What Would Cause This Kind of Wear On The Front of a Revolver Cylinder?

[NY-1]

I've been looking into a few older Ruger Speed/Service/Security Six revolvers lately, and came across one that's in otherwise fantastic shape. The only caveat is that the front of the cylinder is marred with scratches that just don't seem like they fit given the otherwise excellent state of the rest of the gun. What could cause marks like this? Overzealous cleaning, perhaps?

 

[wood714]

Looks like it's been dragging on something.

 

[Baxter6551]

What does the face of the forcing cone look like? Could some of the marks be from rubbing along it? And yes maybe aggressive cleaning also

 

[raljr1]

the arc of the scratches look too uniform to be from cleaning. Close the cylinder and check the gap between the cylinder and the barrel at each charge hole. I would guess that those two charge holes have insufficient clearance and there is either a burr somewhere or powder gets caught between the face and the barrel, causing the scratches.

 

[kaaskop49]

Had a "Frankengun" issued to me by a security firm where the cylinder 'wiped' against the rear of the bbl on one chamber and left a similar mark. Among other 'stunts', someone had attached an entire cylinder/yoke set-up from another gun to make a useable revolver.

Close the empty cylinder and hold the hammer back far enough to allow the cylinder to spin freely. You should be able to detect a slight drag in the cylinder rotation on those 2 chambers. Then disregard that gun. If you live in NYC, NYPD purchase authorizations are too hard to come by to use on something even mildly defective.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[NY-1]

What does the face of the forcing cone look like? Could some of the marks be from rubbing along it? And yes maybe aggressive cleaning also

Could be, although the forcing cone appears to be relatively unmarred.

the arc of the scratches look too uniform to be from cleaning. Close the cylinder and check the gap between the cylinder and the barrel at each charge hole. I would guess that those two charge holes have insufficient clearance and there is either a burr somewhere or powder gets caught between the face and the barrel, causing the scratches.

That sounds like a good possibility - thanks for the suggestion. These were the seller's photos from an online listing, so barring the ability to examine the gun any further I think I'm going to pass on it. I appreciate the input.

Had a "Frankengun" issued to me by a security firm where the cylinder 'wiped' against the rear of the bbl on one chamber and left a similar mark. Among other 'stunts', someone had attached an entire cylinder/yoke set-up from another gun to make a useable revolver.

Close the empty cylinder and hold the hammer back far enough to allow the cylinder to spin freely. You should be able to detect a slight drag in the cylinder rotation on those 2 chambers. Then disregard that gun. If you live in NYC, NYPD purchase authorizations are too hard to come by to use on something even mildly defective.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

That security firm's motto had to have involved the importance of improvisation or otherwise making due with what you had. Haha.

Thanks for the advice - I'll keep that in mind if I come across one of these at a local shop. This listing was out-of-state and online. I think I'm going to pass on it for now, and here's hoping that one comes up sooner or later nearby in similar condition. (I'm still active so at least I don't have to worry about purchase authorizations aside from Rodman's Neck going over my forms with a fine toothed comb, but I'm contemplating a move to PA or further south sometime in the near future with a requisite career change. Time will tell, I suppose.)

 

[bigwheelzip]

One of my new .357s had forcing cone burrs that put some scratches on the cylinder face like that.
Feeding it few hundred .357 loads smoothed out the rough cone edges.


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[pantannojack]

You might want to press the cylinder rearward when closing to battery. It may tolerate some forward movement when open then be held in position when closed. Otherwise end shake might be a problem, but more noticeable.

 

[oink]

Bent ejector rod?

 

[Babysitr]

Ch. for endshake as stated above, may need a shim to bring cyl. reward...could have had some lead buildup at some time previous

 

[Golddollar]

Back in the mid-1980s I bought a brand new Model 624 .44 Special. When I would cock the hammer at certain spots I could feel the cylinder dragging.
Since the gun was still under warranty, I sent it back to Smith & Wesson and they fixed up the cylinder rotation and probably went over the entire gun because it seemed to be a lot smoother when I got it back.

 

[ShowMePro]

Picture of forcing cone looks like its worn a bit more on the 4-6 o'clock range, seems like that's pretty consistent with the location of the scratches on the cylinder front? I could be wrong, old(er) man eyes lol.

 

[raljr1]

Picture of forcing cone looks like its worn a bit more on the 4-6 o'clock range, seems like that's pretty consistent with the location of the scratches on the cylinder front? I could be wrong, old(er) man eyes lol.

just noticed the same thing on a second look at this thread.

 

[quikdraw67]

but I'm contemplating a move to PA

LOL.

Another NYPD contemplates crossing the Delaware River to freedom.

 

[Bill Lear]

Ruger SA revolvers have rather small BC gaps on the order of 0.0025" which is thinner than a human hair and about about 1/3d those found on most DA revolvers! (The reason they record such spectacular velocities compared to DA designs) So it doesn't take much to bridge the gap between cylinder face and forcing cone! One possible cause is lead residue at the forcing cone entrance, that marks the cylinder as it's rotated.
ALL revolvers have some amount of so-called "end shake" which is meaningless as long as the cylinder is properly headspaced with cartridges in place, but the force applied by the hand when rapidly cocking a SA can reduce that already razor thin BC gap enough so that even tiny particles of debris mark the cylinder face.