Recoil Shield Marks - What Causes This?

JH1951 · Aug 7, 2022

For years I have wondered what causes these marks (see pictures) on the recoil shield. I have never owned one with these marks, but now and again they pop up for sale.
Friends and I have discussed this, and two basic thoughts keep surfacing. They are:
1) Shooting a lot of high pressure loads over a period of time, and
2) Simply carrying the revolver loaded for a long period of time, likely impacted by the composition of the shell casing.
I have seen this on revolvers that are well worn, as well as those that show minimal wear...... I am not able to determine from pictures if these marks are actually "worn through" the blue finish, or result from a deposit of material (nickel?) "on top" of the blue finish.
Does anyone have any first-hand experience with this? What actually causes it? Is it permanent wear or does it clean/polish off?
Your thoughts will be appreciated. Here are pictures (borrowed from the Internet) of a Chiefs Special recoil shield with the marks in question, as well as the cylinder in case it helps solve the mystery.

steelslaver · Aug 7, 2022

I believe that both can and do cause it. But, I believe long time holster carry more often. I have a early 5 screw highway patrolman that came complete with the black basket weave big bottom holster that was typical of LEO equipment back in the day, that shows this in spades. Yet, the rest of the gun show little internal wear. Just moving around with the rounds jiggling in the gun could easily cause the case heads to wear though the blue, especially if you added just a tiny bit of dust to act as an abrasive. Walking and running with those old school 158gr loads would bounce up and down the .001 or so needed to contact. Sitting in a car stopping starting, potholes etc. Time after time after time, day after day.

Actually during recoil the gun slams back and the rounds stay put for a split second, that is how bullet jump occurs. The gun with cylinder accelerated rapidly backwards while the rounds following the laws of motion try to stay at rest, not moving back until the rims slamming against the cylinder force them backwards. What happens after that would/could cause some wear as the loaded cases being lighter than the gun will keep going some after the gun itself quits moving and hit the recoil shield.

Think of the thousands of steps a day a guy takes, up and down stairs. Just 1 mile with a 30" stride would produce 2112 jiggles, how many bumps and rubs per mile is anyone's guess. I believe it would take a huge pile of rounds to equal that.

Alk8944 · Aug 7, 2022

Perfectly normal breech face finish wear from carrying the gun foe years while loaded, and shooting it! High pressure loads have nothing to do with it as will be understood by the fact that both .38 Spl. and .357 Magnum revolvers such as the Model 10/15 compared to Model 19 guns will show comparable wear when they have been carried/shot approximately equivalent amounts. The only position that will show more wear is around the firing pin bushing. If you were to start with a new gun, loaded, while holding and shaking it gently for a few hundred hours while watching TV would show wear virtually indistinguishable from a gun shot many hundreds of rounds.

rockquarry · Aug 8, 2022

I've never really given this much thought and won't dispute the explanations given thus far. Several of my revolvers have slight recoil shield marks, but most, maybe all of these have never been holstered, at least since I've owned them, nor have they been carried. Any used revolvers that were so marked went unnoticed by me at purchase time and I haven't bought or traded for a revolver in about fifteen years.

I don't shoot hot loads in anything, but do shoot quite a bit. I often keep a 638-3 handy, but seldom carry it. It may have been the last revolver I bought. The recoil shield is slightly marked by cartridge case heads, probably from nothing more than shooting standard pressure handloads.

I doubt this is any cause for concern.

Recoil Shield Marks - What Causes This?

JH1951

US Veteran

steelslaver

US Veteran

Alk8944

US Veteran

rockquarry

Member

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