BAD VD

[magman]

Actually it's a bad Interarms Virginia Dragoon. I picked up one a while ago, after reading some of you guys tinkering and such, I decided to do a little measuring. So the first thing I noticed was the cylinder gap was a little wiiiiide, so out came feeler gauges. It measured a nice tight .017 inch. Figured that was a little off. Next I pulled the cylinder and pin gauged the holes. I only have gauges that go to .433, and they slid right in. Now I'm thinking, what to do, what to do. I'm sure having the barrel set back is a relatively easy task for someone like Huntington or Harton(if they would even touch it). But the cylinder has me a little worried. I guess I could shoot jacketed bullets only, but where is the fun in that. Any Ideas?

[majorKAP]

Depending on bore diameter, I don't think .433" for chamber throats in a 44 sounds so awful bad.

Might be more than a tad too tight if your gun is a 45 though!

Incidentally, it's a Virginian Dragoon, right?

[edk]

Those throats are not unusual. Oversized cast bullets will be the answer. I have a LBT 280gr LFN mold just for that purpose that drops them @ 0.433". You can even order bullets directly from Montana Bullet Works in that size:

www.montanabulletworks.com/44_Mag_U99O.html

[bigbores]

How does it shoot?

Ive got a couple of guns that shoot really well but measure out poorly and had a couple that measured out nice but never really shot all that great.