Revolver Durability

[ravencon]

I've never been a serious, high mileage revolver shooter. I'm curious as to the durability of, for example, .357 magnum revolvers. How many rounds can one expect to be able to put through a quality revolver before it needs repair.

Good and bad reports all welcome.

 

[Kurac]

Good question, I have heard numbers like 30,000 40,000 even 50,000 and still going strong. I know there was a problem with S&W K frame revolvers when using lots of hot .357 magnum loads. I guess its not a real issue.

 

[Majic]

A lot of it will depend on how it's shot and the ammo used. Generally if it's not abused and fed factory spec ammo it will outlast you before a tune-up is needed.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Take, for example, my S&W 625 in .45ACP. It's a new model, with the endurance package. If I fired standard pressure ammo only through it, I imagine it'd last nearly forever.

As is, you can +P it do death without hurting it. Heck, they even convert 'em to .460 Rowland, so I'm interesting in trying some .45 super.

Ruger revolvers are durn near indestructible.

 

[3 gun]

I have stopped counting at over 25K/rds thru my S&W 586. Most have been 38spl loads, maybe 10-15% 357mag loads. My 586 can still out shoot anything I'm able to do with a handgun. It isn't like new but it's far from needing a rebuild.

 

[Michael Zeleny]

The Manurhin MR-73 was developed for the French counter-terrorist forces, in response to the long term failures of the S&W revolvers. It was tested with Norma's 158 grain .357 S&W Magnum ammo. This torture test was abandoned without appreciable wear after firing 170,000 full power rounds.

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

The problem of guns falling apart with extensive usage was only with the K frame guns, which would begin to fall apart only if fed a steady diet of magnums which, from the beginning, they weren't designed to take. Smith and Wesson, the manufacturer, was reluctant to even make a .357 Magnum in the K-Frame, but the police agencies who requested it assured them that 99% of the rounds actually fired in them would be .38 Special at the practice range. They'd even load them with .38s for duty, but they'd keep the magnums on hand just in case they needed to penetrate a car door or other barricade. Well, that's how it started, but eventually, when the stats came in that magnum was the much better fight stopper, particularly in 125 grain JHPs, departments started insisting that all practice be with the magnum rounds and that only magnum rounds be carried in service revolvers. That's when the guns started falling apart.

Now, with anything L-Frame or sturdier, this doesn't happen. What eventually causes the death of these beefier guns is an eroded forcing cone. Even this problem can be almost eliminated, however, by sticking with magnums possessing heavier than 125 grain bullets. So long as all your practice is with heavier bullets than 125 grain (preferably 158 grain and heavier), the forcing cone will last a lifetime and then some, and so will the gun (They were originally designed for 158 grainers and heavier bullets). It's the light and fast magnum rounds that badly erodes the forcing cone, but, frankly, even then it requires the kind of usage seen only by professionals of some sort. Your average sportsman will not put enough rounds through his revolver to ever see that in his lifetime, though some will.

 

[1 old 0311]

I had a USED S&w 10-5 that I put 30,000 very warm handloads through. At about 29,000 it broke a $2.00 spring. Sold it a 30,000 and it is still going strong.


Kevin

 

[Checkman]

I just took in my little S&W Model 49 for a tuneup. It's thirty-two years old and I figured it was time. Cost me all of $40.00 and it's now tighter then before. Gunsmith told me that it really only needed a little cleaning and the trigger bar was smoothed up some. Probably could have gone for another twenty years without any trouble. I think that it would take a tremendous amount of use, and abuse, for somebody to wear out a well made revolver.

 

[MCgunner]

I don't know if it'd be possible to kill a Blackhawk, but of course that being a single action. I did have a Security Six shoot a bit loose, but it was still going when I sold it, not much end play. The GP100 is MUCH sturdier as is the L frames. I don't know if you could kill the GP100 with hot .357 loads, but at the price of weight.

In defense of that Security Six that got loose, I fed it a pretty steady diet of hot hand loads. Factory is pretty tame stuff. My handloads were pushing 700+ ft lbs. If I'd kept it, I think I'd have just had it tightened up. But, I traded it for a much stronger Blackhawk for outdoor/hunting work, a better platform for what I was using the revolver for, and got a DA .357 later. I still have that .357 which is still tight and have a nice Taurus M66 DA revolver to satisfy the DA spot in my safe along side of a S&W M10, fifties era pinned heavy barrel gun which has has many thousands of .38s of power level from wadcutters to +P fired through it and that M10 is still tight.

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

I don't know if it'd be possible to kill a Blackhawk, but of course that being a single action. I did have a Security Six shoot a bit loose, but it was still going when I sold it, not much end play. The GP100 is MUCH sturdier as is the L frames. I don't know if you could kill the GP100 with hot .357 loads, but at the price of weight.

In defense of that Security Six that got loose, I fed it a pretty steady diet of hot hand loads. Factory is pretty tame stuff. My handloads were pushing 700+ ft lbs. If I'd kept it, I think I'd have just had it tightened up. But, I traded it for a much stronger Blackhawk for outdoor/hunting work, a better platform for what I was using the revolver for, and got a DA .357 later. I still have that .357 which is still tight and have a nice Taurus M66 DA revolver to satisfy the DA spot in my safe along side of a S&W M10, fifties era pinned heavy barrel gun which has has many thousands of .38s of power level from wadcutters to +P fired through it and that M10 is still tight.

Yes, the M10s will last forever, assuming you do not exceed .38 Special loading data.

 

[longhorngunman]

What about a .454 Casull Ruger? Now that I'm starting to reload I'm gonna test this beast for awhile.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

This one has shot nearly 70 years and is still able to keep 50 shots in the black at 15 yards. I think with reasonable care, and decent original quality they will out last you. I am planning on this one outlasting me and my daughter!

 

[Texasred]

I was wondering the same as Long.

In the same situations as yourself it seems. I just bought a new SRH in 454 two weeks before i got my Rockchucker. I figured that since the SRH frame was designed for the 44 from the get go, should the increased pressures and velocities compromise the life of the gun. Say for example 2,000, 5,000, 15,000rnds? If any of us could afford that much.

 

[longhorngunman]

TexasRed, from all accounts I've read on the net( take that for what its worth) the SRH should be plenty stout. It's an ugly gun, but very thick in the right areas, and Ruger has built their reputation on strength, where S&W is known for being well-refined revolvers with excellent triggers. I did find a couple of engineering articles about the special steel used to make the six-shot cylinder and they were testing it with 90,000psi proof loads ! That said mine has always had a little endshake in it and after firing some of my 300gr handloads this weekend sometimes the cylinder would not lock down on the spent case and would be loose until I manually turned it to lock. I was using a rest so I think maybe the recoil was causing me to double the trigger.

 

[Scott77]

Imo S&W revolvers last about the best . One of my relatives had a 357 - 686
and shot about 30k rounds threw it . All kinds of loads p+ etc . It finally started to spray lead after about 30K rounds . But thats an amazing life span .

 

[Tiny in Ohio]

From what I have read, and I obviously believe, Rugers will last the best fed a steady diet of hot loads. Take a look in reloading books, how many S&W hot loads do you see? I have and continue to see loads for Ruger only.

 

[Michael Zeleny]

Imo S&W revolvers last about the best . One of my relatives had a 357 - 686
and shot about 30k rounds threw it . All kinds of loads p+ etc . It finally started to spray lead after about 30K rounds . But thats an amazing life span .

As I pointed out above, a revolver made out of better materials will withstand over five times your round count.