Dan Wesson revolver cylinder gap measurement?

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

I have all the gauges - should I run with .006, .007, or some other amount? I used .007 initially. I hear you can go down to .004 or even .003, and still avoid binding - true?

 

[bill in IN]

I use .004, I believe that's the gauge that came with it.

 

[boatingboy]

Hey, how are you liking the new revolver?? You can use from .006 to .009

 

[Peter M. Eick]

My supermag is .002, my 722 is .006 and my 15-2 is .004 if I remember right.

I know the super is .002 because I remember being suprised at how tight it was.

 

[dagger dog]

One persons 0.004" is anothers 0.002" or 0.006". To get the "feel" of the feeler gauge go get your mike and set it to 0.004" and drag your feeler gauge through the anvil , then you can get the feel of what 0.004" actually feels like.

The Wesson's I set up at 0.004" wound up binding after a couple cylinders full of mild .357 loads at a fairly fast clip . Seems like the barrel which includes the forcing cone heats up and expands faster than the cylinder. Backing the gap off to 0.005"-0.006" works a lot better . Also high primers dragging on the recoil shield can force the cylinder into the barrel if there is any end shake, ditto with dirty chambers not letting the round rest against the rim.
So for reliability in defense revolvers make sure to try the cylinder gap setting on these gun before relying on them.

 

[Larry Burchfield]

cylinder gap

The orginal gap spacing for the Dan Wesson .357 was .006 using the cylinder that was closest to the barrel. The reason being is when the cylinder heats up during firing the gap closes up a little and sometime will lock the cylinder up.
Larry Burchfield
SEABEES/RVN/67/68/69
DAV

 

[hardluk1]

It does depend on how much shooting at one time your going to do and how close you can make your guns gap and still work well. I have a 357 thats a 30+ years old and i have closed the gap to .002 but i do wipe with a towel every couple cylinders full when shooting and don't have any trouble. The designer of the gun was said to shot his 357 gun at .001 gap . See what works for you.

 

[warnerwh]

The revolvers come with a .006 feeler gauge. I would not go over .006 for two reasons. Spitting of lead particles and you lose velocity. My guns are set at .004 on the closest cylinder. I have no problem of binding. At the range I'll go through 100-125 rounds usually.
Rugers tend to have very tight barrel/cylinder gaps and .004 is on the large side for them.

 

[Waldo Pepper]

Only one DW had a different B/G different, it was one of the super mag's and I believe it was the 357 supermag.

All the others came with a .006" gap gage including my NIB (still) 715, also my 15, 722(M) and 744 all have that .006" feeler gage from the factory.



That said that gap is just a general gap to make all guns function well with out too much gap flash, or too much loss of propellant pressure and also being able to shoot a lot of rounds with out having to clean front of the cylinder to ease rotation of cylinder. I have mine set to about .006" range for general shooting, but tighten up to .004" range and maybe to .002 even when doing serious group size shooting.

 

[jbbaldwin]

Also one thing to keep in mind is that the on the Monson guns the cylinders where hardened after they would made and the cylinder faces is not always true. Therefore you need to check the gap on all cylinders and set the gap to the tightest.

Norwich manufactured guns should have a much truer cylinder face since they were machined after the hardening process.

Also for more DW info check out the Dan Wesson Forum.