Chamber polishing?

[will5a1]

My inlaws, not knowing better, purchased a new Taurus M852 and Rossi R351, both revolvers have hard extraction problems even with light loads and clean dry chambers. Taurus will fix the guns under warranty put won't pay shipping, which would run about $50 (FEDEX overnight). Before they eat the shipping charges I thought I'd try to polish the chambers and see if that will fix the problem (the chamber walls are not nearly as bright as any of my Smith's/Colt's/Ruger's).

Can I do this with fine emory cloth wrapped around a brush? Brownells sells cylinder hones in medium and fine, with the special oil to go with the hones, but with shipping the hones and oil would run close to $70, and I'd like to spend less if possible.

Any cost effective alternative ideas appreciated.

 

[john traveler]

The PROPER way to polish the chambers is to use the correct sized honing stones and oil.

However, if done CAREFULLY you can do a creditable job using a split metal mandrel or wooden dowel and 600 grit wet-or-dry abrasive paper. Use a thin oil or kerosene too. You have to be very careful not to enlarge the chamber throats (use masking tape on the madrel for a stop marker) or to enlarge the forward part of the chamber. An enlarged chamber will make the extract worse, not better. Also, please be advised that if you tinker on the gun, the manufacturer will likely void the warranty. Your choice.

 

[pred]

NO,
Emory on a brush is too aggressive.
Try a really worn brush on a slow drill with a patch wrapped around it, Still it should not be tight,
Then use flitz or Mothers Mag Polish for just a wee bit...
A hone will keep the walls straight, Emory around a brush wont.
Flitz will polish nicely without removing metal swiftly at all.
Peter

 

[tomcatt51]

The PROPER way to polish the chambers is to use the correct sized honing stones and oil.

However, if done CAREFULLY you can do a creditable job using a split metal mandrel or wooden dowel and 600 grit wet-or-dry abrasive paper. Use a thin oil or kerosene too. You have to be very careful not to enlarge the chamber throats (use masking tape on the madrel for a stop marker) or to enlarge the forward part of the chamber. An enlarged chamber will make the extract worse, not better. Also, please be advised that if you tinker on the gun, the manufacturer will likely void the warranty. Your choice.

I too use the split rod and the black wet or dry (waterproof) sandpaper. Even water is fine as a lube for the sandpaper. WD 40 works too, you're just keeping the sandpaper from loading up. 600 grit works well to shine and blend 625 chambers after reaming. I had to use 220 grit on the Ti cylinder for my 625. It's chambers surface finish was horrible and the finer grits did nothing. As John said, limit how deep you go into the cylinder. You want to smooth/polish only the chamber, NOT the throat.

 

[OKFC05]

Brownells sells cylinder hones in medium and fine, with the special oil to go with the hones, but with shipping the hones and oil would run close to $70, and I'd like to spend less if possible.

If the chamber walls are not straight and parallel, it may be more than a surface roughness problem, and no cheap fix. With Taurus, I won't bet either way on what the problem is. They will happily void the warranty if you mess with it and then send it to them.

Unfortunately, a warranty that costs $50-75 dollars a trip can soon eat up any saving over buying a S&W in the first place. I learned my leason the hard way, with three trips on one gun.

 

[duckloads]

I had some extraction problems on a 686-1. I wrapped some lead-away cloth around a smaller diameter bore brush until it was a real snug fit in the chambers. Chuck the unit in a drill and polish away.

For general cleaning, I'll get as much crap out of the chambers as possible with No. 9, then I'll chuck a bore brush in the drill and give it a few passes back and forth in each chamber.

 

[Marksman]

Years ago I had an early M/66 which were known for having extraction problems, I used a split wooden dowel and maroon scotch brite to polish the chambers. All you need to do is smooth minor roughness, scotch brite will do the job without the risk of making the chambers oversize. No grit to get in the workings of the cylinder as there is with abraisive paper, no need for any kind of lube either. Simple,effective and inexpensive, just the kind of remedy I like.