I recently purchased a Taurus Stellar Tracker chambered for .45 ACP, knowing that the cartridge is exceptionally accurate when loaded correctly. The gun shoots great but I am never content to leave well enough alone. I wanted to try .45 Auto Rim because the full moon clips are a pain in the *** especially when you carry them in your hip pockets.

I ordered some Remington brass from Midway but found that the rim was too thick to allow the cylinder to rotate. I needed to remove enough brass to allow the gun to function but not so much that it would leave the primer exposed. How to do this? I thought you would never ask.

The brass measured .895” overall with a rim thickness of .090”. Approximately .015” had to go. The problem: How to remove an equal amount of material from each case without an expensive lathe.

The solution: Use the 8” drill press in my workshop. The first step is to raise the table of the drill press and rotate it about 15 degrees so you will have a solid surface to work on. Set the table about 1 ¼” below the chuck to allow an empty case to be inserted with ease. Now insert an empty case into the chuck and gently tighten just enough to hold it when you remove your fingers. Lower the case till it comes in contact with the table and allow it to be pushed into the chuck leaving about ¼” exposed. Now here’s the critical part, tighten the chuck on the case using your chuck key and while holding your case to the table, set your stop to allow about .020” further travel. This will prove to be an exercise in trial and error. Raise the chuck, turn on the press, place a sheet of 50 grit abrasive on the table, lower the case and grind away. When you reach the stop in travel, remove the case and measure the OAL with your calipers. If you need to remove more material reset your stop the appropriate amount. The thickness of the sandpaper will affect your settings. I have found that it takes about 45 seconds to remove .010” with my drill speed set on the lowest setting. Your drill speed will cause this time to vary. Use a sheet of 150 grit paper inserted on top of your coarse paper to polish the case.

This operation will remove the headstamp and about half of the chamfer. Correct OAL is .880”. When you have reached this length, size prime and load.

Speaking of rimmed versions of auto pistol cartridges, the .38 S&W, when resized in a 9mm die, works just fine in those revolvers chambered for 9mm Federal.

You’re welcome.

ROUND GUNS FOREVER!

I've been shooting a S&W mod. 25-2 for a number of years. I use the full moon clips for playing at IDPA matches. I agree with you that the full moon clips are an aggrevation if one has to live with them on his person for any length of time. A pocket full of 45 Auto Rims is almost as troublesome as a pocket full of 22 Rim fires.
I wonder what it would take to get a gunsmith the alter the cyclinder for auto rims.?
Jim

Ah..... cutting brass off of the case head is going to leave the primer pockets too shallow, so they will have to be recut or the primers will stick up (high primers) or be badly crushed. You would really be better off thinning the rims from the front, although I understand the problem of not having a lathe.

Mike, believe it or not, the primer pockts are deep enough to allow this operation. Just don't remove any more than .015". When the headstamp disappears, you are there.

The .45 Auto Rim is a compromise. The guns it was designed for were not designed for the Auto Rim. Form follows function. As these revolvers had fixed firing pins of a definite length, they would have to accomodate both Auto Rim and ACP cartridges. Because of this, if the primer was set further back toward the recoil shield it would be punctured. The rim is thicker than it needs to be in order to maintain a proper distance from the recoil shield as a sloppy fit is a hinderance to accuracy.

My Tracker went from 3" groups to 1" groups after the modification to the brass. This, I attribute to the close fit between the cartridges and the recoil shield. The gun is really too light for rapid fire competition. It has a ported barrel but Taurus advises that you should hold the loads to 900 fps or less, too mild for a port to aid in muzzle flip reduction.

Hope this clears up your doubts.

BTW, the speed loader designed for the 5 shot Taurus 441's and 442's will work for this gun when using Auto Rims.

Interesting. Would definitely be a good idea to check primer pocket depth just to be safe, as sometimes you get a batch of brass that is on the minimum side.

If I correctly understood your post I think you are making a mistake. Removing metal, and headstamp, from the base of the case is also going to reduce the depth of the primer pocket. Case rims should always be thinned by removing brass from the front of the rim.

This feature of the Stellar Tracker was exactly why I passed on purchasing one when they first came out. If they would accept the 45 Auto rim I would be at the gun store right now.

You are right. The 45 Auto Rime was a compromise in that the cartridge was designed to replace the 45 ACP with the half moon clips. The difference is that the 45 AR wa designed witha rim the same thickness as the clip.

In an effort to make the clips easier to load and unload Taurus utilized a special clip that is thinner than the original and screwed up the balance of nature. If they had only designed the gun to use standard thickness clips there wouldn't be this proble.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

If the brass was removed from the front of the rim, it would, in effect, move the primer forward....away from the firing pin. This could cause misfires. Fear not, it's safe and it works. I have put several thousand rounds through the little gun without a hitch.

I love to tinker. "If it works, I can fix it".

Loader
Seems to me that altering the revolver once, would be more productive then altering all of the cases. Could be I'm just getting lazy.
Would it be difficult to turn the front of the cyclinder so that the whole thing moved forward or deepen the chambers so the cases slide forward.
Seems Taurus was perfecting dumbness with this revolver.
Jim

If you did that, (1) You would no longer be able to shoot .45 ACP, and (2) This would have the same effect as removing brass from the front of the rim.....it would move the primer away from the firing pin and cause mis-fires. I thought this thing through before I did it and reached the only viable solution. When the Auto-Rim was "invented" the rim was thickened to eliminate the gap between the cartridge and the recoil shield. This necessitated the primer pocket be "deepened" to avoid puncturing the primer on firing, thus leaving an excess of rim material that could be safely removed.

It works on paper and works in reality. The reduction in the gap between the rim and the recoil shield resulting from the use of the Auto-Rim does wonders for accuracy. I use a 200 gr. LSWC and a charge of Win. 231 giving around 850 fps.

Reducing rim thickness really does not take too long and the whole project gives a sense of accomplishment.

WELL !! I ain't from Missourie, but I gotta see fer m'self. I have about 500 rnds. of Auto Rims on my shelf and a drill press in the bullet barn. I shall return! Pepe Ray

Well hi there folks, yup, I'm back. It's a long walk to the bullet barn when the snow's up to your butt. Well, I sized/decapped some .45 AR cases, cleaned out the pockets and took up my calipers. First I checked the accuracy of the calipers with a test gage. Since you must interpolate less than .001" you'll forgive an error of +/- .0001"? The pockets of 6, .45AR's averaged .1200" with a variation range of .0018". .45 Colt (W-W) averaged .1200" w/var. range of .0021", and a mix of .45ACP's (foreign & domestic) avg'd .1173" w/var. range of .0033".

I'd say loader 3009 should be thankfull things are working out so well for him. Likely he'll find his next batch of AR's to be quite different. I've been wanting one of those Taurus Tracker Stellar's or whatever. Personally I like and appreciate the full moon clips. Perhaps cause I don't carry 'em in my hip pocket. It's encouraging that 3009 can report such good accuracy from one. Pepe Ray

Starline recently added the 45 AR to their brass lineup, I wonder if their rims are any thinner and would work without modification in the Tracker.

JohnK; If they made the rims different then they would'nt work in the 10's of thousands of Colt and S&W revolvers out there. Thanks, I didn't know that Starline had added them to the list. I think it was a good move on there part. The M25's & 625's have a large following Pepe Ray

Pepe Ray, the .45 ACP in the Stellar Tracker displays only average accuracy. The modified AutoRims display "Stellar" accuracy. This results from the limiting of the space between the base of the cartridge and the recoil shield.......at least that's the way it works in mine. I E-mailed the results of my experiment to Taurus.....received no reply. I even suggested that they produce a proprietary cartridge and call it the".45 Toro". Again, no response.

It will NOT move the primer forward... away from the firing pin. All measurements start from the plate and go forward. The base, including the primer, remains in the same place, in contact with the standing breech. Removing brass from the front of the rim only relieves the interference between the front of the rim and the face of the chamber.

If the brass was removed from the front of the rim, it would, in effect, move the primer forward....away from the firing pin. This could cause misfires. Fear not, it's safe and it works. I have put several thousand rounds through the little gun without a hitch.

I love to tinker. "If it works, I can fix it".

wagner, removing brass from the front of the rim has essentially the same effect as removing steel from the rear face of the cylinder, at least as far as primer position is concerned. Imagine, if you will, removing .10" from the rear of the cylinder of your favorite revolver.....it would not fire. Why? Because the primer has been moved away from the recoil shield and therefore the firing pin.

I considered this and many more problems when solving the problem of using the Auto Rim in this gun.