I bought a Lee custom 6 cavity, 180 gr. mould for my 1894 Cowboy. When I seat the bullets to the crimp groove the cartridges will feed through the magazine but won't chamber because of a short throat. Ends up that I have to seat the bullets deeper and crimp above the crimp groove, making for a very short OAL. That brings up my questions.

How hard would it be to lengthen the throat on my 1894? Can it be done without removing the barrel from the frame and can it be done by hand? Are there reamers available to do this?

Thanks for your consideration.

Try trimming your cases a few thousands. That may be all that is neccessary. Look up the minimum trim too length and make all the cases the same.
Jeff

Shoot a few firelapping bullets through the gun, that will move the leade forward and enlarge it in short order. For quicker action use jacketed bullets instead of lead! Using jacketed check every 5 or so rounds and stop as soon as the new bullets chamber easily. If you solve the problem by shortening the cases it can cause pressure problems, depending on how much they are shortened.

Thanks guys. I may try an alloy that doesn't produce as large a bullet too. I will probably check case length and trim them to minimum. My intention is to send these bullets out just fast enough to reliably knock over the 100m rams so I shouldn't be needing max charges.