Forcing cone cracking is actually metal fatigue caused by firing very high velocity, light weight bullets.
The most effective self defense round used to be the 125 grain, jacketed hollow point round. These were high velocity rounds with very hot gas from the fast burning powder. The combination of the impact of the bullet and the erosion of the hot gas causes the metal to work harden and crack.
One factor that was noticed on most guns with cracks were that the forcing cone was usually heavily fouled due to bad maintenance by the user.
Most damaged guns appeared to be blued models, with fewer stainless steel guns.
Methods of preventing any possible damage are to shoot heavier bullets, like the new "short barrel" loads in the 135 grain range or the 158 grain, and to buy and use a Lewis Lead Remover kit from Brownell's.
The Lewis kit uses a brass screen over an aluminum cone shaped head to clean the fouling off the forcing cone.
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