is small flame cut ok?

i recently bought a ruger police service six, it looks great for its age, it does have a small flame cut or i think thats what you call it at the top strap near the forcing cone. it is very narrow and shallow but all the way across the top strap underneath. is it ok to have flame cutting or is it a sign of bad metal? thanks

Every magnum handgun I own has it to some degree. I worry not in the least about any of them.

TDF

Flame cutting is exasperated by using light for caliber bullets with full charges of slow burning powder. I have seen noticeable flame cutting on a new revolver from shooting a box of Winchester 'White Box' 357mag 110gr ammo. If you stick with 158gr bullets there should be no more flame cutting.

Jimbo357mag said:

Flame cutting is exasperated by using light for caliber bullets with full charges of slow burning powder. I have seen noticeable flame cutting on a new revolver from shooting a box of Winchester 'White Box' 357mag 110gr ammo. If you stick with 158gr bullets there should be no more flame cutting.

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After reading this, I took a look at my 2-inch Taurus 617, in which I've fired 25 "show-off" loads of 20 grains of 296 under a 125 grain XTP. The frame looks pretty much pristine, but I'll keep that in mind with future endeavors.
BTW, the fireball from this load is about 4 feet in diameter and blindingly bright. I still want to get some side photos to check the depth of the blast.

boomer.... blast signature across top strap from cylinder/barrel gap is to be expected from high powder volume, in particular burning a large charge in a small hole. Means nothing on a Ruger. All Ruger revolver frames, including .22s, are heat treated high grade alloy steel. (The old .22 LR Single-Six with aluminum alloy frame was heat treated as well.)

Erosion from high pressure loads and heavy charges of slow propellant registers on the BARREL FACE. Although we call it "forcing cone erosion," technically it occurs on the barrel face.

Given good chamber-to-bore alignment, proper chamber throats, and a concentric, smooth forcing cone, SPITTING should not occur for many thousands of rounds. Perhaps I'm getting ahead of the story,
David Bradshaw

Ball powders can be a contributing factor.

DGW

all good points above, but bottom line is ,IF it does occur in your gun ( and this does most revolvers, nature of the beast) what happens is this spot ( cut/area ,whatever you want to call it), after a short period of time, "spot anneals" itself, and this STOPS....makers have tried everything over the years, put in "inserts" separate heat treat to the area etc.,, but loaders, shooters and ammo makers come up with some "hot" stuff over and over...I would worry MORE about the "throat erosion" to the forcing cone that the "line" over the gap...which by the way often is ONLY fouling ,leading or the "blow by" of the gap in the revolvers between the cylinder face and the breach face of the barrel, and often will clean off.......

Chronographed, years ago, variety of factory .357 Mag 110 JHP and 125 JHP. Little or no velocity gain from 110 grain bullets, with wider extreme spreads, than with 125 JHPs. Accuracy of 125 JHP superior as well. Shooting done with S&W M-19, Dan Wesson Arms M-15, and Ruger .357 Maximum.

The 125 JHP is a standard of .357 Mag performance, with notably better consistency than 110JHP. The 125 JHP responds well to Hercules and Alliant 2400. (Win 296/H110 is on the slow side for accelerating the lighter bullets, with muzzle blast like a concussion grenade.) Blue Dot is an excellent powder of much more limited application, i.e., narrow "rpm" range. Blue gets spiky fast behind a heavy bullet, but might work well with the 125 JHP.
David Bradshaw

From what I've read, it is pretty much self limiting anyway....

I know I would LOVE to buy cheap all the "damaged" .357 Maximums out there! :wink:

It happens and when it does usually self limits the depth of the cutting. Used to shoot IHMSA in the lare 70's thru mid 80's and used mostly DW .44 and a Ruger .357 Maximum loaded with heavy bullets and H110. Both cut the topstraps at first then seemed to stop.

As others have said, it's normal. Nothing about which to be worried. I cannot even remember hearing of top strap flame cutting severe enough to compromise the strength of a revolver. Has anybody else heard of such a thing?

Now I also own a S&W 500. That revolver has some flame cutting as well. Surprise, surprise, huh??