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Have you inquired of Colt as to why they did not counterbore the charge holes?
Why doesn't the new Colt King Cobra .22 have counterbored cylinders?
- Thread starter CAJUNLAWYER
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Sorry for the late reply. I don’t have a particular link, but being in the gun and ammo industry, I’ve seen a handful of occurrences where a ruptured .22lr and 22 WMR case has ruptured, setting off 2-3 of the adjacent cartridges, causing enough damage to render the revolve irreparable. I’ll check to see if I can dig up some pictures. However, there’s much on line about rimfire cylinders being recessed to help contain gases from a ruptured rimfire cartridge.
Bill Lear
Member
They are indeed a relic of a bygone era. Boring out a rim recess for each round is expensive when one can simply create a "rim recess" around the entire cylinder. Also, having too tight of a rim recess might cause the gun to malfunction, all for no good reason other than to satisfy "you."
A rim recess for each and every chamber complicates firing pin protrusion versus a simple rim around the entire cylinder.
If you think manufacturers can't bore rim recesses your beyond wrong. Machining a rim ledge around the cylinder actually improves potential function.
Could you explain this issue? I'm sure I'm not the only one interested in learning about this. Thank you!
What exactly is "potential function" here? Thanks!
The firing pin has to have the same protrusion recessed or non as it the rear face of the case is the same distance from the recoil shield in either case, so the firing pin has to stick out the same amount to hit the primer or in this case crush the rim. The firing pin of course must be accurate enough strike rim but not the raised are of a recessed cylinder, but as this is much more of a vertical problem and not so much a problem from of slight rotation lock up allowances of a revolver, that is well taken care of just by the firing pin bushing only allowing the protrusion to occur in its center and any kind of decent cylinder pivot system (yoke tube) and rear cylinder latching point not allowing the rear of the cylinder any vertical movement. That plus the fact that most rim fires run a frame mounted firing pin makes this a complete no issue. The only rim fires I have seen with strikes outside the recess either have a really serious timing issue or cylinder stop failure.
As to a tight recess that would be an engineering failure as there is no need for them tho be anywhere near tight around the rim itself. The rim OD on a 22lr is .287 and if you make the OD of the recess .300 or even more, they would never be tight and contain a ruptured rim better than a ring around the outside of the cylinder.
Only reason of, other than cost cutting, I can think of is a belief that ammunition and rimfire priming has improved to the point failure is less of an occurrence and when it does occur the fault and therefore the liability is with the ammo manufacture not the gun.
As to a tight recess that would be an engineering failure as there is no need for them tho be anywhere near tight around the rim itself. The rim OD on a 22lr is .287 and if you make the OD of the recess .300 or even more, they would never be tight and contain a ruptured rim better than a ring around the outside of the cylinder.
Only reason of, other than cost cutting, I can think of is a belief that ammunition and rimfire priming has improved to the point failure is less of an occurrence and when it does occur the fault and therefore the liability is with the ammo manufacture not the gun.
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With the use of CNC machinery, a computer program runs the process and the usual comments about it “being too expensive” just does not wash in my book. Apparently the engineers decided the old process of recessed cylinders were deemed unnecessary in today’s world. At no time was a thought ever given to what “collectors” would like to see. Point proven is the IL on S&W’s.
If that were true the engineers wouldn't have put the Python's vented barrel on this .22LR version of the King Cobra. They most certainly thought about "collectors" and marketing, but they came to the conclusion that potential buyers looking at .22LR revolvers in a gun store would notice and like the, for this gun, totally useless barrel vents more than they would notice the missing recessed chambers.
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