot .452 bullets in all my 45 Colt revolvers. Colts, clones, and Rugers.
Pathfinder45
New member
Wendyj, I have been through this with an original Ruger Vaquero. The smallest 6-shot group I could get at 25 yards was about 6" and many were more like a foot. After slugging and miking for each cylinder throat, I concluded that I needed to ream the throats. I bought a .4525 reamer and did it myself on a drill press. It now shoots about like yours does. Since I also have the 4.6" barrel, I figure that's about the best I can expect out of this gun. Since yours shoots as well as it does, you may have little to gain by reaming your Blackhawk. If you could be certain of turning it into a one-inch shooter, it would be worth it; but I doubt that's the case. I'm considering going to a 7-1/2" Blackhawk in hopes of reliable accuracy at 50 yards, which my Vaquero will simply not deliver. I'm all for reaming cylinder throats, if and when it's called for, and there is a high degree of certainty that there will be substantial benefit.
Since measuring devices can be inaccurate and difficult to use perfectly, why not try a simpler test? Just get some .451 bullets and see if they drop through the cylinder, or slide through with a light push. On my Blackhawk 45 convertible, they do drop through. Never had any problems.
Pathfinder45
New member
I figure my 45 Vaquero is only good to about 25 to 30 yards or so; definitely not 50 yards. It is what it is, no more, no less.
I don't know what "modern" folks consider an acceptable standard, but I have decades of articles in magazines where all the writers testing handguns considered a pistol that would group 2-2.5" at 25 yards to be accurate, and acceptable for nearly any use short of precision match shooting, and many people shot target matches with guns that "only" do that well.
5 or 6 .45 caliber bullets in one hole can measure 2-2.5". I've done it with my father's match Government model. (which was set up for target work in the 1960s)
Its a personal thing, of course, what satisfies your needs and desires, but if you're shooting 2.5" groups at 25yds, there's nothing drastically wrong with your gun and ammo.
MAYBE you can improve on that. Maybe. But personally the last thing I would look at tis the cylinder throats. I would look at the trigger pull and my shooting technique, and tinker with various load combinations to see what, if any results obtained. Reaming the cylinders, for me, falls under "last resort" tactics, and I've got 7 Ruger .45 Colt Blackhawks and Vaqueros, and have never had to have any of them reamed.
Consider this, since you can't put metal back, what if getting the cylinder reamed doesn't do any good? or what if it actually shoots worse, after reaming? It may be unlikely, but its not impossible. IF that happens, you're pretty much done, short of replacing the cylinder.
Another point to consider, especially when you get 2.5" from your rig and someone else with a similar rig gets 6" groups is, might it be the shooter??
Might it be their ammo? Their gun? or might it be that they shoot it differently than you do yours? Lots and lots of variables.
I'm not in favor of putting permanent irreversible changes to major components at the top of the list of things to do to try and improve performance. I'd put them at the bottom of the list, something to be tried when all else has been tried, and failed. I'm also one of the guys who doesn't take a file to fixed sights in order to adjust them. I will "adjust" the ammo instead of making permanent changes to the gun. Personal quirk, I suppose...
Skill and practice/experience make a difference, too. What some can do easily (or naturally) others have to work at, and some never do get there.
Pathfinder45
New member
Like 44AMP, I think the gun is shooting fine as-is. Unlike 44AMP, I have no qualms about reaming the throats, etc. However, with nothing to gain, in this case, leave it alone. Well, if the trigger pull seems too heavy, I would definitely pull the grips off, release one leg of the trigger spring, reassemble and try that for a while. You can always put it back if it results in too light of a trigger.