bringing groove dia. up to throat dia.

[jd45]

I've got a .45 Colt chambered revolver with .454 chamber throats & barrel with .4505 groove diameter. Will a 'smith be capable of equalizing the barrel to the throats so I can run warm loads thru the gun & not be concerned with excessive pressures, especially with hardcast or jacketed bullets? Thanx for your time & input, JD45.

[gunnut69]

One cannot enlarge the existing barrel. It can be replaced but I know of no way to enlage a bore.. The limiting factor as far as pressures go in the big Colt is the strength of the revolver. Hardcast and jacketed bullets can both be successfully used in you situation. Actually jacketed bullets and moderately hard to soft cast bullets work best in the situation you have. The softer cast bullets will swage down easily and allow less gas blowby, a major cause of barrel leading. The jacketed bullets will tend to help control leading by their nature.  The least strong revolvers are the Colt and it's clones with the Rugers coming in next and the contender has to be among the strongest. Ruger's new Vacquero is much smaller than the Blackhawk (or the old Vauqero)and so I would limit it to Colt Peacemaker pressure levels.

[Nobade]

shoot .454 cast bullets in it, not too hard and with good lube. It'll work fine. Keep 'em at 900 fps or less since it's a Colt.