45ACP Cylinder in the Ruger

[Lastmohecken]

I guess I am just so happy that I finally got a Ruger that works great with the 45acp cylinder, that I decided to start a new thread. I had more 45acp ammo on hand than 45 Colt at the moment. So, with a little apprehension, since the last time I tried a convertible, I had a lot of trouble with it, I guess because it was defective from the factory. So, anyway, I swabbed the cylinder holes, as they didn't look very clean and installed it on the gun. I had a bunch of special loads from my IDPA Competition days, with 200 lead semi-wadcutters. So, I loaded it up and started shooting.

And the before I shot it, I noticed that the lockup was very good on that cylinder, maybe better than the 45 Colt. Bottom line is, Ruger got it right this time. I fired several cylinders full, without a hitch, smooth as can be. And I finally got the gun sighted in. I was at the beginning still shooting high, same as with the 45 Colt loads, but I kept cranking down the rear sight and eventually got it on target.

I will probably work up some good 45 Colt loads, but that 45acp is so handy for me, that this gun is likely to see a lot of rounds through the 45acp cylinder. Anyway, I had bad luck in the past with my first Ruger Convertible, that I was not expecting the best results. All I can say is, it's really nice to buy a gun and have it work really good out of the box for once. I have purchased several guns in the last year that had issues, so it's just a relief to finally get a decent one that works like it should!

Ruger 45 colt Right Side.jpg

[GunnyMack]

Nice to hear its working out for you!
That sure is a great looking gun!

[piller]

My 4 ⅝ inch barrelled Blackhawk shoots great with the .45 ACP cylinder.

[Scott Tschirhart]

My old three screw Ruger has a .45 ACP cylinder and I have an old model .45 ACP cylinder in the door pocket of my truck

[Malamute]

I guess I am just so happy that I finally got a Ruger that works great with the 45acp cylinder, that I decided to start a new thread. I had more 45acp ammo on hand than 45 Colt at the moment. So, with a little apprehension, since the last time I tried a convertible, I had a lot of trouble with it, I guess because it was defective from the factory.

What didnt work right on the other one you had?

I found an ACP cylinder that fit mine. It runs fine at first, but starts loading up quickly and getting difficult to turn.I thought it may have something to do with the lead bullet reloads, but it also did it with factory fmj loads, just not quite as quickly, but only a few cylinders and it was sticking badly in rotation. I had to manually turn the cylinder a full rotation or two to get all the rounds seated fully into the chambers.


I later heard of a way to lap them. Theres a burr of metal in some where they stop the chamber reamer. Some send them off to have a reamer used to clean that burr up. Ed Harris mentioned that he had used a 30-06 case, drilled and tapped to take a bolt in the primer hole, chucked in a drill, and lapping compound applied to lap the burr down. I used a Lee case trimmer pilot base, the one with the small post to chuck in a drill and lapped the Uberti cylinder. It improved it significantly. There was a very obvious sharp edge when I first ran it in. A friend had similar troubles with a S&W ACP revolver, he lapped his with a 270 case and cured the difficult chambering problem after it started getting dirty.

[samsi]

I've had 2 convertible 45's, the Lipsey's Flattop and the Williams/Accusport Bisley.

The Flattop with ACP cylinder was good to go right out of the box and makes me look good even on a bad day.

The Bisley had undersize throats in both cylinders, with the ACP being particularly bad. It made shotgun patterns until is was reamed to .4525. It made a huge difference and turned it from a disappointment into a favorite.

[trapper45]

I've got two and they work fine. One's the original for my 1980 7-1/2" Ruger Convertible, and the other I had Ruger fit to a 4-5/8-incher which I bought in the mid-'80s. The ACP cylinder is just the thing for introducing new shooters (and others raised purely on automatics) to big bore single actions. At normal indoor range distances, usually 5 to 15 yards, they'll shoot to the same spot with no sight adjustment for either .45LC or ACP.

No modification or tweaking necessary on any of the 4 cylinders, Colt or ACP. I did, however, have a machinist some years ago mill down just enough off the rear face of my original ACP cylinder so it would accommodate Auto-Rim cases, which I load down for safe use (without the necessity of moon clips) in a shaved 1916 Webley Mk VI. I use the A-R cases exclusively for Webley-safe loads in the old Mk VI, and they also work well out of the 7-1/2" Blackhawk. The milder Webley loads make the big .45 feel like my old Single-Six with .22 Shorts--great for beginners and recoil-shy flinchers. Regular ACP cases still headspace on the shoulder in each chamber, so whatever's the cheapest store-bought ACP works great. Cheers!

[Lastmohecken]

I guess I am just so happy that I finally got a Ruger that works great with the 45acp cylinder, that I decided to start a new thread. I had more 45acp ammo on hand than 45 Colt at the moment. So, with a little apprehension, since the last time I tried a convertible, I had a lot of trouble with it, I guess because it was defective from the factory.

What didnt work right on the other one you had?

I found an ACP cylinder that fit mine. It runs fine at first, but starts loading up quickly and getting difficult to turn.I thought it may have something to do with the lead bullet reloads, but it also did it with factory fmj loads, just not quite as quickly, but only a few cylinders and it was sticking badly in rotation. I had to manually turn the cylinder a full rotation or two to get all the rounds seated fully into the chambers.


I later heard of a way to lap them. Theres a burr of metal in some where they stop the chamber reamer. Some send them off to have a reamer used to clean that burr up. Ed Harris mentioned that he had used a 30-06 case, drilled and tapped to take a bolt in the primer hole, chucked in a drill, and lapping compound applied to lap the burr down. I used a Lee case trimmer pilot base, the one with the small post to chuck in a drill and lapped the Uberti cylinder. It improved it significantly. There was a very obvious sharp edge when I first ran it in. A friend had similar troubles with a S&W ACP revolver, he lapped his with a 270 case and cured the difficult chambering problem after it started getting dirty.

The cylinder I am sure was defective from the factory. I believe the cylinders were bored too deep and I was having headspace issues. The 45 Colt cylinder shot fine. But the ACP cylinder would push out primers and tie up the gun in short order. I couldn't get through a cylinder full without problems. At first I thought it might be ammo related but I tried different brands and handloads.

[piller]

Seems as if those cylinders are not very consistent. I will hang onto mine. It works well.

[Lastmohecken]

Seems as if those cylinders are not very consistent. I will hang onto mine. It works well.

Piller,
Unfortunately, it's been my experience over a period of 50 years of buying guns, that quality control has always been an issue, with Rugers, Smith and Wesson, and a about everyone else.
But speaking of Ruger's, If you get a good one, then it's very good indeed. And I have learned a painful lesson on Ruger's and Smith's, If I get a good one, anymore, I never get rid of it, because, I have definitely had several lemons, some I could fix, and some that needed to go back to the factory, and some especially recently Smith and Wesson, for me, the factory didn't solve the issue, and I never got it fixed myself, to suit me, so it went down the trail.

But on Ruger Singaction's, my personal experience has been that in probably 40 Ruger Singleactions that I have owned, fully 20% of them had a factory flaw, some minor and some major. I am talking mechanical issues, not cosmetic. Still, I love a good Ruger singleaction.

[jeepnik]

I like the idea of convertibles. But other than a few .22lr / .22 mag handguns I didn't have any. Well, I did (a Ruger .45 colt / .45 acp) until my youngest decided he wanted it for Christmas a couple of years ago. I missed the fun of switching cylinders. So I bought a .45 acp cylinder to use on my .45 colt Blackhawk. The cylinder fits the opening, which seems to be an issue with some. And the timing is good. When I shot it I was limited to a one hand hold and with my weak hand due to some heart work. But, I found it to be accurate, and there weren't any ejection issues.

[Lastmohecken]

I like the idea of convertibles. But other than a few .22lr / .22 mag handguns I didn't have any. Well, I did (a Ruger .45 colt / .45 acp) until my youngest decided he wanted it for Christmas a couple of years ago. I missed the fun of switching cylinders. So I bought a .45 acp cylinder to use on my .45 colt Blackhawk. The cylinder fits the opening, which seems to be an issue with some. And the timing is good. When I sot it I was limited to a one hand hold and with my weak hand due to some heart work. But, I found it to be accurate, and there weren't any ejection issues.

I shot probably about 150 rounds out of my 45acp cylinder today. I eventually shot some pretty tight groups with it. I was shooting 200 gr. semi-wadcutters in front of 5 grains of Bullseye. It really a very nice soft shooter with that load. So, I have shot over 200 rounds of acp out of it, without cleaning, with no issues, other than the occasional round that required a little push to get it seated fully in the chamber. My hand loads are probably a little grungy so, I am not too surprised there.