The Goose
NES Member
I am posting this in the Reloading section because there is overlap into bullet sizing and also because I think there will be the most interest here. I recently acquired an old model Ruger Vaquero Sheriff’s model in .45 Colt. When I got it to the range to try it out I could not get my reloads to fully chamber and it bound up the cylinder. I managed to get a few to chamber and shoot and could only get about a 6” – 7” group at 25 feet. I was shooting a Big Lube flat point bullet sized to .454 and about 255 grains over 32 grains of 3F blackpowder. This is the same bullet and sizing that I have used in 3 other Vaqueros, 2 Uberti lever guns and an R&D conversion cylinder, all with very good results. My first thought was that I needed to size to .452. Then I decided to do a little research and I found out that it is fairly common for the Vaqueros to have tight cylinder throats and even different size throats on the same cylinder. Based on that I slugged the bore and it was .452 and the cylinder throats were .450 (or less). So here I am trying to chamber a .454 bullet and having it squeeze through .450 and then out a .452 barrel. Luckily I shoot fairly soft alloy, I think that a jacketed bullet could be a bit of an issue.
After a bit more research I ordered a throat reaming tool and a set of pilots from Brownells. The reaming tool is designed to create a consistent .4525 throat and the pilots go from .448 to .451 in .005 increments. The pilot keeps the reaming tool centered while it is cutting. The idea is to fit the tightest pilot to each throat that can still turn and move in and out. Four of the throats took a .450 pilot and two needed a .4495. I marked each throat with a piece of tape on the outside of the cylinder with the throat size written on it. Put a tap T handle on the reamer with the appropriate pilot, some cutting oil and then going from the cartridge insertion side I reamed out each throat until the pilot passed all the way through along with the cutting edge. Each chamber only took about a minute to do. I then thoroughly cleaned the cylinder and tried inserting the same rounds that would not go before. They dropped right in and flush. I have not been to the range yet so we will see if accuracy has been improved. I will also be loading up a batch of ammo with a bullet sized to .452.
A side note. The reamer and pilots set me back about $140.00 or so. If anyone has the same problem I would be glad to let you borrow the set. I may never use it again (or not) and would be happy to have it get some use.
After a bit more research I ordered a throat reaming tool and a set of pilots from Brownells. The reaming tool is designed to create a consistent .4525 throat and the pilots go from .448 to .451 in .005 increments. The pilot keeps the reaming tool centered while it is cutting. The idea is to fit the tightest pilot to each throat that can still turn and move in and out. Four of the throats took a .450 pilot and two needed a .4495. I marked each throat with a piece of tape on the outside of the cylinder with the throat size written on it. Put a tap T handle on the reamer with the appropriate pilot, some cutting oil and then going from the cartridge insertion side I reamed out each throat until the pilot passed all the way through along with the cutting edge. Each chamber only took about a minute to do. I then thoroughly cleaned the cylinder and tried inserting the same rounds that would not go before. They dropped right in and flush. I have not been to the range yet so we will see if accuracy has been improved. I will also be loading up a batch of ammo with a bullet sized to .452.
A side note. The reamer and pilots set me back about $140.00 or so. If anyone has the same problem I would be glad to let you borrow the set. I may never use it again (or not) and would be happy to have it get some use.
