Rings in cylinder chamber walls

[Blazin Bill]

I've acquired a beautiful Andy Cannon custom 6" 629, Andy's "Hunter" package. The gun is in pristine condition. I haven't fired it yet because the range is closed every year for deer season. There are very mild rings in every chamber wall. The rings look to be put there on purpose, but I can't imagine any goodness coming from them. They don't look bad, but I can easily feel them with a small wooden dowel. Below is a picture of the cylinder and you can see the ring in a few of the cylinder holes. What are your thoughts?

 

[Blazin Bill]

I've acquired a beautiful Andy Cannon custom 6" 629, Andy's "Hunter" package. The gun is in pristine condition. I haven't fired it yet because the range is closed every year for deer season. There are very mild rings in every chamber wall. The rings look to be put there on purpose, but I can't imagine any goodness coming from them. They don't look bad, but I can easily feel them with a small wooden dowel. Below is a picture of the cylinder and you can see the ring in a few of the cylinder holes. What are your thoughts?

 

[john traveler]

Sad to say, but those chamber rings are reamer marks left from the final chambering machining operations. Caused by using a dull reamer, or inadequate chip clearance or cutting fluid. Don't ask me how they can get past the inspectors in the Performance Center, but they do.

There is not much you can do about them except to have a qualified person polish them out (carefully). If they cause no extraction difficulties, they only look ugly. The polishing out is not technically difficult, but requires care and some technique to prevent damaging the chambers.

 

[tomcatt51]

If they used a dull reamer (not uncommon) your chambers have a good chance of being undersize as well as ugly. A good chamber finish reamer may help clean them up.

 

[Blazin Bill]

I appreciate all the transfer of wisdom. I'm not going to worry about the rings unless I experience extraction issues.

 

[tomcatt51]

Once you've fired the gun and can see what the fired cases look like you'll be in a better position to decide if anything needs to be done.

 

[Gun 4 Fun]

I could be wrong, but I noticed that the chamber mouths have been radiused and polished, so I'm guessing that the pilot from the tool they used left those marks.

 

[Blazin Bill]

Originally posted by Gun 4 Fun:
I could be wrong, but I noticed that the chamber mouths have been radiused and polished, so I'm guessing that the pilot from the tool they used left those marks.

That exact thought crossed my mind.

 

[n4zov]

I'm not going to worry about the rings unless I experience extraction issues.

Exactly! If it doesn't affect performance or safety, don't worry about it.

 

[Blazin Bill]

Just wanted to follow up for everyone's benefit: I fired it today with both max 44 Special loads and max 44 Magnun loads without incident. Extraction was very smooth. No worries on my end.