Bulged cylinders on .357 K frames?

[1 old 0311]

Well actually, I did read it "somewhere". Not about bulged cylinders but that the K's weren't intended to run a steady diet of magnums. Might have been BS. Trouble is, it's not always easy to seperate the BS from fact. This is all good news to me of course. Problem with living in BFE is that the next closest smith is about 200 miles away. And to be fair, the guy did a very nice job of repairing my 111 year old Winchester. I doubt he was trying to sell me anything because one of the first things he tells anyone is that he doesn't buy or sell guns unless he's buying one for himself. Still I hate it when someone who shold know passes along bogus info.

Don't take it personal. People on here sometimes jump without knowing all the facts. He may of seen 1 bad gun out of 4 that he has looked at. That is a 25% failure rate. I have 35 C.M.'s and NONE are bad but that is MY experience.

 

[Far east]

Yes i saw a M 19 6 inches handloaded with 14 grs of HS 6 behind a 125
TMJ FN Hornady bullet at my shooting range. The guy was knocing the
rod with a rock to allow the emptys shells to go. After ckecking the loading book he has loaded more than 2.7 grs of maximal charge.

All we can see in one chamber, was a depression face to the loking hole
stop, but no crak.

Now he loadwith 10.5 grs and he had change his cylinder by a new one.

I have a M19 and a M66, they are greats shooters and they are well used.

JB

 

[butchkent]

There is actually some pretty good data on the forcing cone issue in a thread on the forum from a couple years ago. I posted it but can't remember how to find it now. A search on "forcing cone cracking" will probably get it. If it's important I can find it on my computer and repost.
After doing the research, I decided to keep on shooting magnums in my M19's just as always. I don't shoot the short 125's anyway. If you read the thread you will understand the issue with short bullets.
Regarding cylinder damage, this has never been an issue to my knowledge. Anyone can swell a chamber with careless or just pushing pressures too far. But that is not the fault of the weapon. I know of one such event in which case the individual developing loads intentionally continued to increase the powder charge until failure. The pressure range was about 4 times recommended norms for the magnum load. So most guns are strong but not fool proof.

 

[2fingers]

I have had a "Buldged Cylinder" on my mod #19-3. I had to "Smack" it with a bowlinng pin to get it open. The case in that hole did not have a primer left in the primer pocket and it was black in the pocket. Had a guy up in Urbana install a s/s cylinder and set the Bbl. back to a gap of .004.Never did figure out what really caused it to happen.

 

[Sportsterguy]

I've been handling S&W's of all calibers for over 30 years, and I have yet to see a "bulged" cylinder. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I don't think this is a common occurrence.

Same here. And only two ripped forcing cones since 1976.

 

[texagun]

Unfortunately, I was using the now infamous Speer loading manual and a ridiculous charge of Blue Dot.

Which infamous Speer reloading manual would you be referring to?
Was it the 1980 edition?

 

[1 old 0311]

If at first you don't succeed................

 

[18DAI]

Nope, never seen a bulged cylinder. Then again I've yet to see any of the horrors that are alleged on the internet to befall K-frame magnums.

Add me to the list of folks who have never had a problem with a K-frame magnum, but its only been 43 years of using them.

In the last 60 days, I just picked up three more. A 2.5" 19-5, a 4" 66-4 and a 4" 66-3 at this past weekends gunshow. Yea, its a disease.

There just aren't any revolvers that point as naturally, carry as well, are inherently accurate or look as good. It is also evident that there won't be any more made as nice as the pre lock K-frames from S&W.

Buy them while they are still available and relatively affordable. I am. Regards 18DAI

 

[Sebago Son]

Well Said 18DAI...

 

[M29since14]

There just aren't any revolvers that point as naturally, carry as well, are inherently accurate or look as good...

Big words... and true!

 

[1 old 0311]

Nope, never seen a bulged cylinder. Then again I've yet to see any of the horrors that are alleged on the internet to befall K-frame magnums.

Add me to the list of folks who have never had a problem with a K-frame magnum, but its only been 43 years of using them.

In the last 60 days, I just picked up three more. A 2.5" 19-5, a 4" 66-4 and a 4" 66-3 at this past weekends gunshow. Yea, its a disease.

There just aren't any revolvers that point as naturally, carry as well, are inherently accurate or look as good. It is also evident that there won't be any more made as nice as the pre lock K-frames from S&W.

Buy them while they are still available and relatively affordable. I am. Regards 18DAI

The J frames are stagnant but the Combat Magnums are HOT...HOT...HOT...

 

[faraim]

I haven't seen any oval, or bulged chambers or split forcing cones in my experience. I'm sure it can happen; any mechanical device will wear. When something breaks, then I have it fixed. I suspect that the day isn't far away when the repair cost of my K frames will exceed the purchase price of a replacement. Maybe we are there already. That's why I buy 'em whenever I find a good one. Wait....they're all good ones. It's not a disease, it's a hobby!

 

[Warren Sear]

Which infamous Speer reloading manual would you be referring to?
Was it the 1980 edition?

I don't remember the publishing date, or manual number, but it must have been printed some time in the 1970's because I got it in the spring of 1980. ??? I think.

 

[Black_Talon]

Which infamous Speer reloading manual would you be referring to?
Was it the 1980 edition?

He's probably referring to the Speer #8. It's fondly known as "The Fire & Brimstone Edition".

 

[texagun]

He's probably referring to the Speer #8. It's fondly known as "The Fire & Brimstone Edition".

Yep, you're right. It's the 8th edition published in 1970. It has a picture of a cowboy shooting a Winchester from the top of a stagecoach on the front cover. It has some really hot loading data in it. If you use that manual it would be well to cross-check the data against a more recent manual.