cylinder question

[Nicodemus38]

its been said before here that the chamber of bp pistols being sold today are NOT perfectly shaped. that they have lots of waviness, etc and rarely form a straight cylindrical profile.

my question is if that is the case, how can the chambers be cleaned so easily in posts here with a simple patch on a bristle brush?

 

[pohill]

Sam Colt chamferred or bevelled the mouths of the chambers to deflect gasses and prevent chainfires. A few of mine have chamferred cylinders, mostly (I think) Ubertis. The ring of lead is shaved deeper into the cylinder.
Is that what you mean by not perfectly shaped?

 

[SHIPCHIEF]

It probably wouldn't matter with the heavy powder charges. the Ball or conical bullet would be at the end of the cylinder and any wavy-ness in the cylinder would be behind the ball.
I chamfered the cylinder on my San Marco 2nd Model Dragoon. I can't say it made any noticable difference, except the ball presses in a bit nicer.
I think it's more important that the cylinder be clocked correctly to the barrel so the ball doesn't have to zig-zag from the cylinder to the barrel.
I suppose a few thou- of cylinder rattle helps the whole caboodle line up while the ball passes this point????

 

[arcticap]

I don't recall reading any complaints about new chambers being wavy or not having straight walls.
Some folks do ream their chambers so that the chamber diameter more closely matches the land diameter of the bore which can result in better accuracy.
That has been a more common complaint made by C&B shooters over the years.
And there were a couple of complaints lately about oversized chambers and balls not fitting tightly enough, which created speculation that those chambers may not have straight walls. But that wasn't really established.

my question is if that is the case, how can the chambers be cleaned so easily in posts here with a simple patch on a bristle brush?

Just because the cylinder walls aren't straight and parallel to each other doesn't mean that they're not smooth. So the ease of clean up would essentially be the same.

 

[mykeal]

I think the OP is overstating the case.

Using words like 'lots of waviness' and 'rarely...straight' leaves the impression that this is a common and very significant issue. There's no evidence that's the case.

That being said, it's a fact that chambers are formed by mechanical tools, and such tools wear in the process. It would not be unrealistic to assume that a malformed set of chambers might escape the quality control process on a very rare occasion. Thus it has to be considered a possibility when one is dealing with poorly fitting projectiles.

 

[scrat]

In machining you bore or cut out a cylinder. After the cutting you would hone the cylinder. The honing process ensures that the cylinder is all true to the size and makes the finish more exact. When working with Engines if we had a cylinder that was very bad and the customer wanted to keep that engine we would sleeve it. This is mostly done with very rare engines or very old engines that have already been cut to the max. Sleeving an engine requires the cylinders to be cut to great limits. Then a stainless steel sleeve is pressed into the cylinder. This restores the engine to the same exact bore as if the engine were brand new. I have always wondered if anyone has ever sleeved a revolver. I’m sure some cylinders could be sleeved while others cannot.

 

[[email protected]]

This Pietta has been sleeved. The cyclinder was a 44 and it was sleeved to
a 36.

 

[shadowmanlc]

This Pietta has been sleeved. The cyclinder was a 44 and it was sleeved to
a 36.

I would really like to see more of the conversion from 44 to 36 cal. very curious. Thanks.

 

[[email protected]]

The inside dia. of the sleeve is .357 and the barrel is a 9mm modern pistol
barrel. I shoot .360 dia. balls. A real true .36 The sleeves are pressed in
and welded. You cannot tell only by looking down into the chambers near the
bottom where they are not the full length of the chamber. There, you can see
a ring.

 

[scrat]

Well there you go. That my friend is a very very strong cylinder that will take just about anything you throw at it. Who did the work you need to tell me a lot more about it now.
where did you get the barrel and all

 

[[email protected]]

Rob Lewis of Ohio did the work. I don't really know where he got the barrel.
He gets most of his from Green Mt. so I would supect that's where it came
from. I think it has a 1-14 twist. It has a inturnal trigger adjustment. The
loading lever is made so you seat the ball to the same place each time. The
sleeves that were put in the 44 chambers were solid. After being welded in
they were line bored down thru the barrel, so each one lines up with the
forcing cone. This revolver is for the most serious compention. I shoot 17
grs. Goex FFF. Rob garentees that out of a Ranson machine rest this will
shoot dime size groups at 50 yds. The chambers will hold just a little over
22 grs FFF. I did win a 50 yd match at the Nationals last year with it. Rob
made my Flintlock pistol and one of my cap locks also. He has since gone
into making high dollar shotguns. 3500 and up. He is a master craftsman.
He probably will go down as being one of best of the best in our lifetime.
I really got him one time about 10 years ago right after the wife won the
National Pistol Championship with a pistol that Rob did not make, He asked
me when I was going to get my wife a really good pistol. I looked at him And
said, when ever I can find someone who can make her one. That really got
him as he has somewhat of a big ego. We all had a good laugh on that one.
Hope this answers your questions.