Expert advice needed

m1aggie01 · Jul 19, 2009

I just purchased a Uberti SAA on Friday. I have some old ammo that my grandfather loaded for his original military issue 1st gen SAA in 45 Colt. These rounds look to be loaded with .454" bullets which would have been proper for a SAA of this age (1876).

Can I safely shoot bullets of this diameter out of my new pistol? I have read in Lymans reloading manual for the 45 colt that most new barrels are of .451" diameter?

Also, if I purchase cast bullets to use in loading 45 Colt can I use cast bullets in .452" diameter for this purpose?

Please let me know. Thanks for all of your assistance.

.405 · Jul 19, 2009

With cast lead bullets I usually size them to bore diameter or .001 over.You may want to slug your bore and see what dia it actually is.This is easy to do with a round ball or pure lead slug and a wooded dowel and mallet.You can also pull one of the old bullets and mic it.I have shot lead bullets .002 over bore dia. If you don't have a dial caliper, then go buy one. Every handloader needs one. :wink: You can shoot .003 over in the gun but the accuracy will not be good.

A word of caution: when slugging the bore DON"T use anything steel around the muzzle. If you damage the crown ,then the gun will only shoot patterns from then on.