Is titanium any more difficult to work with then steel?

No - but the Ti cylinders have a coating that will dull a high speed steel cutter. You need carbide to get through the coating.

I don't have carbide, how about a stone. I plan on doing this with a Dremel.

I would NOT use a Dremel Tool! The Dremel's rpm's are so fast that one little tiny slip and your Cylinder will be scored. Even if you lower the speed to slow you are still likely to slip. I'd either get a proper Carbide cutter or leave well enough alone. Just my opinion and it's YOUR gun so have at it if you like. In watching the Custom Shop guy up at S&W perform this, he uses slow speed cutters in a Drill Press. The Smith's that do this work are also quite skilled and have done it many times in the past.

There have been threads posted here before where someone did a poor job of chamfering and ended up having to get a new cylinder.

Best get the correct tools, or send it out to someone that does it for a living (with the correct tools).

Didn't we just have another thread where someone said a Dremel should never be allowed anywhere near a firearm?

I support the use of Dremel tools in any application. Of course, I have a cousin who restored the electricity to his trailer after the utility company pulled the meter by using a set of jumper cables and a sense of adventure . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

You will never get an even chamfer using a Dremel tool. Nor will they all be the same size or shape, unless you have a gauge to work to. I worked for a number of years as a die maker and have years of experience with air grinders, and I wouldn't try it.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I would NOT recommend using a dremel tool, for all of the reasons listed above. I had one done last year and paid a local gunsmith to do it. He had it a week and it cost me I think $45 with zero aggravation.

Alright guys, you have talked me out of it.
Thanks

WHEW.... That was close....

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SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

In defense of Dremel tools, there are things that they are useful for. This is not one of them.

In support of the above posts, however, precision operations, like the one described, are not something to be attempted with such a tool. And for the average home tinkerer, even with the correct tools, I would still recommend farming the job out, and to someone who has a proven track record of successfully doing that same job. References would not be out of the question.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

If you own a firearm, there ought to be an automatic 10-day waiting period involved in order to buy a Dremel.



Glad the OP came to his senses and decided not to try and "kitchen table gunsmith" a cylinder "chamfer job". Another preventable catastrophe averted.

FWIW, I'd not want to break the finished surface of a titanium cylinder.

Besides, learning how to better use speedstrips and speedloaders isn't a bad thing.

I think I have one revolver in which the cylinder had the charge holes chamfered (by a custom smith). The rest of them are all in as-produced factory condition, and loading them is just fine.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

Yup - I own and use three Dremel Moto-tools - just EXTREMELY RARELY on guns.

I use a Dremel to polish feed ramps on my auto pistols. 8-/

Which is a very suitable use for a Dremel.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I had a good customer who was constantly trying to 'improve' his guns by his inexpert use of a Dremel. He then brought his problem to me to fix. On one job I gave him an estimate of $60 to fix......or bring me his Dremel and swear to never get another and the job was at no other cost. Darned if that is exactly what he did. That was 20 years ago and I still have and use that Dremel. ........ :-)

Why not, isn't the cylinder solid titanium?

Depending on what the uses are, Titanium parts have treated services.

Probably anodizing or some sort.

This creates a very hard surface layer and prevents wear.

But, you don't want to remove this surface layer.

This is why you don't clean a Titanium cylinder with a brass bore brush. Best use a nylon brush for cleaning.

I suppose after you chamfer a Ti cylinder there would be some way to re-apply the hardened coating to the newly exposed metal, but this would likely require special equipment.

Having actually chamfered a number of revolver cylinders, both steel and titanium, I can say that a carbide cutter is not necessary.
I used a quality HS chamferring tool in my drill press after sweeping the table with my dial indicator to make sure it was perpendicular to the spindle. I set the face of the cylinders on precision ground blocks and set a positive stop on the spindle for accurate and consistent depth.
I OD ground the tool for the 625 cylinders and use one of stock diameter for the .40 cylinders.
A slow speed with quality cutting oil produced a good cut.

4" 625 used in IDPA




646 used in IDPA


Initial cylinder as first chamferred.


After having cylinder coated with Walt Birdsong's Black T.
This was not done because the cylinder needed to be "re-coated" but simply for aesthetic purposes. Unfortunately it did not hold up to prolonged hard use and frequent cleanings (Shooter's Choice & Kroil 4:1).


When I stopped shooting this revolver in IDPA some years back it had over 15K rounds through it and the cylinder had been cleaned scores of times using a brash brush with no damage whatsoever. (I would NOT use a stainless brush on it or on any cylinder or bore that I cared for.)

These guns were used in IDPA where speed and smoothness of a reload was of paramount importance. I personally would not consider it on a range gun.

As has been noted previously a Dremel Tool has its uses but cylinder chamferring is not one of them. Like one poster I also am a retired Tool & Die Maker and have spent hundreds of hours grinding die parts and I wouldn't consider doing a cylinder chamfer with a grinder.

A few years back when I went through a safe cleaning and sold about sixty-five "occupants" both my 5" and 4" 625s were sold (and went straight to the firing line in competitions) but I've kept the 646. It hasn't been shot in years and I really need to move it. Maybe in the upcoming second wave.

J.
James

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Hebrews 9:27

justicetyme,
So in that last picture you had champfered that cylinder? It doesn't look anything like your 625.

If you look closely at the pictures, you see the ratchet on the 645 allowed for more chamfer because the cylinder holes are further away than the other pistol.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

OK. The extractor looks good, but the rest of the chamber looks untouched. That's what I was referring to in the first place but did not give enough detail.

EXACTLY!
A tool was used so even though it may not "Look" like the rest of the cylinder charge hole is as chamferred as the area between the extractor lugs they are the "SAME" depth relative to the rear of the cylinder face.

A little more on the 646 would have been nice but the ratchet lugs MUST NEVER be touched by the chamfer tool.

I shot Pennbullets.com 165 TCBB in the 646, used Ranch Products moon clips, and if I did my part it went VERY well.
James

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Hebrews 9:27