blackhawk cylinder play

[possummanplus3]

hi everyone and Merry Christmas! i have a couple of ruger single actions, a blackhawk 357 and a sbh 44 mag. they both have a little cylinder end play while in full lockup. i can't visually detect it but definitely feel it. they both shoot good. i've noticed this with just about every blackhawk i've put my paws on at all the local gun stores. should this be a concern as far as continuing to loosen up, or is this just ruger's factory tolerances? thanks!

 

[Master Blaster]

Normal factory tollerences would be my guess. My Blackhawk and super blackhawk have a little side to side play. Front to back isn't really noticeabale unless you look really hard. Endshake is unusual in a SAA type gun because the bearing surfaces are the frame itself not a yoke barrel like in a DA gun. I guess you would have to replace the cylinder or add a bearing washer to fix it.
If you had the proper feeler guages you could measure it holding the cylinder forward and back and call ruger to see if its in spec.

If you are concerned call Ruger after the holiday

 

[Dienekes]

Sounds about normal. Don't have a range rod to check out anything bigger than .38 caliber, but I have used it on a lot of guns of that dimension. Have not found a moderate amount of cyl. rotational play to affect practical accuracy for what I do. I suspect that the effect would be even less in a larger caliber.

Most of my Ruger SAs have some bolt notch wiggle, and with the right load they shoot very well indeed. Of all the variables at play, I would put that right around the bottom somewhere.

 

[Virginian]

Shouldn't be much endshake with the cartriges in place. And when the charge goes off, it'll zero out against the recoil shield.

 

[madcratebuilder]

.001 endshake is optimum. Up to .006 is acceptable as long as the cylinder is not hitting or dragging the barrel. Use a shim for .001-004 adjustment, more than that you should have the yoke peened by a gunsmith, or combination of the two.

 

[Dean Williams]

It has to have a little end play fore and aft for it to run. If it was a half a thou, you probably wouldn't be able to feel it, but you wouldn't be able to get the cylinder out without a fight, either. What you are noticing is probably normal factory tolerances.

My own BH in 45LC has play that I can feel in the end play and rotational play when the bolt is in the notch. It has about 10k rounds through it, some fair amount which were pretty warm. Still shoots great and is totally reliable.

 

[Dean Williams]

Sorry. Double post.

 

[Dean Williams]

Okay. Make it a triple post. Sorry again!