Marshal Jack Murphy SASS #32018 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I acquired a 45acp cylinder for a Ruger Blackhawk. The add said that the cylinder needs to be fitted by a gunsmith. Well I put the cylinder in my gun and seems to fit just fine. I ran a probe down the barrel to see if the cylinder was lined up or not, it was. I looked at the cylinder to barrel gap and it looks to be close to the same as the original cylinder. What else is there to fitting a new cylinder to your gun? I am thinking that I don't need to send to a gunsmith if the cylinder seems to line up properly, locks up tight and the cylinder to barrel gap is with spec. What does the wire think? Marshal Jack Murphy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adirondack Jack, SASS #53440 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 If it cycles smoothly and locks up properly, there is no end shake and the barrel and cylinder are really in line (with a strong light you can see that), you should be good to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Howdy Sometimes you get lucky. I have two stainless 45 Colt Vaqueros. Other than barrel length they are completely identical. But the cylinder from one will not even fit into the frame of the other. On the other hand, a couple of months ago I bought a 3 Screw Flat Top Ruger Blackhawk chambered for 44 Magnum and made in 1958. Just for the fun of it, I tried putting the cylinder into my New Model Blackhawk that was made in 1975. Surprisingly enough, the 1958 44 Mag cylinder fit almost perfectly in the 1975 45 Colt gun. The gap was a teeny bit too tight, but other than that the fit was perfect. Locked up fine and everything. Except the caliber was wrong. When Ruger makes revolver, the frames are Investment castings. Then some secondary machining is done to create some of the features that are not cast in. Two of the machining operations are to mill the face where the barrel screws in flat, and then tapping the hole for the barrel threads. Take a look at your revolver and you will see the tooling marks left behind when the surface where the barrel screws in was milled flat. Between the small variation in the size of the castings, and the small variation in how much metal is removed to mill the front surface flat, enough variation can creep in from frame to frame that when the barrel is screwed down tight to the front of the frame, there can be variation in how much the barrel protrudes toward the cylinder. That is the main reason that cylinders may not always fit different frames. The barrel may protrude too much or too little. That is why cylinders may have to be faced off a small amount to achieve the proper barrel cylinder gap. Like I say, sometimes you get lucky. I might invest in a range rod though, to determine if the chambers are actually lining up properly with the bore. Sometimes you can determine it by peering down the barrel with a bright light, sometimes it takes a range rod. I don't think I would be comfortable firing live ammo from a gun with a new cylinder in it until I had determined how well the chambers were lining up with the bore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adirondack Jack, SASS #53440 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Driftwood, Unless it's grossly out of whack, the forcing cone will save the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Bullweed Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Ruger has changed cylinder lengths over the life of their single-actions and usually adjusted the barrel to maintain cylinder gap. This has been noted by several prominent gun writers since the anniversary Blackhawks came out since 1999. If everything seems to line up, I would start with light loads of lead bullets in teh ACP cylinder, stepping up in loads to factory-simulated loads and checking for misalignment clues (shavings of lead, odd recoil, grouping of bullets). The lead will be much more forgiving than jacketed bullets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Jack Murphy SASS #32018 Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 Thanks everyone for the responses. When I got home from work I got out a very bright flashlight and looked down the barrel, boy that gun needs cleaned. It appeared to me that the barrel and cylinder where concentric. The original cylinder and the new cylinder have very slight movement back and forth but they are both the same and the cylinder to barrel gap looks to be the same. I am feeling pretty comfortable with the idea of shooting it. I think I will follow Tom's suggestion and start with light lead loads and work my way up. Thanks again everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harvey Mushman Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 If MJM is happy with the answers so far, I'd like to get a few expert opinions on the same issue with C&B revolvers (Pietta Replicas, to be specific). Looking for your practical experience here - I'm really curious. I have a brace of newer (2011) 36cal '51 Piettas, and another brace of '61's in 36 that are at least 3 years older, tuned by Rowdy Yates. I obtained 11 more Pietta 36 cal spare cylinders and looked closely at each, in each of the four guns. All looked good, and all fired nicely, with no strange recoil or excess shavings - been shooting FM with them. Are the tolerances on the C&B that much more forgiving, especially with an ~85gr lead ball) that the issue does not come to fore? If so, does it still fit for the lead 150+ gr balls in pairs of Pietta .44s? And, does it really seem to be only an issue with heavier bullets/velocities? Thanks, Harvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adirondack Jack, SASS #53440 Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Thanks everyone for the responses. When I got home from work I got out a very bright flashlight and looked down the barrel, boy that gun needs cleaned. It appeared to me that the barrel and cylinder where concentric. The original cylinder and the new cylinder have very slight movement back and forth but they are both the same and the cylinder to barrel gap looks to be the same. I am feeling pretty comfortable with the idea of shooting it. I think I will follow Tom's suggestion and start with light lead loads and work my way up. Thanks again everyone. If you looked down the bore and compared the "picture" you see with either cylinder, and you can SEE, the human eye can pick up remarkably small differences. If it looks good, it likely is. Even if it isn't, the worst thing will be it will spit lead out the sides. I had a blackhawk so badly battered by many,many super hot loads that my left (support) hand would get peppered with specks of lead, and one day an RO said "that gun's spitting lead". I sent it back to Ruger and they replaced the pawl (hand) as well as the bolt. Both were spoon shaped. That gun was probably .010 or more 'off" by that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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