.45 auto rim conversion on .45 acp Ruger cylinder?

[maxafterburn]

Hello All,

So I am new to the forum and this is my first post.
This weekend I was fortunate enough to take ownership of a new Lipsey's Exclusive Ruger 0475 .45 Colt/.45 acp convertible stainless Bisby with the 3.75" barrel. What a nice package!

So my question is, can the .45 acp cylinder be milled to shoot both .45 acp and .45 AR? If so, would there be any drawbacks such as a detraction in .45 acp accuracy from the stock cylinder? I acquired a large amount of .45 AR as well as a fair amount of Bullseye and Remington 1-1/2 primers. I would really like to take advantage of my new found plinking stash.

Assuming this is feasible, can someone recommend a gunsmith that would have a fair amount of experience in this type of modification?

Thank you,

Ken

[45MAN]

JACK HUNTINGTON DID A RUGER 45ACP CYLINDER FOR ME (TO ACCEPT THE AR). NEVER HEARD OF IT BEING DETRIMENTAL TO ACCURACY. JUST HAD TO SEND THE CYLINDER NOT THE WHOLE GUN. I FORGET THE COST BUT IT WAS REASONABLE.

[Encore64]

I've had quite a few of these guns. Several Rugers and two Freedom Arms.

It's important to know the cut depth to keep rims in the right place. I like .003" behind the rim, so depth of the recesses is critical.

It's a great conversion. As already stated, no change in accuracy.

[bigbore5]

Ask Ronnie Wells

[contender]

Due to the desirability of those convertible Rugers,, it might be a better option to get a 3rd cylinder & have it milled for the .45 AR. Keep the Ruger "original" and just add the spare cylinder.

[bradshaw]

Tyrone (contender) nails it. The .45 ACP is beaucoup handy in a single action. Just the way it is.
Want to get exotic? Grab another cylinder.
David Bradshaw

[leftysixgun]

Couldn’t you start with a 44mag or 44-40 cylinder and have it fitted and rechambered?

[maxafterburn]

I would certainly consider another cylinder, so where is a good place to source one? I'm new to this world so the guys you all know and trust are not in my vocabulary yet.

From what I have read Ruger will not sell one, only replace and refit one. That was the reason I was going to have mine modified.

The other reason for using my existing cylinder was to eliminate having to turn over the complete gun for an undetermined period of time to a reputable gunsmith.

[bigbrowndog]

Ebay

[Odin]

Nov 5, 2024 9:54:12 GMT -5 leftysixgun said:

Couldn’t you start with a 44mag or 44-40 cylinder and have it fitted and rechambered?

Nope. The 45 Caliber cylinders are longer than their smaller-caliber brethren in the full size guns (each successive caliber is cut on a shorter cylinder 44, 41, 357...). That being said, there are "long cylinder" 44 magnum cylinders in existence (I have one in my stash). Apparently they were cut on what is traditionally a 45 Colt blank. While such a cylinder would be the perfect candidate for rechambering, I'd personally just have the AR recesses cut on my ACP cylinder. They don't affect ACP performance one iota and it's not like the stainless Bisley convertibles are all that rare. You just don't see them on the used market all that often.

That being said, I'm generally biased toward "simple and effective" in all things. Aaand I'm a bit of a penny-pincher...

[harveylogan]

Thought,,,🧐

Sell the 45AR brass lots of those out there looking for it,,,
Get some 45 Cowboy Special, works great in either cylinder.

www.starlinebrass.com/45-cowboy-special

No Rodeo required, rounding up a extra cylinder, having a cylinder gunsmith’d, etc..

That’s what I shoot in this one 99% of the time now.

[Encore64]

As a shooter and being raised to understand guns were built to be shot, I have no problem with this conversion.

The S&W 25s (and other 45 ACPs) come ready to shoot 45 AR. Of course, this is a result of guns being built for Moon Clips.

Am I to believe having a Cylinder counterbored .030"+/- is going to affect shooting 45 ACP? IT DOESN'T!!!

Your gun will still shoot 45 ACP just fine.

The conversion isn't even visible unless the cylinder is removed from the gun.

[bigbrowndog]

I recently found out about the 45 CS, it was an interesting case, I compared my 45AR to it and it simply is a rimmed 45acp as opposed to a thick rimmed 45acp. That may be a better way to go.

Trapr

[maxafterburn]

So I have 600+ fully loaded rounds of 45AR and a similar amount of loaded .45 acp. Couple that with the primers and powder and I have plinking rounds for a long, long time. No need to purchase Cowboy special brass and load it as what I have now is quite a stockpile.

I can't imagine it would cost me much to have the cylinder milled to accept the AR and I doubt I would need to send out the whole gun to have it done.

I see used cylinders on ebay averagese $250 and then add in machine and fitting and I would guess that would probably stretch it to $500?

This will never be an NIB investment gun so I don't see a problem with the mod.

[Encore64]

Nov 5, 2024 16:07:12 GMT -5 maxafterburn said:

So I have 600+ fully loaded rounds of 45AR and a similar amount of loaded .45 acp. Couple that with the primers and powder and I have plinking rounds for a long, long time. No need to purchase Cowboy special brass and load it as what I have now is quite a stockpile.

I can't imagine it would cost me much to have the cylinder milled to accept the AR and I doubt I would need to send out the whole gun to have it done.

I see used cylinders on ebay averagese $250 and then add in machine and fitting and I would guess that would probably stretch it to $500?

This will never be an NIB investment gun so I don't see a problem with the mod.

This is a great way to look at things.

I have investments and I have guns. They are separate parts of my life.

Buying guns, not enjoying them, then dying only to leave them to someone who may or may not appreciate is absolutely ridiculous to me.

Still, each gun owner should decide what's right for themselves.

If you want precision work, you'll need to send the gun or some accurate measurements.

Clements used to let me measure cylinder to frame, rim thickness, etc to decide how deep to cut the recesses to leave .003-.005" gap for rim/primer clearance.

He did four cylinders this way and all were within .001" of where I wanted them upon return.

Since R-P Brass has a rim thickness of .002" more than Starline, I generally tried to split the difference.