Convertibles

[Pat Riot]

My brother did this to help me distinguish between the cylinders.


View attachment 1017581

I made it a lot easier since then. I only shoot the ACP round and have lost the long Colt cylinder!

Kevin

That looks nice. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[StrawHat]

That looks nice. Thanks for the suggestion.

Going to lose one cylinder!

Kevin

 

[Pat Riot]

Going to lose one cylinder!

Kevin

Not sure what you mean.

I actually considered having the .45 ACP cylinder bead blasted but I like the engraving idea better. Now I just have to find an engraver.

 

[powwowell]

A few months ago I purchased a Uberti Cattleman II, birds head grip, 3.5" barrel, in .45 Colt. Looks like new, shoots great, but shoots low as expected.

I have some .45 ACP ammo that needs shooting up. I ordered a .45 ACP cylinder from VTI Parts. Very, very prompt service. Cylinder didn't come close to fitting. Short story . . . removed .006 off of ratchets and .012 off of the cylinder pin. Used 360 sandpaper, on quarter inch piece of glass. The glass offered a very flat surface. Polished sanded surfaces with 800 grit. All sanding done with circular motions, switching grip on the pin and cylinder, often. I kept sanding, fitting, sanding, fitting, sanding, fitting, under I got fitment, to suit me. .004 cylinder to barrel gap and no cylinder end shake. Loaded six rounds of cartridges, with no binding when rotating the cylinder. Cold blued the sanded surfaces. I now have a .45 Colt/.45 ACP convertible revolver!

200 grain X-Treme bullets over 5.2 grains of HP-38 is accurate and has low recoil. I love this revolver.

1st pic is of the .45 ACP cylinder and cylinder bushing. 2nd pic is revolver with the .45 ACP cylinder installed. 3rd pic is revolver in DeSantis cross draw holster.

 

[Got_Lead?]

Interesting, my revolvers all slug .357 or .358 Most of my 9mm's slug .356, except my Beretta 92fs, which slugs .358, and a Star Modelo B, which slugs .359. All shoot just fine, I think the bullet obturates out to fill the gap. I also have a Ruger single six convertible, which I have read is .224, while the LR is .222. Once again it shoots fine.

 

[Got_Lead?]

Oh, kind of going off subject a bit, but I do have a revolver which is a bit peculiar, it's a Smith model 25-5. The barrels are rifled to modern specs at .451, but the cylinder is cut for the older .454 sizing. The throats are .457. If I don't size the boolits, they shoot just fine, if I size them .451 or .451, the accuracy is poor. Cylinder throats do seem to matter, not sure if the 9mm cylinder has different throat size than the .357.

 

[Oldman11]

i also have a ruger .45 acp-.45colt.I shoot more .45 acp in it because of the ammo price. The other convertible i have is a smith model 16 ,I shoot .32 hr mag,.32 long,.32 short and .32 acp

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

My experience with my Ruger .357/9MM Old Model was it shot 9MM lead reloads very well.

 

[OrangePwrx9]

I have a Ruger New Model 357/9mm. They shoot about the same as I recall, though the 9mm has a different POI.
Also notice a few pierced primers when I shoot 9mm. Haven't noticed any with 38/357.

 

[gotboostvr]

I dig my 45 Bisley convertible

 

[MI2600]

I have a Blackhawk in 38-40 and 10mm. I bought it mainly for the 38-40. Never fired it in the 10mm configuration.

 

[LeftyRed]

I love the Blackhawk Convertibles! Still wish they made the 357/9mm with a 7.5” barrel. Anyways, never saw a 9mm that mine or others wouldn’t shoot.

Lefty

 

[mcb]

The 9mm and 357 mag have the exact same barrel groove diameter specifications; 0.355" + 0.004".

https://saami.org/wp-content/upload...FP-and-R-Approved-2015-12-14-Posting-Copy.pdf

I've slugged many barrels and there is no difference between the groove diameter of 9mm and 38/357 barrels, which is consistent with the SAAMI specs.

I have a Ruger convertible, and there is no difference in accuracy between 38/357 ammo and 9mm ammo; tested with the gun in a Ransom Rest.

Except no manufactures use the very loose tolerance of the SAAMI spec to manufacture to. I have never seen a barrel print with +.004 tolerance on bore and groove diameters. Most barrel manufactures are holding +.001 if not tighter. You can go look at barrel blank manufactures and you will find barrel blanks with .355 bore diameters and .357 bore diameters. Don't forget twist rates too. Also 9mm has different bullet specs than 38/357 magnum. 9mm bullet diameter is .3555 -.003 while 38/357 (Jacketed) is .358 -.003. And again very few bullet makers are holding such loose tolerances. Most of them are holding -.001 or better. If you opened a new box of bullets and measured .003 variation in diameter most shooter would not be happy despite technically being in spec per SAAMI.

I have a Ruger Convertible in 38/357 and 9mm. It does not get used much anymore since I got into double action revolvers. I even have some Cero-safe. One of these days I need to cast the barrel and cylinder throats for fun.

 

[LeftyRed]

I have a Blackhawk in 38-40 and 10mm. I bought it mainly for the 38-40. Never fired it in the 10mm configuration.

You need to! Fun! Even better in 40SW. Shot my friend’s in 10mm/40SW and went out and bought one of my own. If I had 10mm or 40SW pistols, I would keep it.

 

[Jim Watson]

Most barrel manufactures are holding +.001 if not tighter.

I have read many reports of large ID 9mm factory barrels. Beretta seems to have turned out a number of .358"+. One owner reported that his shot ok with .355-.356" bullets and .358" were no real improvement.

Aftermarket "match grade" barrels seem to run closer to nominal diameters.

 

[fxvr5]

Except no manufactures use the very loose tolerance of the SAAMI spec to manufacture to. I have never seen a barrel print with +.004 tolerance on bore and groove diameters. Most barrel manufactures are holding +.001 if not tighter. You can go look at barrel blank manufactures and you will find barrel blanks with .355 bore diameters and .357 bore diameters. Don't forget twist rates too. Also 9mm has different bullet specs than 38/357 magnum. 9mm bullet diameter is .3555 -.003 while 38/357 (Jacketed) is .358 -.003. And again very few bullet makers are holding such loose tolerances. Most of them are holding -.001 or better. If you opened a new box of bullets and measured .003 variation in diameter most shooter would not be happy despite technically being in spec per SAAMI.

With what you've written, I'm not sure what you're saying. Are you saying that a specific single barrel's groove diameter could vary between .355 to .358 depending on where you measure it in the bore?

I'm not saying that.

I'm saying that 9mm barrels not all have a groove diameter of .355. They can be larger than this, and most are. But they're still within SAAMI specs even if they go up to .359.

Same thing for 38/357 barrels.

 

[Bob Meyer]

I have a ruger 357/9mm convertible. Recently I compared gtoup sizes with my favorite 357 and 38 special loads, as well as some 9mm hardball commercial ammo. The group sizes were all roughly the same at 25 yards.