what can make a revolver shoot patterns instead of groups?

R

richrd1

New member
Except for a bad barrel, what else would ruin the accuracy of an otherwise good gun?

I understand rifle and auto pistols, but wheel guns seem so simple and foolproof. what can cause one to go bad?
 
You mentioned the number 1 cause: A bad barrel, usually a bad crown or muzzle damage. Anther factor could include being slightly out of time, thus causing the bullet to upset when it hits the forcing cone.

The first thing I would do is check the muzzle to see if there are any little nicks or dents.

I'm sure others will have some pretty good suggestions, too.
 
Aside from the barrel, oversized and/or undersized throats, poor timing, rough forcing cone, and a damaged or out-of-square crown can all affect the intrinsic accuracy of a revolver. And things like a rough action, loose grips screws, loose sights, etc can all affect the accuracy of the shooter.
 
I've heard of one chamber of a revolver shooting different from the others...

I believe I read (on this site) that Ruger used to drill all six chambers of the cylinder at once (six different bits) now they drill them one at a time with the same bit and the results are more consistent.
 
Lead.... I bought a 1987 Taurus 38special. It was so leaded up that it did not group well. I did a deeper clean, it runs great now. The great price was likely because someone thought the lead, was a bad barrel. One lesson learned. Bring a flashlight to gun shows to better check such things.
 
One cheap thing you can try is to set up six (five?) targets, index your cylinder so you can repeat, and then fire one round at each target.

reload, repeat, reload, repeat.

If you have a cylinder problem you should have six(five?) tight groups of three shots, just printed at different places. If you have five(four?) tight groups and one target that looks pretty random, probably a cylinder problem.

If all six (five?) targets look random you might have a barrel problem - or it could be cylinder throats.

So the far left target, three rounds from chamber number 1, what have you got? Next target to the right, three rounds from your chamber #2, what have you got? Etc.
 
My .22 starts throwing bullets helter skelter as the barrel leads up, as do my center fires. If your barrel is clean, then maybe all you need is a different load, larger diameter bullet, different powder, etc. If you don't reload it's not as easy. What kind of shooter and caliber are you having trouble with?



I tried three different bullets as well as three different powders and two different primers prior to getting it to shoot well. I have yet to have to clean the barrel.
 
the gun is a m14-3 .38 special

I.ve tried four different bullets, three different powders, and I did try marking the chambers. the last test was by a maaster class bullseye shooter off bags with two different lots and win. super match 148 hbwc's. (7 inch groups at 25 yards)

I purchased the gun from the Cabelas gun library and it is now being looked at by their gunsmith.

thanks for the replies
 
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