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Thread: Undersized throats

  1. #1
    The Nostomaniac 03RN's Avatar
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    Undersized throats

    My M66s throats were all undersized. I could not push through .358 cast bullets. Depending on the load i was getting some leading. With hotter loads it was fine but my .38s it would get pretty bad after 100. I was also getting lead deposits on the crane inside the cylinder which caused the trigger to hitch sometimes. I think it had to do with the throats swagging the bullets down which allowed gasses to go around the bullet but that was just a swag.

    Anyways. @willie recomended Doug from cast-bullets and hooked me up with his email.

    His prices were fair for honing the throats and i got the cylinder back tonight. Now my hardcast bullets push right through.

    Im excited to try it out. I might try to make some time inbetween hunting and work tomorrow.

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    Crap pic i know.

  2. #2
    Site Supporter OlongJohnson's Avatar
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    Now you may have leading with some smaller bullets. Happened to me with the Precision Delta wadcutters that are advertised at .357. Throats in my Ruger are .3585 and my 640 are .359. Both leaded badly with those.

    I realized after I'd returned the PD wadcutters that the throats in my M66 are .357ish and would probably work great. But Midway was clearing out plated Ranier wadcutters, so at least I have a few K of those for the Dillon to chew on.
    .
    -----------------------------------------
    Not another dime.

  3. #3
    The Nostomaniac 03RN's Avatar
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    As long as rimrock doesn't change their size ill be ok.

    But ill be mindful if that if i order from somewhere else.

  4. #4
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    A soft bullet lube and not too hard alloy are also needed to prevent all leading. If the alloy is too hard, then the bullet will not obturate upon firing. Most of us do better with softer cowboy loads after we have fixed cylinder throat problems.

  5. #5

    +1 on Doug

    So after purchasing a Blackhawk 45 convertible, I read where the cylinder throats may need to opened up a bit. After much searching online, I came upon castboolits.com. One person that consistently got great reviews on gunsmithing was DougGuy. I joined the forum and sent him a message. Long story short, sent him both cylinders. He honed both of them and had them back to me within a week after he received them. Very professionally done work!

    I sent him the cylinders before I fired the first shot, so can't compare before and after performance. Was looking at taking one variable out of the equation. Now if he could do something with these old eyes.

  6. #6
    I had my 629s honed by cylinderhone

    https://www.facebook.com/pg/Cylinder...=page_internal

    He's local to me and let me tour the shop and watch while he did the cylinders and forcing cone. Very friendly and knowledgeable guy on multiple things, not just guns. Makes a great cup of coffee. The wheelguns shoot great now.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by 03RN View Post
    My M66s throats were all undersized. I could not push through .358 cast bullets. Depending on the load i was getting some leading. With hotter loads it was fine but my .38s it would get pretty bad after 100.
    IME, this is usually caused by an alloy that's too hard for the load. The chamber mouths are only undersized if they're actually smaller than the barrel's groove diameter. If the chamber mouths were smaller than the groove diameter and thereby swaged the bullets down smaller than groove diameter, you would've had gas cutting/leading on the hotter loads as well.

    .358 works well as a "one size fits most" standard for .38 Special and .357 Magnum. It's not an absolute. Had you gone with a softer alloy and/or bullets sized to match the 66's chamber mouths, I think you would have had better luck.

    I did a class about 20 years ago using my M67 and ammo using a 158-grain Zero swaged RNL over a +P charge of Titegroup. The load chronoed at 830 fps and was almost as smoky as black powder, but it shot well. IIRC I went through ~720 rounds of that ammo in a day and a half. The gun was mostly black at the end of the class but there was zero leading in the barrel. The bullets were sized .357 and matched the chamber mouths and barrel.

    Missouri Bullets offers some bullets with a Brinell hardness of 12, which is about the same as the old wheelweights plus 50/50 bar solder alloy that I used to cast bullets with. My old alloy worked great with non-Magnum velocities. You might want to try some of those, or bullets offered by other places characterized as for "cowboy" velocities.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by mkmckinley View Post
    I had my 629s honed by cylinderhone

    https://www.facebook.com/pg/Cylinder...=page_internal

    He's local to me and let me tour the shop and watch while he did the cylinders and forcing cone. Very friendly and knowledgeable guy on multiple things, not just guns. Makes a great cup of coffee. The wheelguns shoot great now.
    Never met the guy, but folks do talk about his coffee brewing abilities over at castboolits.

  9. #9
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    And I thought this thread was about how to choke people with skinny necks...

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark D View Post
    And I thought this thread was about how to choke people with skinny necks...
    My old boss and friend at the bicycle shop said something about permanently changing his voice (he's a violinist as well) - I told him zip ties should do the trick, and come in custom-made lengths. His dark humor is far more out in the open now

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