Checking How the Barrel and Cylinder Line Up

[JimT]

on my S&W Model 10 that I installed the heavy barrel on.

I fired a 160 gr. RNFP cast bullet backed by a little over 1 gr. of Bullseye into a pile of rags. The bullet stopped in the first t-shirt. It appears to enter the barrel pretty durn straight.

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I know it shoots pretty accurately if I do my part.

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[AmBraCol]

Looks good. I assume there's no need for a Taylor Throat job on it. Every Llama Cassidy and Martial that I've examined down here has had the cylinder misaligned with the barrel. Don't know if it's a issue with the cylinders or the cylinder stops. Brownells used to sell a Taylor Throating Reamer, that's allowed me to improve them a bit by essentially creating a funnel that scoots the slug more gently to center instead of shaving off the side of it on the edge of barrel throat.

[JimT]

I don't know anyone selling them any more. They were handy to fix that issue.

[Scott Tschirhart]

My .357 flattop has no real forcing cone. But it must be lined up right because it really shoots. Not all revolvers are set up this way.

[piller]

Jim, that is a good idea. I had a pistol which was not even accurate enough to use for anything. I got rid of it. Finding out if it was off center would have told me something. It was inexpensive, so I didn't want to spend money fixing its accuracy problem. Knowing why would have been good.
No, I do not consider myself a great shot, but I am able to shoot good enough to not be embarrassed with my groups instead of patterns at the range.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

My .357 flattop has no real forcing cone. But it must be lined up right because it really shoots. Not all revolvers are set up this way.

Not a bad thing if everything lines up well. Good timing and lockup, Cylinder throats not smaller but no larger than about .001-.002" than bore size, a minimal forcing cone will do.
I have range rods to check cylinder alignment but that's still just land diameter to cylinder throat/bore dia. So it could still be off some. When using the range rods you'll find one that is severly off alignment and it can be somewhat of a chore to correct.
What I have found especially for lead bullets is just cut a long 11 degree forcing cone. This gentle angle doesn't distort the lead bullets like short sharp angle cones do. For most lead bullet revolver shooting the 11 degree helps cut down on cone leading too.
The only problem I have found doing that is for those folks like some of the CAS shooters that use the 165gr. 45lc bullets to help be the recoil. That bullet may be too short to stabilize well in the rifling before the back end exits the cylinder throat.

[junkbug]

That is a very useful trick Jim. Thanks for posting it. Kind of reminds me of reading how Elmer Kieth inspected his fired bullets after recovering them from melted snow drifts in the spring.

Is there any chance of getting a bullet stuck with that load? Also, instead of Bullseye, I might try it with Red-Dot.

[Malamute]

On S&W and other revolvers with hammer mounted firing pins you can cock the hammer and look through the firing pin hole from both sides with the bore pointed towards a light source and see if its in decent alignment. On S&Ws keep in mind that its 5 groove, so on one side youre looking at groove and the other at a land, so take that into consideration, it can look slightly off. I check all 6 chambers when looking at a prospective purchase.

I got curious if it was possible to do on a Ruger SA. Do I need to say you have to unload it first? You can see the alignment if you cock the hammer, then lower it fully while holding the trigger so the firing pin protrudes fully forward, then shine a decent light onto the firing pin from the side, it reflects light up the bore and you can see the throat to barrel alignment. I do it from both sides and compare, you can start to see it after first trying it. You can rock the cylinder back and forth against the stop and tell how far it can go each way and it also lets you know what a misalignment looks like it ifs like that at rest. If snug it wont move much, but I dont think it hurts if it can move some.

[JimT]

That is a very useful trick Jim. Thanks for posting it. Kind of reminds me of reading how Elmer Kieth inspected his fired bullets after recovering them from melted snow drifts in the spring.

Is there any chance of getting a bullet stuck with that load? Also, instead of Bullseye, I might try it with Red-Dot.

If you go too light there is. If you don't load over 2 gr. Bullseye you can stop a bullet pretty easily. Just make sure you have a good backstop in case you get it a little too heavy.

[JimT]

John Taffin has a sixgun that a range rod won't drop into the cylinder. The gunsmith said it would never shoot. John took it and tried it anyway and the durn thing shoots tight groups. Why I don't know and neither does he, but he ain't messing with it. Lineup doesn't always tell the whole story.

[CowboyTutt]

Thinking water jugs, wet or dry newsprint, or a wet or dry blanket in a cardboard box would also capture a bullet just fine. Some good information here. Enjoyed the read.
-Tutt

[KWK]

On S&W and other revolvers with hammer mounted firing pins you can cock the hammer and look through the firing pin hole...

I use a light as well. On stainless revolvers you can look down the muzzle while shining a flashlight from the side along the breech face. On blued guns it has to a very bright flashlight. I never thought of looking down the firing pin hole.