Cylinder Throat Polishing

[David LaPell]

I was thinking about ordering a cylinder throat polishing hone for a couple of my revolvers. Has anyone done this before? Does it make a difference on extraction?

[Pisgah]

Are you having extraction problems? Even if you are, polishing the throats will not help -- the brass doesn't go up in to the throat. And, if done over-enthusiastically, polishing the throat could enlarge the throats or make them out-of round and play hob with accuracy.

[rkrcpa]

I was having extraction issues with my 41mag and purchased a 41 hone. Before I actually tried the hone I chucked a cotton bore mop slathered with JB Bore Cleaner in a drill press and had at it. Cleared up the extraction issues in no time. I don't think it really took any metal off but the chambers sure were clean and smooth when I was done. I'd say give that a try first and see if it doesn't fix what ever you've got going on.

[tomcatt51]

Originally Posted by David LaPell

I was thinking about ordering a cylinder throat polishing hone for a couple of my revolvers. Has anyone done this before? Does it make a difference on extraction?

What gun do you have? Polishing chambers can help if they have a rough surface finish. I regularly ream the chambers of 625's and 617's as they tend to be undersize and reaming them to spec makes both chambering and ejection much better.

[MakeMyNight]

Polishing cylinder throats may increase their opening size slightly, and I'd avoid that like the plague.

[tomcatt51]

Originally Posted by MakeMyNight

Polishing cylinder throats may increase their opening size slightly, and I'd avoid that like the plague.

Yes, not what you do, which made me wonder about the original post. Throats get reamed. Chambers can be reamed to size if undersize or undersize and out of round, or polished if rough. Brownell's sells ball hones for polishing chambers, for instance, but I wouldn't use one on the throats.