Okay, I have some follow up news. I recently received the Titanium cylinder from Midway. While I occasionally remove the yoke and cylinder for cleaning, I never unscrewed the central cylinder shaft before. I was aware it has a reverse thread but I watched a YouTube video because I didn't want to be surprised by flying springs or something. Looked like I could handle it.
I compared the Ti cylinder to the cylinders on my 642 and my MP 340. The Ti cylinder package was marked 357 magnum. The length and size looked identical to the steel cylinders on both guns. Although the 642 is marked 38 special on the barrel, I decided to try the Ti cylinder on the 642.
I removed the yoke screw and the yoke and cylinder. I placed 3 fired shells into the cylinder to keep the star aligned. I chucked up the cylinder shaft into a portable electric drill and loosened the shaft just enough so I could turn it by hand. I unscrewed it and the 2 springs on the shaft are not under pressure so it was very easy to remove. Then I took out the shaft the star is attached to. I decided to reuse the original star although the Ti cylinder came with a star too. Just put it all back together in reverse order. Remember reverse thread on the cylinder shaft. I only tightened it hand tight. I'll keep an eye on it to see if it loosens.
Got the yoke screw in and checked the barrel cylinder gap which looked fine. Tried some dry firing and there were no problems. It seemed to be functioning perfectly.
Then the question was this is a 357 magnum cylinder on a revolver marked 38 special +P. Now I reload and most of my revolvers are 357 but I load them lightly into the 38 special range so I can enjoy shooting them at the range but it is easier to clean after shooting. So I asked a couple of my range buddies and we all agreed it should be okay to shoot the 38 special level loads in the 357 magnum shells through the 642. I tried a few shells and it worked fine.
So I weighed the 642 with a postal scale when I got home. It weighed 12.5 ounces. I didn't weigh it before I swapped cylinders but I weighed a stock 442 which weighed 14.6 ounces.
So overall I am very pleased with the 642 with Ti cylinder. It is noticeably lighter. It is now so light that I am going to load some even lighter loads for practice at the range.
Here are some pics before and after swapping the steel cylinder for the Ti cylinder.
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Accuracy supercedes Speed
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