Why Does My Dan Wesson Keyhole?

[mikeyluke]

Greetings all!
I am considering the purchase of a DW service model 14-2 heavy underlug. 2 1/2" barrel. It came in its original box and the gun has a very solid lockup and is 98%. I shot it on Saturday and used magtech .38 158gr. non-jacketed ammo. Fully 60% of the hits on paper had keyholes. I checked the cylinder gap with the tool and found some play but not much. Thinking it was the non-jacketed ammo, I switched to some .357 jacketed Blazer and while only shooting 6 rounds, I didn't keyhole anything. Some of the guys at work say steer clear, some say no problem. What do you guy's think?? Thanks in advance,

mikey

 

[jimmyj]

Hi:
Dan Wesson Revolver have two "Fan Clubs"
1. Fans that LOVE" them.
2. Fans that "DISLIKE" them.
I once worked with an Officer that carried one has a "Duty Revolver" and he liked it.
You might consider testing Your DW with lighter bullets(lead and jacketed) and observe if "Keyholing is present. Also check the barrel crown.
Jimmy

 

[tac803]

Check the barrel gap with the included gauge against the spec sheet just for giggles. I seem to remember when those came out that some folks had keyholing issues with an improperly set bbl. gap. Not sure what you mean by "play", poss cylinder end shake?

 

[haggis]

Any .38/.357 that won't shoot 158 grain lead bullets has something wrong with it. I wouldn't buy it unless I knew for sure what the problem was, and if it was fixable.

Buck

 

[Bruce51]

I really think that you should clean the barrel. It may have a build up of lead which would prevent bullets from engaging the rifling.
A jacketed bullet may iron out the lead enough to stabilize but a lead bullet will only add to the leading already there. Under sized bullets or an oversized bore could also be part of the problem. Take a brush and some solvent and scrub the bore even if you think it is clean. If there is a build up of lead you will eventually see it starting to come out. Bruce

 

[Twist]

It may have been the ammo'.... heavy loads and soft lead make for tumbling bullets...and that's how you get keyholes.... if it was OK with jacketed bullets then you have the answer.

 

[sar4937]

Shoot some different ammo before you condemn it.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Odd, none of the DW's I have or have shot do that.

Have you cleaned the barrel and "deleaded" it? I would start there.

Why not just pull the barrel off and give it a good scrubbing. One advantage of the DW's is you can just replace the barrel. I picked up a used DW that the crown was nicked. Not bad, but it bothered me so we just replaced the barrel. No big deal. Call DW and they will order one up for you.