Cylinder Reamer question

oscarflytyer

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
SO... I have 3x 44 Specials. (and two 44-40s)

A Ruger NMBH. Cyl throats are .431" - shoots my cast 429421s ~.431 great!

A S&W 624. Cyl throats are .432" - also shoots my cast 429421s great!

A new to me S&W 21-4. Love this one, but... Cyl throats are .430. And it groups everything about 2-2.5 larger groups than the others (and also same compared to my 44-40 Cimarron SA s with large .432 throats, as well as the Cimarron 1873 - which both shoot ~431"s great).

I am thinking the 21 would improve if the cylinders were reamed to .431-.432. But never gone down that path. Experience and recommendations are solicited!

(And, see my other post regarding the S&W 544 44-40 I passed on today that had .426/.427" throats, and I KNOW at least a .430" bbl - what are experiences reaming out a 44-40 cylinder from the traditional .427" to 'modern' ~.431"ish?)
 
hporter

hporter

Active Member
My 21-4 has never shot as well as my 24-3. I always blamed the Hillary hole...... (sorry couldn't resist)

I lent my pin gauges out to my buddy, so I can't directly comment on the throat size at the moment.

But I can relate that I bought a .452 Manson reamer with assorted pilots to "correct" a few Rugers, and it definitely helped those wheel guns.
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I had someone else do my SSM in 32 H&R. I did my wife’s 686 using the Clymer reamer and pilots, it was pretty easy.

A few decades ago I did my BH in 45 Colt with a split rod, emery, and a cordless drill. I used a .452 jacketed bullet as a gauge. Took me a good 45-60 minutes but the gun stopped leading the forcing cone.

I don’t have time for different size bullets for a single cartridge. My 38/357 a
l take a common size. Reaming so you can use the same size as the other guns makes sense to me.
 
oscarflytyer

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
Toying with the finishing reamer option. No more than I need to go, also considering the rod/emery/drill press method. But Def agree I do NOT have time for diff sized cast bullets!
 
Rick

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
oscarflytyer said:
A new to me S&W 21-4. Love this one, but... Cyl throats are .430. And it groups everything about 2-2.5 larger groups than the others (and also same compared to my 44-40 Cimarron SA s with large .432 throats, as well as the Cimarron 1873 - which both shoot ~431"s great).
Click to expand...

Measure all the throats and ream to the largest. More important that they are uniform than the difference between .430" and .431".

Use a reamer with pilots, far more difficult to get round holes spinning Emory cloth.
 
oscarflytyer

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
Rick said:
Measure all the throats and ream to the largest. More important that they are uniform than the difference between .430" and .431".

Use a reamer with pilots, far more difficult to get round holes spinning Emory cloth.
Click to expand...
Rick

Consensus and smart thing is a reamer.

And actually, all my guns are fairly consistent. Just that the 21 is too small by .001-.002" for the bore.
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I'd go with the piloted reamer and I'd go very carefully. As to .431 or .432, you can always go bigger but you can't go smaller. Other may have more thoughts on the choice.
 
CZ93X62

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
Only one "Problem Cylinder Throats" evolver so far, a 1990s-made Ruger Bisley Blackhawk in 45 Colt. The barrel grooves were & are .452", the throats ranged between .448"-.449". Piloted reamer, to the rescue--which left throats @ .4525". I polished those out to .453" with aluminum oxide in 3 small grit sizes, spun slowly and for only brief moments. I size bullets to true .454" and prep cases with a Buckshot-made .453"/.457" M-die expander spud. Bullet weights from 200-310 grains shoot accurately afterward.

Such dimensional poetry can occur in both S&W and Ruger revolvers in 44 and 45 calibers. A glance at SAAMI specs for 44 Special and 44 Magnum both show a max throat diameter spec of .433". Those here might remember Gopher Slayer on the old site--he and I went to look at six Model 29 and 629 revolvers that a lady had for sale after her husband passed away. I took pin gauges along for polygraphy. Of the 36 throats we measured, one was .432", 2 others were .434", and the rest were .433". We both passed on all examples. There are ways around such problems, but I had messed around with that Built Backwards Bisley recently, and was not in a mood for more adventure travel to make a revolver behave itself.

Similar story with 44/40 firearms, irrespective of vintage. My Win '73's throat is a fat .428", so it gets .429" sizing. Uberti Cattleman revolver has .428" grooves and throats a few tenths under .429". It gets .429" castings and a .428" expander stem (from RCBS 44 Mag dies set) preps the case mouths. "Stock" RCBS 44/40 expander plug in my die set (1990s-made) mics at .425".

All of the 44s can be a poetic PITA for casters.
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
Doug Guy , over there , is now using the ball cluster cylinder hones for his match up just .001-2 cylinder work vs reamers . He says it's faster and less costly for him ......he probably has a good feel for it though having done ream and polish on 10,000 chambers or so .....
 
F

FrankCVA42

Active Member
Check out Douguy or Doug Guy on the cast bullets forum. No longer does he use reamers to enlarge cylinder throats. Now uses a Sunnen machine and hones the cylinder throats. Worth a look. Frank
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
FrankCVA42 said:
Check out Douguy or Doug Guy on the cast bullets forum. No longer does he use reamers to enlarge cylinder throats. Now uses a Sunnen machine and hones the cylinder throats. Worth a look. Frank
Click to expand...
Hah! That's funny, thinking some of us are even allowed there! My, what a delightful sense of humor! ;)
 
Outpost75

Outpost75

Active Member
Here is Doug's recent info:

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!
 
Last edited:
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Wow! A guy that owns a Sunnen hone, works on guns and seems to have something to do with guitars judging by his email! Never heard of him before, but he already sounds like my kinda guy!
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
He did the throat on my 1911 and CZ75B barrels along with a new crown and they are excellent.
Very easy to work with and the quality is top notch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.