I have been wondering what people here think about the older pined barrel and new new non pined guns for shooting cast bullets.The thought here is the pined barrel may not have the interferance fit that the new guns may have> less of a chance of a thread constriction at the frame.

I have a couple of pinned and non pinned barrel revolvers and all I've ever shot through them was lead bullets. This is over a span of 45 years for the pinned and 35 years for the non pinned. I've never had a problem.

I would put my faith in the workmen that pinned the barrels. As they retired, their replacements didn't (shall we say) didn't have the "touch"!

Ivan

Older barrels shoot lead better . Some models / calibers had oversized cylinder throats & I would not choose one . Added plus is lead is kinder to older barrels .

I only shoot lead bullets in my revos & all are orelock guns, pinned & unpinned Bbls. I have had no issues.

__________________
NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I recently had reason to adjust the barrel indexing on an old S&W
revolver I acquired here. Very nice gun!
Anyhow, in the process I discovered that my early edition Kuhnhausen manual was published shortly after the pin was discontinued. A much later edition went into considerable detail regarding specific torque ft/lb values of the various barrel fitting eras.
I found it curious that a need was felt to justify the much greater level of detail and instruction.
Not surprisingly, the old pinned guns needed less torque. (Of course, they weren't chambered for 500 S&W, though!)

At the same time, I dug up an old article by Veral Smith about bore constriction. (Rifle Magazine, 1987) He discusses how torque pressure causes a ripple in the area, which manifests itself as bore constriction. Obviously, the higher the torque, the greater the effect.
He does offer an effective means of correction via handlapping, so it's not all bad news.
His before/after machine rest groups showing the effect on accuracy are eye opening.

Jim

There is more too it than just how the barrel is attached to the frame of the revolver.

If the revolver has undersized cylinder throats, the bullet is going to be swaged down before it enters the large forcing cone and contacts the bore. With this condition you are going to have a now undersized lead bullet in the barrel, which will lead to poor bullet stability and increased leading inside the barrel.

Pinned barrels still had to be torqued, the pin was not the primary means of barrel retention. Each barrel and frame are very slightly different, so you can end up with varying amounts of torque and resultant barrel constriction in the area just beyond the forcing cone.

The best means of attaching the barrel to the frame was pioneered by Dan Wesson. The barrel, being a tube with threads on both ends, screwed into the frame, then a shroud surrounding the tube and a tensioning nut compressing the shroud to the frame and slightly stretching (tensioning) the barrel between the frame and end of the shroud. This creates no constrictions, but the tensioned barrel dampens barrel vibration as the bullet passes through the barrel. This method of barrel attachment has the greatest potential for accuracy.

__________________
VCDL, GOA, NRA

I've never had a problem shooting lead in pinned or non-pinned barrels.
The only revolvers I own that really don't like lead is the 1917 and it's variations, the rifling seems to shallow for lead.

Thanks for the replies
Right now i shoot my cast bullets in pre lock L frames and a colt Ananconda.

I realy would like a nice 27.so i guess it is more buy one new or find an older one.

i have another thread going about a chipped barrel on a 14-3 here.So as might think i am a bit more gun shy about spending my money on an older gun.tho this just may be a stroke od bad luck or a unusual thing.

If you want to see i cylinder throat demetion off buy a colt anaconda in 45 colt.it is .4565 on the 2 i have.I guess better than being under size.i have a mold from LBT for them.