my cylinder has grooves in it

P

pepsquad

New member
up towards the front of the cylinder :eek: , just eyeballing it looks to be about an 1/8th of an inch band of little tiny grooves, does that make sense? :confused: it's a .357 magnum police service six, by ruger. now i am of the understanding that this a common occurance for magnum handguns :( and given that this was is 22 years old, i imagine it's seen a few rounds. :p my question is what is my recourse? any suggestions would be much appreciated :o
 
nope i don't think so

it's actually inside all six chambers. maybe a quarter of an inch from the front of the cyclinder.
 
OK. Let me get a mental picture. Interior of each cylinder chamber has a "burn" or groove as you call it, right? If the revolver chambers 357 Magnums, don't worry about it. Normal. If you can ONLY chamber 38 Specials, you need to spend some time cleaning. Have you shot it without problems?
 
yeah

i've put about 100 rounds through it no problem, i was a little startled when i noticed it, it doesn't seem to have affected my shooting.
 
It sounds like you are looking at the ridge of the chamber to cylinder throat. Go to a gun shop and look at a few cylinders and see if it is there also. If so then it is the front end of the chamber.
 
Brian, I think you've got it.
Pep, those are supposed to be there, if you're talking about the throat constrictions. The cylinders are not bored straight through.
If you're talking about burn marks, as mentioned those would be from firing a lot of .38s in the gun.
Denis
 
I cant quite picture this

Is this before or after where the cylincer tapers down at the front of the holes for the rounds. This taper is where the front of a 357 mag case would end.
If its before and you have been shooting a lot of 38's then every ones imput is good and I agree. Try to shove a 357 case inside and if it gets a little tight before it bottoms out then it is a small ring of lead from shooting 38 and not a problem.
The thing is when you talk "Groves" that sounds like marks in the walls of the cylinder and this is a SCARRY thing.
When in doubt take it to a good gun smith and have it checked. I have seen one Mod 19 Smith that came into the shop that had very small groves in the one of the chambers of the cylinder, it was about half way down the chamber and on the out side edge of the cylinder wall. It turned out to be very small cracks. When you looked down the outside edge of the cylinder at the same place there was a very slight buldge.
This was a gun looking to hurt some one holding it.
The gunsmith recomended a new cylinder, what scared me about the gun was where the cylinder ended and barrel started, on the top strap just above the gap of the barrel cylinder, there was a small grove cut in the top strap.
Some one had shot some very HOT handloads in this gun and shot a lot of them.
This is also a good indication of use for any magnum.
Guns are a dangerious thing if not in tip top condition, when in doube check it out, or have it check out.
 
Sounds like what Brian says -- chamber to cylinder throat. On my S&W .357 Mag revolvers I can see the edge clearly if I look from the rear (extractor star) end of the cylinder, but not if I look from the front as long as the chambers are clean. On an old Model 66 that I had several years back, that particular area was pretty cruddy from the original owner having fired only .38 Specials in it, so your "grooves" may just as well represent some baked-on powder residue as others have mentioned. The crud line was visible from either end of the cylinder.
 
OK, This is something I never knew, if yall could educate me a bit I would appreciate it. So the cylinders in a revolver are not the same size all the way thru?. My .44 was dark the last 3/8" or so in the cylinders. I have cleaned them thoughly, yet they still seem discolored towards the ends. I have only shot Magnum rounds thru it. This discolored area (may be ridges...my eyesight aint the best anymore) is supposed to be there? What is the reason for necking down the ends? Is it an area that needs attention to detail when cleaning (I clean even if I only shoot 6 rounds)?

Brian Williams, where do you shoot in Lancaster? I am a member at Mill Creek Sportsmans Club....live in Willow Street.
 
Doerdie, in a revolver cylinder the "throat" is the area in each chamber immediately ahead of the spot where the cartridge case rests and into which the bullet projects. The job of the cylinder throat is to guide the bullet from the cartridge into the throat of the barrel. If the barrel and cylinder are properly aligned, the jump from the cartridge to the rifling in the barrel should be pretty smooth, with any slight misalignment corrected by the forcing cone at the rear of the barrel. In theory, a properly-sized bullet will fit into the throat with just a slight amount of force. Otherwise accuracy starts to be affected. If you want to see this in action, take a cartridge that fits easily into one of your revolvers and try inserting it from the FRONT of the cylinder. The bullet might go in, but the case certainly won't, at least it shouldn't.

Here are a couple of photos to show you what you're looking at. The first is a WW-II S&W Victory model .38 Special; the second a S&W Model 27 .357 Magnum. The throat is most of the way down at the far end of each chamber.
 

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Ahhh...that answers it. Thats what I see in my cylinders. Guess I still have alot to learn. Thanks for the info!
 
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