Rancho Roy Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 I have four Ruger NM Vaqueros in 38/357....Three from Jimmy Spurs and one I did myself.......All function great, three are extremely accurate. But one of them will put three shots in a tiny group and then throw two to who knows where. Usually 4-5" outside the group and sometimes the bullets entering the paper sideways. It's been years since I rebarreled a revolver. Years ago I used to build PPC "Pipe Guns" on S&W model 10 frames and I've done a few SSA revolvers. But it's been at least 15 years since the last one. My good friend, Tyler Tornado gave me a brand new 38/357 barrel for the NMV. I pulled the Rugers barrel and chucked it up in the lathe. Putting a dial indicator against the barrel shank face it was out of square by .004"! And the forcing cone was cockamamie....No wonder it was shooting so poorly. As it turned out, the new barrel was about 2 degrees positive which meant it had to go nearly 360 degrees for the sights to line up....Did the math on the thread count and faced off the shoulder for a perfect crush fit.....then shortened the shank for a .006" cylinder gap, half way between .004 and .008 which is the industry standard for B/C gap on this type of revolver. So, back to the range and now it's a shooter! I guess three out of four good Ruger NMVs is not bad...... I also discovered that I still really like gunsmithing, although I've not been doing much lately... (But I am in the process of building a Benchrest 22RF for 22RF silhouette matches) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warden Callaway Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 I picked up an awful first generation Colt SAA that had been rebarreled to 38 Special. I shot it from 10 steps from rest with my 105 cowboy loads. The result looked like a 00 buckshot pattern from 20 yards. In talking to my Colt SAA doctor, Bill Fuchs at Spring Creek Armory, he said the old 38 barrels didn't like light bullets. I found a batch of 158 Kieth bullets and made up some loads. It actually made a group. About as good as I could do with any other gun I have. Maybe try a heavier bullet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rancho Roy Posted November 28, 2023 Author Share Posted November 28, 2023 Back when I was building "Pipe Guns" I used 9mm barrels for 38 special loads......Smok'n accuracy! The .356 barrel was nice and tight for the .357 bullets......But in Cowboy, we simply don't need this type of accuracy Folks are asking, where do you learn this stuff.... https://www.montgomery.edu/nra/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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