Machine mark or flame cutting? Ruger Gp100 (pics)

I've been shooting a bunch of factory 125 gr .357 mag speer gold dots LE out of it and man those are hot. I also shot some remington 125 gr .357 mag golden sabres out of it today, which were markedly less loud and had less recoil than the speers. But thats neither here nor there.

For the first time today, I noticed what may or may not be flame cutting on the revolver!

It's pretty clear here:

IMHO, it looks like flame cutting. I've always heard that flame cutting will only go so deep and then it will stop.

I doubt flame cutting will get to the point where the strength of the fame is compromised.

Some of the others here will know a lot more though.


Oh, and welcome to RugerForum!

thats flame cutting, and it will indeed stop. in fact, that is about as bad as it will ever get.
common wisdom is that the light (125 grn and less) magnum loads flamecut quicker than the heavier stuff. Either way, enjoy your GP100 and shoot it all you can.

Looks like flame cutting to me, and will probably cause you real problems if you keep shooting it like that for another 80 or 90 years. :wink:

I'd inspect the barrel's throat for damage. That's the location that can be seriously affected.....

Of course, IMHO, I'd NEVER shoot those light weight bullets. I'd go for 158's or heavier.......

JMHO,

flatgate

I always thought that was machining. i have three that look like that with unknown round count and my fathers looks like that and has less than 2 boxes ever through it all CCI Lawmen that I believe were 158 gr jacket loads.

Flame cutting. For myself, I wouldn't worry about it.

Jeff

Welcome. Great pics. Yep, that is a little flame cutting. Nothing to worry about now but I would stop shooting those light bullets. The forcing cone looks fine except for those swirly marks. BTW that gun is way too clean.

...JImbo

It`ll stop & never be an issue with the strength of the frame .

I ordered 1 in 85 when they were introduced & I would shoot it just to see fire fly , round count ???? who knows but this revolver gets SHOT EVERYTIME at the range & it is basicially no deeper than yours !

140 & heavier is all that`s ever been shot in it , with alot of cast lately .

The next to last GP is a 6" with 6,800 rnds down the tube , it has never had a jacketed round since the factory.

From mild to wild loads with slow powders & it shows no signs of cutting, the youngster of the bunch has 2,400 &had 40 rainers shot thru but lead since other than the carbon rings on the end of the cyl it looks unfired !!

It is flame cutting all right.

By the way.....Tony The Tiger? It happens that I worked for Kelloggs for 22 years in the Battle Creek plant.

Are you a BC boy?

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

What type of damage would I be looking for in the barrel throat? Those swirly marks evident in the pic are there for about a quarter to half inch in the throat, and thats when the rifling grooves begin.

What's the logic behind shooting 158 grain for practice? How does bullet weight influence maintenance of the firearm?

Too clean you say, Jimbo? LOL. Don't worry, theres still carbon marks on the front of the cylinder. :twisted:

In any case, if it's not a safety issue than I'm not concerned about it. I forwarded the pics to Ruger just to see what they say, but I'd hate to see the gun destroyed or put in a warehouse due to a phenomenon that is not dangerous to the user or the gun.

For those of you who have not had a voice in this thread yet, feel free to chime in. For those of you that have, thanks a bunch and I'll be nosing around the rest of the forum a bit.

protoolman said:

I always thought that was machining. i have three that look like that with unknown round count and my fathers looks like that and has less than 2 boxes ever through it all CCI Lawmen that I believe were 158 gr jacket loads.

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Genrally you will see marks from the tooling cuting the bbl threads. Which is what I expected to see here. The tell tale difference is the tooling marks will not be out past the BBL dia because the threads are round. If you look closely they will be deepr in the middle and look like parital threads. (which they are) Since this line extends well beyond the bbl and is fairly constant in depth it is easy to ID as flame cutting.

Welcome Tony,

Awhile back there was a thread related to this, not about flame cutting, but about round count through GP-100's http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=91612&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=&sid=792f660ca2a9cac58d4626597fa60df5 . I have no ownership experience with Ruger DA revolvers, yet. I bought used police trade ins years ago, and ended up with Smith's, but they too have some flame cutting on the top strap.

The logic with heavier slugs is they don't have the long freebore and jump to the forcing cone, because of their length. They thereby don't allow as much flame cutting. There were problems with K frame Smiths after the lighter duty/self defence loads became popular, which led to the introduction of the L frame smith, which is in the same league as the GP-100. The logic as I recall, the shorter slug, driven faster, has a different pressure curve, and shorter overall length, allowing more cutting to take place.

Here is another picture of flame cutting and erosion. If this continues there could be lead spitting and worse. As mentioned before heavy loads with certain powders and with light bullets can cause this because the hot high pressure gasses escape the B-C gap and do some damage. Longer, heavier bullets allow the gas some cooling and pressure reduction before escaping the B-C gap. How a high pressure round like a .454 Casull escapes this is beyond me.

If you wish to shoot light self-defense bullets in your GP perhaps you would want to keep an eye on the flame cutting and erosion as it is a progressive thing or switch to heavier bullets or practice with heavier bullets. If you load you own you can switch to a lighter load or different powder. All of those things can mitigate the problem. :shock:



...Jimbo

Nice picture, Jimbo. I'll keep an eye on the forcing cone. Funny how some guns can cut with <1000 rounds and others have >10000 with no damage. I've read elsewhere the only way to prevent cutting is to stop shooting magnums in a magnum gun. However, it appears Ruger pre-emptively addressed the issue by providing such a thick top strap. IMHO, I would be more worried if this were a snubby such as the LCR. I've noticed the J-frame smiths coming out with a metal plate on the top strap to take the heat. Thus far, no spitting or accuracy issues are apparent. Although I'm still curious what those spiral marks in the barrel throat are from... other than a spot of lead smudge and those marks (which are not rifling grooves) the barrel and cone appear to be undamaged. Still curious as to what Ruger will say. Thanks again for your comments.

Tony_The_Tiger said:

Nice picture, Jimbo.

Click to expand...

Indeed it is. I wish my camera could do close-up work that nice.

Tony_The_Tiger said:

...I'm still curious what those spiral marks in the barrel throat are from... .

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I'm no expert but those swirl marks in the forcing cone look like tool marks. Not a big deal or they can be polished out. Cylinder chamber reamers or forcing cone reamers often leave shallow tool marks like that. :shock:

...Jimbo

As I noted in the beginning of the thread, I had sent a message to Ruger through their online support about the same time as posting. Below is the content of my message:

"Hello. I have a ruger Gp100, bought new, and have owned it approximately 1 year. I have only shot factory loaded rounds through it and have noticed some flame cutting to the top strap. I am interested in knowing if this is something I should be concerned with, represents a safety issue, or represents a warranty issue. Attached are photos of the concern. Thank you, customer"

Ruger got back to me with this response:

"We recommend that you send your firearm into our Product Service Dept for evaluation. Ship to ****. Put a detailed letter inside with your firearm stating the problem. Include a daytime phone number; return UPS address, and mailing address. Pack in a plain brown box with no writing on it or wrap a box in brown mailing paper. Handguns cannot be mailed. They have to be sent through a firearms dealer. Sincerely, Ruger."

Actions:

From feedback on this thread and elsewhere, I do not think the flame cutting is an issue, especially given the thickness and robustness of the top strap and frame. I believe Ruger's response to be appropriate in that it does not dismiss the issue but rather reserves comment until they could have a look at it.

Thanks again for your responses,

-T

Tony, if Ruger offered to pay the shipping both ways, I'd let them take a look at it.

If I had to pay the shipping myself, I'd simply quit worrying about it. Let your great-great grandchildren worry about it. :wink:

Great advice which I'll humbly take.