Cylinder swap question...

[wizzard]

SO...I have a new Talo birdshead grip vaquero in .45 colt. I am considering swapping cylinders for an unfluted cylinder out of a bisley (also 45 colt) for a smoother look. These birdshead revolvers are the larger framed revolvers. Would the bisley cylinder be a straight swap? Everywhere I've read, the cylinder bores between rugers seem to line up correctly without modification... Also, there's some stamping on the bisley cylinder that I'm thinking could be polished out without weakening it. Any thoughts on that? The whole gun will get polished anyway...Thanks!

 

[wizzard]

was able to search after this post and ran across a thread that seems to sum everything up...at least as far as the removing of the rollmarks is concerned...
http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=102783

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

I polished the engraving off of a blued Bisley cylinder. I measured it before and after
and found the roll engraving was only about .0035" deep. After hot bluing it was a perfect match to the factory blueing.
I made up a mandril and polished the engraving off in the lathe.

As far as the fit goes, some cylinders are drop in and others are not. Good luck with your search!

 

[Robert 58]

The main thing to watch when buying a used cylinder is the height of the ratchet end.

My original blued cylinder measures.

Ratchet .158
Cylinder 1.701
O.A.L. 1.9725

Used stainless Bisley cylinder.

Ratchet .146
Cylinder 1.7015
O.A.L. 1.975

I had to take .009 off of the barrel end and put a shim behind the ratchet to let the case heads clear and get a .007 barrel gap.

 

[s4s4u]

The length is also important. As long as the "new" cylinder is at least as long as the original you have something to work with.

 

[BPGuy]

I will add my 2 cents. I have a .45 convertible Bisley. I later obtained a .45 LC only. I put the ACP cylinder on the "new" gun; it fit fine and seemed as if it would work. When I fired it, it fired the first shot fine, but then wouldn't rotate. Don't have any idea what the problem is, but this does seem to indicate that even if a cylinder seems to fit well, it still may not work.

Good luck with your search.

 

[Hondo44]

I will add my 2 cents. I have a .45 convertible Bisley. I later obtained a .45 LC only. I put the ACP cylinder on the "new" gun; it fit fine and seemed as if it would work. When I fired it, it fired the first shot fine, but then wouldn't rotate. Don't have any idea what the problem is, but this does seem to indicate that even if a cylinder seems to fit well, it still may not work.

Good luck with your search.

BPGuy,
Your rotation problem illustrates just what Robert 58 described. Because of the different lengths of the ratchet boss, you didn't have enough headspace for the cartridge rim and once the first shot was fired, the deformed primer rubbed on the recoil shield.

The hammer does not have enough leverage to turn the cyl against that resistance. You need a shim in the recoil shield depression for the ratchet. Once you determine the proper shim thickness, then you'll find out if the cyl becomes to long for the frame; either at the bar/cyl gap or the front cyl pin boss, or both.

The pin boss is simple to fit, just stone it down till the cyl fits in the frame. Then address the bar/cyl gap. If it's a tight gap with the original cyl (under .005"), you can take a little off the end of the barrel for the new cyl. If you can't take enough for the new cyl to fit w/o making the old cyl have too large of a gap (you can go up to .008" and have a proper gap); then reduce the ratchet shim a bit and strike a compromise that will still let the new cyl shoot and rotate.

Another fitment to avoid shims is to face off the rear of the new cyl a few thousands to increase the length of the ratchet boss and correct the headspace. But keep an eye on the bar/cyl gap so it doesn't become excessive.

 

[wizzard]

thanks for the feedback guys. Looks like, as usual, there's more to it than I thought.

 

[BPGuy]

The hammer does not have enough leverage to turn the cyl against that resistance. You need a shim in the recoil shield depression for the ratchet. Once you determine the proper shim thickness, then you'll find out if the cyl becomes to long for the frame.

Hondo44, thank you for the info! Where would I go about obtaining a shim for this purpose?

As to the rest, if the shim makes the cylinder too long, then it's just not meant to be. I will keep the cylinder as-is so it still works on the gun it came with.

Thank you again.

BPGuy

 

[Hondo44]

Triggershims.com: & hammer & cylinder end shake Ruger, Colt, Smith, etc.
http://www.triggershims.com/

 

[BPGuy]

Thank you once more!