Cylinder reaming before/after

[Lippy984]

Just wanted to share after learning so much on here. I sent my Uberti 1860 cylinder to Charlie Hahn to be reamed. He did a nice job at a fair price.
I’m not the best shot out there, but I’m extremely happy with these results.
25yrds on the bench
25gn 3f Goex behind hand cast .457 round ball from track of the wolf.
I had one fly off to the right, I’m assuming that was me. I did weigh the balls.

 

[deermanok]

Looks like you tighten it up pretty good.

 

[hawkeye2]

Charlie does all my cylinders. Did you cut a new forcing cone? If not I recommend it.

 

[Lippy984]

Charlie does all my cylinders. Did you cut a new forcing cone? If not I recommend it.

I only sent him my cylinder. No, I haven’t cut the forcing cone. You think it’ll make a big difference? I was just looking at 4drentals website at their 11deg cutters

 

[Bad Karma]

Charlie does all my cylinders. Did you cut a new forcing cone? If not I recommend it.

He did one of mine and I liked the results so much I sent in four more.

 

[bang]

My Walker shot around 8 high and 8 right at 25 yards.
After measuring the cylinder bore was too close to same as barrel bore. I reamed the cylinder to .451 and it was better. Then I increased the length of the forcing cone and polished it along with some minor crown clean up. It now hits the typical 5-6 high and zero on windage at 25 yards.

 

[M. De Land]

One of the main beneficial things in cylinder reaming I have found is to get them all the same diameter and perfectly round holes. Most of my foreign guns have come to me with slightly different chamber diameters often out of round and usually very much under size to the bore diamter.
As to forcing cones I think balls do better with steeper cones and bullets do better with longer tapers. I like the 18 degree cutters I have for ball shooting and the 5 degree for bullets.
Cylinders are gang reamed at the factory and the reamers have plus and minus tolerance from re-sharpening before they are discarded. This and tool fixture tolerance is what makes them come to the consumer less then perfectly uniform. It also is the reason they come to us at affordable prices.
I know every one thinks CNC is the end all be all magic to perfection but it is only as accurate as is the calibration suplied to the machine it is supporting. The computer part may be prefect but if applied to a loose, worn machine, it means nothing.
I have always felt the Uberti and Pietta guns have all the right stuff to make top grade target shooters with some tweaking. Mine all shoot as good as top flight high end guns with some knowledge, tools and elbow grease.
I have also found that virtually all of their barrels can stand a good hand lap job to make them level . All that I have plug gauged have tight and loose spots along their length that does nothing for accuracy.

 

[Lippy984]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what degree Uberti currently cuts their forcing cone at? I have no experience or other comparisons, but it looks pretty steep to me on my barrel. It shoots good, think I might leave it be

 

[M. De Land]

What I have noticed is if the ball will seat in the forcing cone to about half it's diameter they will usually shoot well , all else being set up right. One mans opinion.
What I hate and am not able to fix is when the bolt notches in the cylinder are not cut to make the chambers line up with the bore. I have theorized that an off set bolt could be made to account for it but have not put it to experiment. That would entail a window and hand modification as well.
One of the first things I check on any revolver ,with goose neck auto light , is to look down bore from the muzzle at each chamber lock up to check how well it lines up with the bore. Your eye will pick up any misalignment that will even pass a range rod check. The reason for this is the same principle that makes aperture (peep) sights so accurate ( looking through a hole at another hole),

 

[wb78963]

OK I guess, but minute of playing card at SASS hand gun range suits me fine.
What I want is a gun that will go bang five times in a row every time.
But to each his own and if you are a NMLRA target shooter I am sure that squeezing every bit of accuracy out of a gun is the difference between an award and a long lonely trip home.
Respectfully
Bunk

 

[Lippy984]

What I have noticed is if the ball will seat in the forcing cone to about half it's diameter they will usually shoot well , all else being set up right.

So I did this and it actually sinks a little deeper. With a .457 ball, I had .160” above the barrel

 

[rodwha]

OK I guess, but minute of playing card at SASS hand gun range suits me fine.
What I want is a gun that will go bang five times in a row every time.
But to each his own and if you are a NMLRA target shooter I am sure that squeezing every bit of accuracy out of a gun is the difference between an award and a long lonely trip home.
Respectfully
Bunk

As a hunter using these as a sidearm where I might be tracking a wounded pig I’d want my bullet as close to my aim point as possible too.

 

[M. De Land]

So I did this and it actually sinks a little deeper. With a .457 ball, I had .160” above the barrel

That probably will work fine if the cone is even and smoothly cut. I don't know why most imports have the chambers so undesize to the groove diameter of the barrel but most I have checked are. Mine get better accuracy when the the chambers match groove diameter or perhaps .001 larger but not much more than that.

 

[M. De Land]

OK I guess, but minute of playing card at SASS hand gun range suits me fine.
What I want is a gun that will go bang five times in a row every time.
But to each his own and if you are a NMLRA target shooter I am sure that squeezing every bit of accuracy out of a gun is the difference between an award and a long lonely trip home.
Respectfully
Bunk

If your happy then so am I. This is supposed to be about fun and not all want nor need their guns to be as finely tuned as they can be made to be.

 

[wb78963]

As a hunter using these as a sidearm where I might be tracking a wounded pig I’d want my bullet as close to my aim point as possible too.

and hit as hard as possible so in that case you can bet your horse and saddle pardner.
Bunk

 

[bobthemotorcycle]

I am new to this so I am going to ask questions.

Are you saying that my bp cylinder in my .44 cal revolvers could use being reamed out by a reamer in order to bring all cylinders to a more uniform size? How do I know the reamed will not over size my cylinders. Can i not hone them to a size that is polished instead for a possible better result than factory?

 

[Zonie]

I am new to this so I am going to ask questions.

Are you saying that my bp cylinder in my .44 cal revolvers could use being reamed out by a reamer in order to bring all cylinders to a more uniform size? How do I know the reamed will not over size my cylinders. Can i not hone them to a size that is polished instead for a possible better result than factory?

In my opinion, if your just shooting for fun and not doing any serious target shooting, you don't have to do a thing to get good enough accuracy to do the job.

If you are into serious target shooting there is something you should know about almost all of the reproduction cap & ball pistols.
The size of the chambers is smaller than the size of the rifling grooves. I don't know why they do this but, they do.
Now, if you want the most accurate revolver, the size of the chamber (and the ball after it is rammed into the chamber) should be the same size as the rifling grooves in the barrel. Usually this resizing is done by using a reamer.
A hone could be used to do the same job but hones to fit the size needed are rather hard to find. Also, with a hone it is possible to make the chamber tapered or out of round. Reamers won't do that.

 

[rodwha]

I am new to this so I am going to ask questions.

Are you saying that my bp cylinder in my .44 cal revolvers could use being reamed out by a reamer in order to bring all cylinders to a more uniform size? How do I know the reamed will not over size my cylinders. Can i not hone them to a size that is polished instead for a possible better result than factory?

Run an oily patch down your bore and then push a ball down itso that you can measure your groove diameter. This is what you’d like to shoot for plus a thousandth or so. That and making them uniform in size is good.

 

[roadgrader]

My Walker shot around 8 high and 8 right at 25 yards.
After measuring the cylinder bore was too close to same as barrel bore. I reamed the cylinder to .451 and it was better. Then I increased the length of the forcing cone and polished it along with some minor crown clean up. It now hits the typical 5-6 high and zero on windage at 25 yards.

Where would a guy find a reamer of that size ? Stacey

 

[wb78963]

Where would a guy find a reamer of that size ? Stacey

I am told that Charlie Hahn look up Hahn Machine Works he does that kind of work,.
Bunk