Revolver Cylinder Wear

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blackd24

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1997C618-F098-4627-A02D-137AD7894F6E.jpeg This is a model 19 classic - about 100-150 soft 38 special rounds through it. I understand guns wear in and I dont expect them to look like they did the first day I bought them unless they stay in the safe.

I just wanted to see if this wear is normal? It’s pretty much the same on every cylinder. Thanks in advance.
 
Yea that was my thought.. the only thing I could think of is ‘spitting’. I’ve tried to take some solvent and wipe it away, but it didn’t work. I’m using coated bullets - 158 grain over 3.4 bullseye.
 
Years ago when I used a brand of ammo that is no longer in business for Cowboy Action I got a lot of leading and some spitting but the buildup from the spitting was more on the cylinder face and the frame top strap. This was on my Ruger Vaqueros.
I used a brass scraper/ dental pick type tool to get it off.
Not sure how you could be getting lead there though and nowhere else. Especially with coated bullets. What are they coated with?
 
Unless the gun is just exceptionally dirty, the cylinder looks like the gun has been sliding around under the seat of a vehicle. More pictures would help, both closer and further away.
 
I looked in the barrel and it appears there are lead streaks for the first 1 inch (closest to the cylinder).

these are Brazos bullets.
 
I loaded some a little hotter for my last range trip. The data says it should get around 850 FPS but I did not confirm. That might be a little fast for the softer lead, albeit coated.
 
Perhaps their coating is not very thick and they use really soft lead? I am not familiar with their bullets.
 
Oh, don’t use lead removal cloths rubbing hard against the bluing (your gun appears to be blued in the picture but almost looks stainless).
Lead removal cloths can remove bluing.
 
Is this a Tagua holster, I just bought one that looks very similar material and construction.

Get some good bore solvent with led remover and try that. Personally I don't mind honest wear on my guns and most of mine have been bought used so I was not the guy that put the first scratch in them.

1791 holster
 
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Looks like lead deposits, putting some kind of gun lube on that area before shooting will reduce that from happening.
 
It’s pretty much the same on every cylinder.

Howdy

First of all, your revolver only has one cylinder, the big cylindrical shaped part that spins around.

The holes in the engine block of your car are called cylinders.

The holes in the cylinder of a revolver that you place cartridges in are called chambers, or in the case of Smith and Wesson, they are called charge holes, not cylinders.

Very common mistake with new revolver owners.

OK, now that we have that out of the way, I have many Smith and Wesson revolvers.

This is my Model 19-3 that I bought brand-spanky new in 1975.

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I must admit I have never seen marks quite like that on a revolver.


This is the cylinder from my Model 19-3. Ignore the bright area the arrow on the left is pointing to, that is just a reflection. The arrow on the right is pointing to the carbon rings that always appear on the face of a revolver cylinder once it has been fired. Hot expanding gasses escape from the barrel/cylinder gap every time a revolver is fired. This leaves a deposit of carbon and vaporized lead on the face of the cylinder in the shape of a ring, that matches the shape of the forcing cone (the rear portion of the barrel). Lots of shooters scrub the carbon rings off their revolvers every time they shoot them, I gave up trying to do that a long time ago because the rings always return. I always say if you are trying to scrub off the carbon rings, you don't have enough revolvers yet. Once you have enough revolvers, you will stop trying to scrub off the rings. Anyway, what you are seeing on this cylinder is a combination of carbon rings, and wear to the blue on the surface of the cylinder from firing it for over 40 years. Notice too some soot on the gas ring the third arrow is pointing to. If you look very carefully you will see a small amount of soot on the surface of the cylinder flute visible in this photo. All of this is completely normal for someone who does not try to get their revolvers spotless after being fired. (that would be me.) Notice too that your cylinder seems to have a bit more of a bevel running around the front edge of the cylinder than mine does. Not a problem, the amount of bevel sometimes varied over the years.

po2PkJOpj.jpg




This is the forcing cone on my Model 19-3. Notice there is a bit of a flat at the bottom of the forcing cone. This is a clearance cut to provide clearance for the gas ring on the front of the cylinder when the cylinder is closed. Without that cut, the gas ring would interfere with the bottom of the forcing cone. Smith and Wesson began cutting that clearance cut in their K frame revolvers (your Model 19 is built on the K frame) back around 1905 if memory serves. It was never a problem with 38 Special revolvers. When when 357 Magnum revolvers began being built on the K frame with the early 357 Combat Magnums (predecessor to the Model 19) in 1955 the thin cross section of the forcing cone caused by the clearance cut started to become a problem. Sometimes high velocity 357 Magnum ammunition would cause the forcing cone to split at the thin spot.

Question for you: Does your forcing cone have a flat at the bottom, or is it completely round all the way around? I understand the newest K frame 357 Magnum revolvers S&W is making have been re-engineered to eliminate the flat spot, but I have not been able to examine any of the new ones yet.

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Anyway, I suspect what you are seeing is a bit of lead splatter on the bevel on your cylinder.

Try this: using a piece of soft copper, see if you can scrape the lead off that spot. Use an old copper penny, see if you can find an old Grain of Wheat penny for this. Or else try picking at it with some other type of soft copper. DO NOT USE STEEL OR STEEL WOOL, YOU WILL DAMAGE THE BLUE. Do not use a lead removing cloth either, you will probably damage the blue if you do.

Let us know what you find.
 

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I see two things in your picture:
1. The front of the cylinder edge was chamfered at the factory, that's normal.
2. I see some build up of lead and carbon, also normal after shooting 100+ rounds.

Try some gun cleaner and a cloth, or try a copper bristle brush like the ones made by Hoppes. If you draw and re-holster it you will see the blue wear off there as well. The chamfer helps smooth a known friction point for drawing and re-holstering to make it smoother, faster, and easier.
 
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I understand the newest K frame 357 Magnum revolvers S&W is making have been re-engineered to eliminate the flat spot, but I have not been able to examine any of the new ones yet.
.

Flat spot doesn’t exist on new model 19 classic.

I haven't handled any of the new "Classic Series" either, but I thought the whole purpose of developing "L" frames was to eliminate the undercut forcing cone present in the K frame. How do they manage to eliminate the cut on new K frames without altering the frame dimensions? If the distance between the gas ring and the forcing cone has not changed, the only way it could be done is to 1-decrease the diameter of the gas ring, or 2- decrease the outer diameter of the forcing cone. It would make me wonder why they didn't make the change years ago, and just make another dash number.
 
I am not sure what I am looking at, but it is not wear caused by shooting. My guess is that it is vaporized bullet coating, but I am biased against the stuff anyway.

At any rate, the gun should be able to digest tens of thousands of midrange cast bullets before any sort of wear shows up - and it still won't show up on the cylinder bevels.
 
I haven't handled any of the new "Classic Series" either, but I thought the whole purpose of developing "L" frames was to eliminate the undercut forcing cone present in the K frame. How do they manage to eliminate the cut on new K frames without altering the frame dimensions? If the distance between the gas ring and the forcing cone has not changed, the only way it could be done is to 1-decrease the diameter of the gas ring, or 2- decrease the outer diameter of the forcing cone. It would make me wonder why they didn't make the change years ago, and just make another dash number.

Which is why I would really like to inspect one of the new ones personally.

I believe this may be one of the models which has substituted a spring plunger for latching the extractor rod from the front, but I have not been able to see one yet.

When I went to the local Cabelas a few months ago to see if they had one, the guys behind the counter just laughed. It has been just about impossible to find any new revolvers in my area.
 
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