Forcing cone polishing

[Brad]

I looked at the forcing cone on my Ruger SSM and felt it was a little rough.
Being cheap I decided against buying the set up from Brownells to ream the forcing cone. A little polishing should help.
I used some 7/32" 416 SS steel rod, a bit of 1/2" brass rod, and a 8-32 tap.

A cone to center rod on crown, the drive rod, and the lap. The lap was cut at 6° to clean up a bit deeper than the standard 5° Ruger forcing cone.

Forcing cone before lapping.

After 10-15 seconds with the cordless drill and some 320 grit Clover silicon carbide in grease abrasive.

After another 10-15 seconds with the 310 grit, a clean up, and another 15 seconds with 400 grit silicon carbide.

I am quite pleased with the results. Will be interesting to get out and do some shooting and see if I notice any differences.

 

[Ben]

I am quite pleased with the results

I think I'd be VERY pleased also.
Good work Brad.

Ben

 

[Ian]

Beautiful job and impressive lathe work, color me green. I've done similar with a cleaning rod and water-quenched cast bullets one caliber larger. Tap the nose, chuck it in a drill, turn the desired cone shape with a file, embed with grit, thread it together inside the revolver's cylinder opening, and lap away. Most of the revolvers I have look like the forcing cones had been cut with a worn-out step drill and usually raked off a lot of lead as yours had been doing, I'm sure you will like the results of your work very much.

 

[Brad]

Thanks guys.

Ian, best of all is that I can easily make a new lap for 357, 44, or 45 cal. Might take me 30 min or so. The rest of the set up will work for all revolvers I own. I made the rod 12 inches to handle any practical barrel length.

Brass sure does turn nice. Too bad it isn't cheap. Then again, this whole setup cost me under 10 bucks when done. New laps will be maybe a buck each.

 

[gman]

That cleaned up very nice. Please report back on your findings after shooting. Nice job!

 

[358156 hp]

Very nice Brad! (LOL) I forgot to tell you that I had found someone who would loan me a FC reamer for your Single-Six.

Now that I finished my S&W 686 project, I'll be moving over to my own Redhawk to ream and lap the forcing cone. I need to do it prior to firelapping the barrel. Old #244 has a moderate case of thread choke, and firelapping a stainless Ruger is a bit of a project.

 

[Brad]

I have some 240 gr Clover silicon carbide if you need it. A 4 ounce can will lap a lifetime or three of revolvers. The 240 grit for 20-25 rounds will give you a good start.
I think my SRH got about 30 rounds with 240 and another 40 or so with 320. My SS GP 100 got just 320 and it took about 100 rounds.
Don't tell my wife but I fired those in the garage at the old house. Used a 5 gal bucket full of wet newspaper and a very light powder charge. This is the kind of stuff guys do when home and the wife is away. Shhhhhh

 

[Ian]

Dry sand in the bucket works too, and also works for testing subsonic .223 loads when it's raining. If you have a suppressor you can even do it when she's home. Just sayin'.

 

[358156 hp]

I was planning on starting with 24 240 grit, then 18 320 grit, and finishing with 12 600 grit. But first! cut & lap the forcing cone.

My 686 also needs lapping (not the one I just worked on). Since it's a Smiff, I'll start out much less aggressive.

 

[Pistolero]

If you are removing a thread restriction, I recommend pulling the bbl and turning off .001 from the
bbl shoulder and reinstalling rather than fire lapping.

Bill