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How big of chambers have you seen?
How big is just too big for .451 groove diameter barrels?
How big is just too big for .451 groove diameter barrels?
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.44 Revolvers, Largest Chambers' Diameter
- Thread starter nkbj
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My new Uberti Walker has .449 chamber mouths, .438 Bore and .4532 groove diameter. If your chambers and projectiles are truly round and the loading ram in centered then .450 would be the biggest one would want to use. If I decide to shoot conicals I will most likely open the chamber mouths to groove diameter.
Seldom are all these specs near perfect so in general my guess is .449 chamber mouths are about as big as .451 balls would seal in but would still be under size for best results in the groove diameter my barrel has.. It would be hard to go wrong with .454 or .457 ball diameters in general me thinks.
Conicals are a different animal and seem to respond best to groove diameter or .001 over.
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Every Pietta Shooters Model I’ve had (maybe a half dozen so far) has had .455” chambers at a minimum, most were .456” and one had .457”. Those guns will shoot about as well as the shooter can manage but so can the Rugers quite often, and they seem to run .452-.454”.
Charlie Hahn used to ream chambers to .456 and I’ve had him do a number of my Colts and an Uberti Remington. They shoot exceptionally well with round ball, the Kerr bullet, and my Accurate Molds 200 grain flat points.
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Were Charley's chamber mouths stepped with a 45 degree transition or bored through on all but the rebated cylinders (models 60s -62s etc) which would require stepping.
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Bored all the way down on Remington and short of the rebate on Colts.
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Are the steps steep angled or gradual taper transitions ?
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I've got a couple of second or third hand pieces, one a Ruger and the other a Pietta 1858, that someone inappropriately reamed and that could use having the chambers trued up and made consistent. Perhaps I'll get that in motion this weekend.
My Pietta '58 Remington had .446 chambers. Charlie Hahn reamed them out to .451. With a .454 RB there is just a sliver of lead shaved off when loading. That is as big as I'd go unless you want to shoot .457 RB's. Then go to .456 as Bad Karma said.
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I'd bench test a good load and see what she does, if it makes good groups don't fix what ain't broke but if not than one has nothing to loose. Also it depends on wither or not you plan on shooting conicals or balls. Under size chambers can work well with balls but conicals generally prefer the chamber mouths to be equal to the barrel groove diameter.
With these odd numbered grooved barrels one needs to check them with Powelly gauge or Tri-mic to get an accurate groove diameter read.
I don't have all the fancy tools so I checked mine "shade tree gunsmith style" . I loaded a RB in my factory chamber and removed it. Then keeping it in the proper relative position, pushed it down the barrel and put a flashlight in back of it. I could see light coming through the groves and decided I wanted a tighter fit. It did help the group size. I'd guess by about 30%. For my little competition shoots I'll take any help I can get.
Chambers on original 58 Remingtons & 60 Colts often accept .460 dia. balls or bullets for a snug bore fit.
I don't understand why the replica makers chose to use chamber diameters that would result in a loose bore fit?
Charlie Hahn has reamed a number of cylinders, 9 maybe more, for me. They are .456" for .457" balls and I cut a new 11 deg. forcing cone. He reamed the Remingtons all the way down and the Colts to just above the locking notches. Charlie will ream the chamber to the depth you request without going beyond the locking notches in a Colt. Some folks like a shallow ream so it forms a shelf to seat the ball against. The chamber walls are parallel with no bevel at the mouth.
I suspect some replica manufacturers do not shoot so pay little attention on how important these
tolerances are for accuracy.
