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**44 AMP** · March 23, 2023, 01:34 AM

There are lots of stories, some verifiable, some not so much.

Gun lore that I've heard says the shift down from .454 to the smaller .451-.452" bore size in the SAA was done to enhance the accuracy when shooting .45acp bullets, and as the lead .45 Colt bullets "squeezed down" just fine, the slightly smaller bore size was not an issue. Also makes sense from an economic /tooling issue as well. Making one common bore diameter for all your .45 barrels does make sense.

IF that was the case, not changing the throat size right away also makes sense, as well. .45acp ball ammo doesn't upset much in the chamber throat, and in that era that was the common ACP bullet. After WWII, with the increase in handloading and use of lead bullets in .45acp, chamber throats were (I think) better matched to the ACP bore size. Of course, none of this happened overnight...it was a gradual change by the industry some makers stuck with the .454" size for quite a while, I think some might still. SAAMI didn't formalize the change until many, many years later. (as far as I know)

I've also heard that the SAA tooling was stored outside on a loading dock in the years after Colt ended production. After WWII Colt had, initially no plans to bring back the SAA, and besides the tooling was "very worn/worn out" already. And it wasn't until popularity of "westerns" rose post war and foreign copies of the Single Action, and then Ruger selling an SA revolver convinced Colt mgt. that it was worth it to resume SAA production.

or so the story goes.

March 23, 2023, 01:34 AM	#25
44 AMP Staff Join Date: March 11, 2006 Location: Upper US Posts: 28,833	There are lots of stories, some verifiable, some not so much. Gun lore that I've heard says the shift down from .454 to the smaller .451-.452" bore size in the SAA was done to enhance the accuracy when shooting .45acp bullets, and as the lead .45 Colt bullets "squeezed down" just fine, the slightly smaller bore size was not an issue. Also makes sense from an economic /tooling issue as well. Making one common bore diameter for all your .45 barrels does make sense. IF that was the case, not changing the throat size right away also makes sense, as well. .45acp ball ammo doesn't upset much in the chamber throat, and in that era that was the common ACP bullet. After WWII, with the increase in handloading and use of lead bullets in .45acp, chamber throats were (I think) better matched to the ACP bore size. Of course, none of this happened overnight...it was a gradual change by the industry some makers stuck with the .454" size for quite a while, I think some might still. SAAMI didn't formalize the change until many, many years later. (as far as I know) I've also heard that the SAA tooling was stored outside on a loading dock in the years after Colt ended production. After WWII Colt had, initially no plans to bring back the SAA, and besides the tooling was "very worn/worn out" already. And it wasn't until popularity of "westerns" rose post war and foreign copies of the Single Action, and then Ruger selling an SA revolver convinced Colt mgt. that it was worth it to resume SAA production. or so the story goes. __________________ All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.