Montana Bullets Back Up and Accepting orders

[awp_101]

What size 358156 should I order if I’ve got several revolvers but haven’t slugged any of them? Just looking to get my feet wet in the reloading world with some mild .38 loads and was looking at a hundred count of those and maybe some WC if they’re in stock.

[entropy]

I ordered up .358. I should have prolly slugged the barrel first in retrospect. It seemed like a nice place to start.

If you’re looking to just initially try them, I’m sure I could spare some of each to toss in the mail to give them an initial trial.

PM me if interested.

[awp_101]

Thanks for the offer!

I recently found my box of BP stuff and I’m almost positive I’ve got a box or two of round balls I can use to slug the throats and barrels. It’s just a matter of coordinating the time and the “want to”. Or maybe this is what finally motivates me to finally pick up a minus pin gage set off eBay.

[entropy]

Yeah...I need pin gauges too...

Let me know. Happy to toss a few dozen each into the mail.

[Wayne Dobbs]

I ordered up .358. I should have prolly slugged the barrel first in retrospect. It seemed like a nice place to start.

If you’re looking to just initially try them, I’m sure I could spare some of each to toss in the mail to give them an initial trial.

PM me if interested.

Don't slug barrels, slug cylinder throats. You want the dimension at -0.0005 under the throat diameter. A quick and dirty way to check fit in the throats is to drop a bullet from the back of the charge hole and it should slip through with mild resistance. Hopefully, @Outpost75 will chime in here with his astounding knowledge on this.

[Outpost75]

Don't slug barrels, slug cylinder throats. You want the dimension at -0.0005 under the throat diameter. A quick and dirty way to check fit in the throats is to drop a bullet from the back of the charge hole and it should slip through with mild resistance. Hopefully, @Outpost75 will chime in here with his astounding knowledge on this.

Wayne gave the right answer. Caveat is that the charge holes may not be consistently round and uniform in diameter. Using gage pins will give you the nominal dimension, but tells you nothing about the roundness of the throat. While I use gage pins for quick checks at gun shows, etc., I prefer to take a soft, pure lead round ball slightly larger than the throat, tapping one through each charge hole, them measure each with a micrometer in three places around their circumference.

If you have non-uniform or out of round throats, DougGuy on the Cast Boolits forum is the go-to guy to correct this. He does not ream the cylinder throats, but uses a Sunnen hone which produces true precision work, usually with better interior surface finish then the original cylinder. Pricing is reasonable and turn-around fast. Here is his info. Contact him by email for shipping address:

357 Magnum/38 Special cylinders are $48 each to hone to .3585" ~ .3588" with the Sunnen hone. 9mm cylinders are $60 each to hone to .3585" ~ .3588" with the Sunnen hone. I no longer ream these cylinders, I use the Sunnen hone exclusively to resize throats and the 9mm cylinders are much more time consuming due to the length of the throats.

Insured return shipping is via USPS small flat rate box which is $14 for one cylinder, add $4 to the shipping for each additional cylinder or barrel if shipping more than one.

I also offer chamfering of the rear of the chambers to facilitate smoother, faster, easier loading, this runs $30 per 6 shot cylinder, $40 per 8 shot cylinder.

I also offer removal of hard carbon deposits that build up behind the cylinder throats, this stuff cannot be removed by conventional cleaning, it is stubborn, hard as glass, it is a time consuming PITA to remove and must be machined out with a stiff miniature stainless steel brush. This carbon removal runs $3 per throat. *Note* in cases involving severe buildup requiring extensive efforts to remove carbon deposits, this service is $5 per throat.

I also offer greatly reduced amount of creep in Ruger single action hammer, this service runs $30 per hammer, include the hammer with cylinder work.

Lead time is only a few days, I can take check, cash, usps money order, or paypal to xlordsguitars@gmail.com for payment. If using paypal, please leave the comment field blank or simply input "machine work." Please DO NOT USE any firearm related words or firearm manufacturer's name in the comment field!

[entropy]

Thanks a bunch for both posts on this...

I actually did the cylinder test on my GP100 .44spl when I was messing with that. Why I haven’t thought to do this on the M28 escapes me.

That’s a hell of a deal to hone those cylinders....I wonder if he would do the .44?

[Wayne Dobbs]

Thanks a bunch for both posts on this...

I actually did the cylinder test on my GP100 .44spl when I was messing with that. Why I haven’t thought to do this on the M28 escapes me.

That’s a hell of a deal to hone those cylinders....I wonder if he would do the .44?

He will do your .44, too!

[awp_101]

With Rugers I would check the barrel for thread choke as well. I don’t remember the specifics offhand but there were multiple reports on a couple of forums several years ago where slugs properly sized for the cylinder throats were just as inaccurate undersized slugs.

After a couple of people found a restriction where the barrel screws into the frame(either by slugging or pin gages), more started checking and there were more than a few that found the same thing.

[Jim Watson]

I have read about thread choke in Rugers and also in "post p&r" Smiths.
Some say to fire lap it out, some say to cut a Taylor Throat.
Some just shoot jacketed bullets which hold up better through the constriction.