re-chamber cylinder

[Pig Hunter]

I have a recessed .357 cylinder I am going to have re-chambered to 45 Colt, and fitted to my Brazilian 1917 similar to was done in the article in the 1981 Gun Digest. My question is, as I will be having a friend with a full machine shop, what tooling do I need to get for him? I know we need a 45 Colt reamer, but what else. He makes great shooting bolt guns, but this is the first time re-chambering a revolver cylinder. Any helpful hints will be appreciated. I did a search on the forum and didn't find any other threads, if I missed something there please get me on the right track. Thanks in advance, Mark.

 

[usnrigger]

kinda depends is you going to knock the chambers out on a mill or lathe? Yes he will need a good 45 Colt Reamer and if he is already a bolt/rifle guy he should already have the machinist tools/dial indicators in his box. he might need a spud to match up with the current 357 chambers to center it up. If he does it on a mill he might need to make up a jig. depending on the length of cylinder he might need to do some barrel/breech work. I would talk with him if you are going to be paying for tooling as he should have a game plan as how he is going to do and know what tooling he will need for the job. Since its a recessed cylinder you might also need a go/no go gauge to check headspacing. To be honest if I have to figure out the tooling for the guy doing it, id find a guy who has done some wheel guns in the past or knows how he is going to do it.

USNRigger

 

[steelslaver]

Ya, you also need to do a step before the 45 LC reamer. Like take the hole to 7/16" as the 45 reamer won't start in a 357 chamber. I have done 3 of them. One was a recessed chamber but I got rid of the recess because of the frame lug issue. If you want the frame lug to remain stock you must machine down the outside rear of the cylinder to clear. If you file the lug with a non recessed cylinder its only .03 and the extra backwards movement when using the ACP cylinder is not a problem.

I think a mill works better than a lathe. Did first one on a lathe and it was a pain. You also need to get or make a range rod to check it after done. You might have to shim or work the yoke to get the cylinder to move forward to the correct spot. This will mean shims for the ACP cylinder if you shorten the rear of the yoke. I just run 2 yokes for both my guns.

You realize your going to end up with a short 45LC cylinder and some bullets will not work unless seated deep. Keep the pressures down on these older models.

I am working on the stock for my Brazilian I am converting into a 45LC/ACP carbine