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Can someone recommend a source for fire lapping, reaming cylinder throats, and tools for chamfering the forcing cone on Ruger Vaqueros?

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Not being a gunsmith, help me out here.  What is the need or advantage to reaming cylinder throats or chamfering forcing cones in Vaqueros, at the velocities we in CAS work with? 

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Not being a gunsmith, help me out here.  What is the need or advantage to reaming cylinder throats or chamfering forcing cones in Vaqueros, at the velocities we in CAS work with? 

Mostly our biggest concern would be leading in the barrel. Correctly dimensioned cylinder throats and a smooth forcing can certainly effect accuracy. But at our typical distances, that isn’t an issue.

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Not being a gunsmith, help me out here.  What is the need or advantage to reaming cylinder throats or chamfering forcing cones in Vaqueros, at the velocities we in CAS work with? 

 

The throats on Rugers are notorious for be tight to way undersized. 

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Some .45 Colt Rugers came with Cylinder Throats in the .4489 to .4505 range with barrels measuring in the .452 to .4508 range ,,,,, so swaging the bullets down in the cylinder mouth by firing them and expecting them to shoot well in much bigger barrel don't work so well...

 

Jabez Cowboy

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https://4drentals.com/

 

I've rented reamers from these folks.  They are fast, easy to deal with, and very responsive to emails.  The reamers are sharp and easy to use.  Be sure to tell them it is for a cylinder instead of a chamber to get the correct one.  Use plenty of cutting oil and go slow.

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Fire lapping is polishing. 

A reamer cuts.

OP, what are the throat's diameters now?

Best ck'd using a pin gauge....

You'll want to recut the bbl leade to 11*.

OLG 

 

What he said...you have to know where to start before you go reaming and cutting.  Measure, measure and then remeasure and when you have to do cutting/sanding/polishing take it slow, you can always take more off.

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Brownells has a throat reamer set with bushings for $90. Having seven  .45 Vaqueros at the time I popped for the reamer set. I think you can get the cylinders done for about $25 each.

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Don't know I'd recommend "Fire Lapping" for a CAS handgun barrel.  I am a really dedicated proponent of cutting a nice Forcing Cone and I do like 11 degrees.  Some like a little more, some a little less.  I like 11 degrees.  Reaming the Cylinder throats is something I strongly suggest if you have a Ruger.  Any Ruger.  Over 20 years working on CAS guns, I only remember 2 rugers with good cylinder throats.  ALL the others were quite undersize.  Slug the bore first to see where to start.  I used "Manson Reamers" for the Cylinder Throats and I believe my throating Reamer is also Manson.  Haven't looked in a while.

 

Undersize cylinder throats can/will make a real difference in accuracy and felt recoil.  Well worth the doing.

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Yes, Ruger has had a tendency to make their chamber throats undersized compared to the barrel groove diameters.  The original diameters of the .44-40 throats in the Old Model Vaqueros were .425" versus .429-.430" for the groove diameter of the barrels.  This was for the 55-XXXXX through part of the 57-XXXXX series.  Just before they discontinued the .44-40, they made the throat diameters larger to match the barrels.  I have a pair of the earlier guns which I use for CAS events.  I found that by using hard-cast bullets (17-22 BHN) of .430", I can get excellent accuracy at 25 yds., so I never reamed the throats.  But most folks won't go along with that and reaming the throats is the way to go.

Happy Chanukah! Merry Christmas!

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I used a generic hand reamer to open .45 Vaquero cylinder throats to 0.453 inch. I bought "Drill America 29/64" High Speed Steel Straight Flute Hand Reamer, DWR Series"  with "A long starting taper is ground into the reamer for easy entry and accurate alignment" from Amazon and cutting oil. I wrapped electrical tape on most of the cutting surface so as to not cut into the cylinder anywhere other than the throat. I held the cylinder in wood blocks in a vise and used a crescent wrench to turn the reamer (although a proper tool would have been nice). It cut cleanly; deburring wasn't necessary. This got rid of tremendous leading and I am now pleased with my 25 yard groups. Now a bullet slips through each throat with slight finger pressure, unlike before. (I did this job myself only after a local gunsmith declined, claiming he didn't have the proper tools.)

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I used a generic hand reamer to open .45 Vaquero cylinder throats to 0.453 inch. I bought "Drill America 29/64" High Speed Steel Straight Flute Hand Reamer, DWR Series"  with "A long starting taper is ground into the reamer for easy entry and accurate alignment" from Amazon and cutting oil. I wrapped electrical tape on most of the cutting surface so as to not cut into the cylinder anywhere other than the throat. I held the cylinder in wood blocks in a vise and used a crescent wrench to turn the reamer (although a proper tool would have been nice). It cut cleanly; deburring wasn't necessary. This got rid of tremendous leading and I am now pleased with my 25 yard groups. Now a bullet slips through each throat with slight finger pressure, unlike before. (I did this job myself only after a local gunsmith declined, claiming he didn't have the proper tools.)

 

WOW-First post in 15 years. :huh:

Did you just now make parole? :lol:

OLG 

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I had a S&W 28 Highway Patrol cylinder rechambered to 45Colt and I replaced the barrel with a new 50 Target barrel.  The guy that did the chambering used a reamer that had been sharpened too many times and the last 1/10" of the chambers were tampered.  Often it wouldn't chamber rounds.  I borrowed an explaining reamer from the machine shop at the factory where I worked and cut out the taper at the bottom.  Expanding reamers are reasonable price on eBay.   You may not want to try this at home.  I'm what some people would call a nut.

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WOW! thank all of you for the great information, guidance and sources.

 

Merry Christmas you all

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  • 3 months later...

Who is a careful smith who can accurately ream Vaquero cylinders?

I would prefer to spend the $$ with the smith, than spend nearly the same for DIY, then screw it up.
I'm an experienced mechanic and well tooled, but I'm not a machinist, nor do I play one on TV.

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33 minutes ago, bgavin said:

Who is a careful smith who can accurately ream Vaquero cylinders?

I would prefer to spend the $$ with the smith, than spend nearly the same for DIY, then screw it up.
I'm an experienced mechanic and well tooled, but I'm not a machinist, nor do I play one on TV.

See my post below yours.

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I posted a short video a short while back showing me dropping/hand pushing .452" bullets through my .45 Rugers with no problems. Five were purchased new, so I know they weren't reamed, and three were used original models, so who knows on those. Of the eleven .44-40's I've had (only 3 at the moment), some were a little snug, but I dropped to a .428" bullet and everything was fine. No problem at the distances we shoot. I've also got three .38-40/.40 S&W Vaqueros, and the .38-40 cylinder throats were very undersize in all three, so I rented a reamer. The .40 S&W cylinders are fine though.

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If I send this out to a smith, is it best to send the entire revolver, or just the cylinder and the lead slug used to measure the barrel?

I'm in CA, and the laws and shipping carriers are endlessly weird with guns.

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On ‎12‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 9:18 AM, Dusty Devil Dale said:

Not being a gunsmith, help me out here.  What is the need or advantage to reaming cylinder throats or chamfering forcing cones in Vaqueros, at the velocities we in CAS work with? 

Some use our RV for hunting.  A 45 LC makes a far better hunting round with proper hand loads than the 44 Mag.

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