I had a 3 1/2" Pre M27 done at Ford's and they do primo work. That said, a hot salts bath blue isn't the same color and it doesn't have the same depth of color as Carbonia Blue. Ford's can duplicate the polish but not the color. About the closest I've heard of is Hamilton Bowen and I thought that he only worked on Colt & Ruger handguns, not Smith & Wesson.
RampantAndroid:
If you don't know how to do the checks I mentioned in my first reply, I suggest you go to the Big Blue Smith-Wesson Forum and look at the FAQ's in the Gunsmithing section and/or search that same section and then do the tests for carry-up, lock-up, headspace and endshake. You then can discuss this a little more intelligently after you start testing & measuring. Right now, this is just a bunch of guesses. Additionally, as I said before, you cannot reach the .41 magnum velocities you listed from a 4" M58 at anywhere approaching safe pressures. I suspect that that you're reloading friend isn't doing you any favors with the ammo he's providing for you M58. It's also likely that the loads have never been chronographed and velocities are just surmise or they are just foolish. Further, if you're as particular as you say regarding the condition of your guns, why would you trust these mystery loads? If the cylinder is, in fact rubbing on the forcing cone, you have a headspace/endshake issue and one of the main causes of that is feeding the gun a steady diet of extremely high pressure loads-especially if the round count is low.
Bruce
Last edited: