Over-Sized .45 Lead Bullets?

[4barrel]

If u are shooting a 45 rim u have a target gun. It will shoot 185 to 200 gr. swc bullets the same. 4.5 of 231 or any pistol powder the same speed should work fine 25 to 50 yards. Keep the speed around 800 fps & u should have no leading. Unique shot the worst group in my 45 rim but shot the best in my 45 long colt. Both were 25s. Hope this helps.

 

[fredj338]

In my opinion it is NOT the job of the cylinder to size the bullet prior to it's entering the forcing cone of the barrel. If anything it should have a little space as to allow a small amount of the high pressure gas to "center" the bullet in that as it leaves the cylinder on it's way to the barrel. Having a .452 diameter bullet pass through a cylinder with a .452 throat would in my opinion be WRONG!

David - [email protected]

Then you would be sort of wrong David. COrrect, the cyl job is NOT to size the bullet but in reallity it is the first stage. I have a RBH, it had 0.450" cyl throats & shot ok w/ most lead bullets but I always got quite a bit of early leading. The 0.452" bullets were being sized down & then bumping back up. Not good for accuracy or leading. A quick trip to my friends machine shop yielded exact 0.452" throats & now the gun is twice as accurate & almost no leading w/ any bullet used. SO yeah, size does matter.
To the OP, if you can find a soft to medium hard 0.454" bullet, it will likely give you decent results. Barring that, just shoot jacketed, they don't care what size the throats are.

 

[drhenzler]

Cylinder throat tollerance for CAST bullets...

Then you would be sort of wrong David. Correct, the cyl job is NOT to size the bullet but in reality it is the first stage. I have a RBH, it had 0.450" cyl throats & shot ok w/ most lead bullets but I always got quite a bit of early leading. The 0.452" bullets were being sized down & then bumping back up. Not good for accuracy or leading. A quick trip to my friends machine shop yielded exact 0.452" throats & now the gun is twice as accurate & almost no leading w/ any bullet used. SO yeah, size does matter.
To the OP, if you can find a soft to medium hard 0.454" bullet, it will likely give you decent results. Barring that, just shoot jacketed, they don't care what size the throats are.

Did some further research and found an article that really stated it well. It supports my statement that it's not the job of the cylinder throat to size bullets. However it is imperative to have the cylinder throat larger than the bullet diameter determined by slugging the barrel. Groove diameter needs to be observed. This to prevent gas cutting on the bullets.

I would argue that most of us shooting revolver loads for accuracy have risen above feeling the need to have the highest possible velocity, and that we are shooting some lead bullets of roughly Lyman #2 alloy, wheel weights or something close to this. Perhaps my view of this is skewed by my mentor saying that any bullet driven faster than moderate should have a gas check. I therefore bought 358156 and 429215 molds both having gas check options... and never ran either through my lubrasizer without installing a gas check. Never noticed any leading even when shooting 358429 plain base 170gr with moderate loads in the 357. I shot a Colt Python in those days... .356 bore diameter. The only leading I observed was in the forcing cone. It wasn't until quite a bit later that I obtained an S&W with a larger bore. I really have never seen any signs of leading in it. I sized my bullets at .357 diameter. My accuracy was quite good with these. I did stop shooting the Python realizing that it's value would be higher with fewer rounds up the barrel. I never even considered the throat diameter, however I would assume Colt would have made the thoat diameter on it's best revolver to very close tollerances. It was about 50% more costly than the model 27 that my friend recommended that I purchase.

I'll agree that throats more than .001 oversize may present some issues. I suppose that I would say that they should be as close to bullet size as possible. Especially if you are casting your own, and don't have bullets that are all banged up from clanking together in boxes as they are shipped here and there. However even the forcing cone isn't really supposed to be a bullet sizer... It really is to make up for any minor alignment issues from cylinder to barrel. Hopefully not much in a target grade revolver.

I guess my experience isn't as broad as some, and because my early experience was with a Python made in 68 that it's likely a different one than you may experience with a S&W made duirng one of the less than desirable years of Smith's existence.

So... my apologies to those who I contradicted and to those who I may have lead astray.

 

[TheTinMan]

Thanks for all of your input.

You confirmed what I was guessing (see link to these bullets in first post).

Where do I find load data for a 255 grain lead RN-FP for .45 Auto Rim though? Or the Remington bullet for that matter?

I use Win-231 for .45 if that's feasible.

Several of you recommended the 250 grain Hornady or 255 grain Remington lead RNFP bullets intended for .45 Colt. Makes sense to me, but I still don't have any load data for Win-231.

Where can I find load data for a 250 grain lead RNFP bullet in .45 ACP or Auto Rim? Obviously I need COAL in addition to powder charge.

 

[alwslate]

I have a S&W 25-2 that I bought new around 1970. I had the barrel cut
down from the original 6 1/2" to 4". My handloads using Rem AR brass
and 255 gr cast BB SWCs with W231 show; 5.0 grs = 753 fps, 5.3 grs
= 807 fps and 5.6 grs = 834 fps. These are the .452 dia bullets usually
sold at gun shows. I recently tried some of the 250 gr cast RNFPs in
.452 dia with Bullseye but have not as yet loaded any with W231.
Both bullets have crimping grooves so I ignore COAL. The RNFPs show
good accuracy in my gun with 4.6 grs of Bullseye with one five shot
group at 15 yds four out of five went only 7/8" center to center. I
have never measured the cyl throats.