How much forcing cone wear?

K

Kayser

New member
I'm wondering what's considered "ok" for forcing cone wear.

This is in the continuing saga of the Python. Had it out at the range for the second time, picked up a drop rod and checked everything out, and got it properly sighted in.

My only remaining concern is the forcing cone. I bought the gun "new" froma guy on gunbroker with a very high rating. In addition to suspicious tracks on the cylinder indicative of lots of hand-spinning at the very least, I'm now seeing what appears to be a good amount of erosion in the forcing cone.

I've put ~300 rounds through it since I've had it, 1/2 of which have been lead nosed 38's.

In any case, after cleaning there really appears to be a decent amount of crud in the cone. Primarily in the form of thin concentric rings, not evenly spaced along its length. When shining a light down it, the brightness difference between the ringed areas and the flat areas are significant. Feeling it out with a thin piece of plastic reveals that they're not particularly deep but they're certainly visible. At one point, they appear to have even picked up a little copper buildup. If my stupid digital camera's batteries hadn't died I'd post a picture.

I guess its also worth adding that I can't put a full 6 rounds through it without having the cylinder rod become completely loosened to the point where I have to righten it manually. Can this become unsafe?

Anyway, my best guess now is that this gun has been made available for use at the store range where it came from. Kind of annoying if that's the case.
 
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Its hard to tell without looking at it but concentric rings on a forcing cone are typically from the cutter, not wear from shooting. Probably a dull cutter causes it. Forcing cone erosion looks like sandblasting and you loose sharp edges.

A drop of locktite or linseed oil (will slowly die and have the same effect) should fix your unscrewing ejector rod.

If the forcing cone continues to bother you any gunsmith that does much revolver work will have cone cutters and yours probably wouldn't need much to take out those rings. If it shoots well you might not want to worry about those rings, but it is hard to tell how bad they are without looking at it.
 
Got off my butt and took some pictures. By losing sharp edges, do you mean at the entrance to the cone at the cylinder gap, or at the transition from cone to barrel?

Again, thanks for the advice. Me <-- still a'learnin.

forcing_cone.jpg
 
That is one ugly forcing cone. Probably came that way tho. Does not look like erosion.

Like AC said....if it is causing leading or accuracy problems, get it smothed out by a COMPETENT smith.

Sam
 
By leading do you mean throwing lead or causing buildup after many rounds?

Assuming this isn't going to cause some kind of "exciting" event unexpectedly while shooting, or otherwise damage the gun over the long term, I guess it doesn't bother me too much. Would 1000+ rounds tend to smooth this kind of marring out, or is this a lifetime kind of thing?

I talked with the guy I bought it from and he claims it came straight from Colt through the wholesaler and was unfired once it got in his hands. I tend to believe him because his gunbroker record is impeccable. He said I should take up any quality control issues with Colt. On a $1000 gun, I'm tempted to write them a letter....
 
By leading do you mean throwing lead or causing buildup after many rounds?
Click to expand...
Either or both. Looks like that rough cone area could gather lead and jacket material.

Tim (WS2) would call me a whiner. I won't accept that level of workmanship on a new gun. Especially on a $1,000 six gun.

Sam
 
Kayser, By 'losing sharp edges' I meant at the back of the barrel not where the cone ends up front.

That looks like a factory rough cutting job, not like wear. I wouldn't expect shooting to smooth that out, but as folks are saying, see how it shoots.
 
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