MBC 158 LSWC in .357 mag

[ljnowell]

ljnowell,

What are my options? Get the cylinder throats bored larger? Would a good gunsmith be able to do that? It just seems too extreme a thing to have to do with a newer revolver.

You really have two options, as far as what I have seen. I do not own a double action Ruger, only a SA. On the Ruger forums when someone gets one that is that way most send the cylinder off to http://www.cylindersmith.com/ . They do very good work.
The cost is 30 dollars plus 10 dollars for shipping.

You can order from brownells the stuff to do the job, when I looked into it it cost about 50-60 dollars to buy the stuff. Only you can know whats best for you, if you are a DIY-er you can own the tools permanantly, and I would guess that if you buy other guns in the same caliber you may find a use for the tools down the line. Otherwise, the offered service is a good deal, IMO.

I would definately call them though, and see what they say about DA revolvers, and what they do with them.

Tony: The problem with ruger is that when you do have them redo it it will come back with egg shaped throats, etc. Ruger builds a good quality rugged firearm, but the cylinder throats have long been an issue with them. They apparently are gang-reaming the cylinders and it leaves too much opportunity for problems. Most people that shoot jacketed commercial bought ammo never notice an issue, its just when you start handloading that these things crop up. I would bet other manufacturers have the same problems also, just fewer handloaders buying and loading lead for the product.

 

[Husker_Fan]

I want to say thanks to those who responded in this thread. I had wondered why I was having leading issues in my GP 100, with my reloads but no issues with my Smith K-frames.

This place is great.

 

[RB98SS]

I want to say thanks to those who responded in this thread. I had wondered why I was having leading issues in my GP 100, with my reloads but no issues with my Smith K-frames.

I'd hold off on the cylindersmith for now, I'm going to try some other bullets/sizes and will report back.

 

[ljnowell]

I'd hold off on the cylindersmith for now, I'm going to try some other bullets/sizes and will report back. [/QUOTE

The important thing is how undersize they are. If they are so far undersized that they resize bullet beyond its ability to seal the bore, its going to need to be fixed. If its merely a small amount you may be able to use bullets sized .001 smaller and be fine. The benefit to having undersize throats fixed is that you can have a better availability of off the shelf bullets.

All this is for not though, if you dont get your throats measured properly. Your idea of hard to push through could be my idea of "with some resistance."

 

[Husker_Fan]

I'm not rushing out to have it worked on. I'm mostly loading jacketed bullets for that gun now, but I have a variety of lead ones to try.

 

[GP100man]

I run my 10.5 bhn boolits to 1250 fps , I think 18 bhn is just to hard for revolver applications .There`s always exceptions !!

These boolits work in 2 of my GPs that only get lead boolits!

It`s very important to start with a clean barrel , how are you DELEADING????


I`m `bout to settle on 8.0grs. of 800X.!! very clean burnin!

 

[ljnowell]

gp100man: I shoot the 18 bhn missouri bullet swc over 14.5 gr of 2400 and find it to be a clean shooting load. No appreciable leading, and consistently accurate. This is from a 686 4"

 

[Jech]

I put my first 50 handloaded rounds down range today through my 2.25" Ruger SP101. MBC .357 Action! LSWC bullets, CCI #550's and 3.7gr (starting) of Unique up to 6.7gr all produced very visible leading where the rifling starts in the barrel (forcing cone?) but not where further down the barrel or in the muzzle.

Shooting from 7 yards, I had some very inaccurate shots placing 12+ inches from my point of aim after ~20 of the softer loads. Boresnaking my barrel several times seemed to help but it was still very poor compared to the factory magnums I'm used to. My goal is to shoot hotter magnums, not the midrange target loads most seem to be after.

I can tell you with a 6-7gr charge of Unique that they leaded like HELL.

Mirred my thoughts and experience today exactly, was thinking about trying something hotter in the 7-8gr range in case I'm not obturating properly. Maybe I should try a more "magnum-oriented" powder like H110 or 2400? I've heard great stuff about both but have concerns about the short barrel and it not burning completely.

I also checked my cylinder throats....they measure in at .358" and I can push one of these bullets through them fairly easily with one of my cleaning push-rods as long as the cylinder is clean. The gun isn't even a year old with fewer than 900 rounds through it.

 

[Fatelvis]

RB, what are the actual diameter of your cast bullets? If they are .358", and they are that hard to push through the cylinder, you need to have Ruger or a Smith open up the throats. Another option is to tap the bullet through the throat, measure the diameter of the bullet, and size your remaining bullets to that diameter, and try shooting the newly sized bullets for accuracy, before messing with the gun's throats. Good luck.