Speed Six, gas ring on cylinder?

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magnum0710

Single-Sixer
Joined
May 2, 2023
Messages
201
Location
NE Ohio
I attempted to swap in the new cylinder for my Speed Six today and things went sideways! I've been talking to RoninPA about the situation, I'm going to try a few things and see what I can figure out. I highly doubt this is the problem but my original Speed Six cylinder has a gas ring attached to the front of the cylinder. My new cylinder doesn't have the ring, it looks just like the cylinder from my Security Six.

I tried to drop in the entire assembly and no luck. I was able to get the original assembly apart and use the crane and parts from the original in the new cylinder. It almost worked but the trigger gets stuck back on one or two chambers. I messed up the original cylinder slightly when I disassembled it, the flat spot where the extractor goes in got a little marred up. I was able to file it just a tiny bit to get it back together. It works still but the extractor does stick every once in a while now.

I'm really not sure where to go from here. I'm going to try the new cylinder in my Security Six and see if it works. If it does that'll tell me if there's a difference between the original cylinders and the ones with the gas ring. Maybe one or two of the cylinder notches need to.be filed a tiny bit? I can get a cylinder with the gas ring pretty cheap but it's a 38 special cylinder and my Speed Six is a 357. I could get it just to get by on but it would really be a waste. I guess I could just run 38s in it but that would defeat the entire purpose for me.

I did notice that the extractor from my original cylinder wouldn't fit into the new cylinder. I'm beginning to think that maybe the cylinders with the gas ring are different. If anyone has a 357 cylinder with the gas ring and is interested in trading please let me know. The new assembly is in good shape but if it only works in my Security Six then I really don't need it.

20241227_150105.jpg

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This is no help but maybe it'll get the conversation started.
Ron is a GREAT source for information. He's usually my go-to …. You're in good hands.
I've never heard of this problem.
The "scale" of items is hard to judge from a pic on my iPad but, that gas ring looks huge and the star appears thicker than what I'm used to seeing.
If that is NOT a Ruger cylinder I've no idea what it could be though.

Is your ejector rod ( correct term? ) flat on 2 sides or that's glare from the flash? Mine are all round I believe.
 
The gas ring and extractor star are the original cylinder that came from my Speed Six, I went close up to help see it better. The ejector rod is flat on one side which is normal, both my Security and Speed Six have that flat spot.

BUT the mystery continues! I tried the new parts in my Security Six, first the whole assembly and then just the cylinder with the original parts from my Security Six. The ejector rod from my Security Six wouldn't fit the new cylinder, that's odd the same thing happen when I tried the parts from my Speed Six . Both times I had to use the ejector rod and star that came on the new cylinder. Installed it and it wouldn't work on the Security Six either. This time the cylinder didn't want to open at all, when I finally got it open and disassembled it I took a closer look. The flat spot and locator pins are opposite of where they should be which is why I had to use the ejector rod that came with the cylinder both times! It's definitely a Six Series cylinder, I believe it came off a Service Six. I'm going to try the blued cylinder I have and see if that works. If it does I can eliminate the lack of having a gas ring as the issue.

On the plus side the cylinder on my Security Six spins like a roller blade now and I now have a good technique for unscrewing ejector rods despite my little mishap earlier.

The first picture is my original cylinder on my Security Six, the second picture is the new cylinder. Look at the flat spot and little locator pins, they're in opposite directions!

Original
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New
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My gun has a 157 prefix, I have no idea what my replacement cylinder came out of, but the pins on my replacement .357 cylinder are directly in line with, and opposite of the flat on the rod, and does not have the gas ring on the front face.
 
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My gun has a 157 prefix, I have no idea what my replacement cylinder came out of, but the pins on my replacement .357 cylinder are directly in line with, and opposite of the flat on the rod, and does not have the gas ring on the front face.
I didn't really update this since there weren't too many replies but after talking with RoninPA he took measurements of a late model cylinder and an old model cylinder and the late model has slightly different dimensions. I learned the trigger guards are slightly different as well.
 

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