1873 cattleman .45 bore diameter?

**mcawful** · 08-01-2006, 06:09 PM

Trying to find, somewhere, The exact bore diameter that Uberti publishes for the cattleman in .45. I have been using a Magnus 250 grain lrnfp(452) over 5 grains of Trailboss with CCI large pistol primers and have had moderate to good accuracy at 20-25 yds. Would a cast bullet with a diameter of .454 make a difference? Should I slug the bore to find it or just try a bullet in .454?
Will, I know you have done enough of this to give me some pointers.

[ 08-02-2006, 06:28 AM: Message edited by: mcawful ]

**kwwms52** · 08-01-2006, 11:15 PM

No use in taking any chances, I would slug the bore...just to be on the safe side.

**mcawful** · 08-02-2006, 11:17 AM

Well, I slugged it and it came out to a diameter of 452-4 (groove diameter). Correct me if I am wrong, but a .452 bullet is just a hair undersized for the bore. I slugged it with a soft cast .454 bullet and the last few taps on the dowel rod(with a rubber mallet) were awful easy.
Would a .454 bullet be a better choice for accuracy, or do the lands matter more than the grooves? I'm no gunsmith, just a guy who likes to shoot a lot and load a lot.
Any ideas? I know there are more experienced handloaders than me out there in Uberti land.
I just finished loading the last 125 of my .452 bullets and bought a box of 100 Remington .454 from Midway. Dang, but the lube (black flaky stuff) on those bad boys sucks. I may roll them around in some liquid Alox just to try to cut down on the mess.

[ 08-02-2006, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: mcawful ]

**kwwms52** · 08-03-2006, 11:34 AM

I would say it is a hair undersize...are you shooting lead through it? if so I think I would opt for the 454. I have a Ruger 45 long colt and it slugged 450...so I size my bullets on it to that....maybe someone else has another idea?

**mcawful** · 08-03-2006, 10:43 PM

Yep. Cast lead bullets from various makers. The .452 bullets I've been shooting come from Magnus , and the soft .454 bullets come from Remington (by way of MidwayUsa).
For anyone that orders the cast bullets by Remington, I rolled them around in some Liquid Alox (dried overnight) and the black flaky lube Remingon puts on these was sealed in the Alox. No more mess.
For consistancy these Remingtons are pretty darn good. They have all measured and weighed the same with very little deviation. Looking forward to shooting them. They actually say .455 on the box, but they are a sure enough .454 bullet.
You out there, Will? Chime in on this, I'd like your opinion.
8/4/06
For anyone buying these Remington bullets,... I had to pull my seating die out and clean it 3 times while loading only 50 rounds. I guess the Alox didn't help that stuff from coming off during bullet seating.

[ 08-05-2006, 07:00 AM: Message edited by: mcawful ]

**Wild Bill Hiccup** · 08-25-2006, 08:40 PM

Check the size of your cylinder throats also. My Cattleman has large cylinder throats and a .452 bullet falls through them without resistance. The .454 bullet provides a better seal, especially for cowboy loads which are reduced pressure. If this is the case with your revolver, the larger bullet should be more accurate.

**Will** · 08-26-2006, 04:52 AM

Your on the rite track with the .454 bullets. I've got a Henry and a a 73' colt clone in 45colt and both perfere the .454 bullets.

Basicly at the low pressure and velocity your shooting, if the round will chamber your small enough, if it won't chamber the slug is too big. Also at low velocity softer is better. Best accuracy I've gotten out of my peacemaker is with near pure lead slugs. The softer lead will bump up and seal the bore where a hard slug will not and you'll get gas blow by and it'll lead and affect acuracy. If at all posible the bullet should be just a bit larger, say .001-.002, than grove diameter.

Also it wouldn't hurt to run a tight jag with a patch of JB bore compound down the bore and smooth it up some.

If I remember rite cylinder throught inside diameter should be the same as grove diameter for max accuracy, along with I think an 11% forcing cone. Of course at that stage with the sights on the peacemaker and cattleman if it's pretty close it probably wouldn't be worth sending it to a gunsmith unless it was way off like Rugers tend to be.

For me I find as cast 454 PRS 250 grain rnfp bullets cast from 5 parts lead, 1 part wheel wieght works well. After casting and pan lubing I run them through a .454 Lee sizer just to knock the excess lube off and to weed out the ocasional larger bullet. Most go through barely touched.

**Will** · 08-26-2006, 04:54 AM

I haven't used Remington bullets, but do cast .454 rnfp with the standard small shallow lube groves and just tumble lube them with Alox for smokless rounds, works great. I realy like alox for smokless, no sign of leading and fast and easy to lube. Just wish it'd work good for black powder too!

If you realy like shooting that I'd check into casting your own, you can literaly cast hundreds of rounds for pennies, and I haven't had a problem with alox gumming up my dies. I did have a problem with black powder lube building up and shoving the bullet deeper when used with smokless, but that was only after a lot of reloading. Look on ebay, check out Midway shooters supply, a bottom pour Lee casting furnice, a six cavity mould and in an afternoon you can turn out enough bullets to last you six months of shooting and reloading. As long as you can get the lead for free, or there abouts. Roof flashing and lead pipe are close to pure lead, but even wheel wieghts make very good bullets, and the stick on type wheel wieghts are near pure. It's fast, easy, fun, and cheap. I tend to cast a bunch up when things are going downhill in the shop and I need to take a break.

[ 08-26-2006, 04:00 AM: Message edited by: Will ]