The Cylinder Drag Mark

[gr8guns]

I have a couple of Pietta .22 revolvers, and a couple of Uberti .22 revolvers, and there is nary a drag mark on them.
Yep, I shoot them. Is there a way to time the Ruger Single six revolvers to eliminate that mark around the cylinder ?
It is not a big deal with stainless, but the blued models show the mark more.

 

[Cholo]

Forum member flatgate (RIP) used to lengthen the pawl on his New Models to eliminate the turn line. Hopefully someone else who's actually done it will chime in.

 

[hittman]

That mark or cylinder line is character but some folks don’t think I’m right.

How dare they! LOL

 

[rugerguy]

yep, nature of the beast in "mass produced" guns and made worse in the old models when putting the cylinder in too in a hurry or failing to cock it all the way back before lowering the hammer, and yes as noted above can be addressed as noted,,,heck you can spend LOTS of money on a Colt or a S&W and they too "make turn lines"...

 

[gr8guns]

yep, nature of the beast in "mass produced" guns and made worse in the old models when putting the cylinder in too in a hurry or failing to cock it all the way back before lowering the hammer, and yes as noted above can be addressed as noted,,,heck you can spend LOTS of money on a Colt or a S&W and they too "make turn lines"...

My 617 6 inch barrel model doesn’t make them, but the four inch barrel model does. Weird.

 

[rugerguy]

yes, may be "weird" but it boils down to the time put into the actually fitting , timing any revolver, matching fitting parts, that if all made to the dimensions of any said "parts" drawing and you have a +/- of a nominal size of say a few thousandthsv either way and you put it to another part that is the same distance the "other" way, guess what,,,,,,, its "out of time..............the pawl pushes up the "star" to index the rotation of the cylinder, trigger parts push or pull down the "bolt" ( cylinder stop) holds it long enough to allow the cylinder to turn around and align the "lead" ( grove) ahead of the "notch" if all goes well ,notch to notch , the "bolt" ( cyl stop) does NOT drag on the cylinder, stays down , within the frame until it jumps up 'leads' into the notch, locks up the cylinder , the gun is now in "battery", allowing you to pull the trigger and fire...ta daa if alls correct...NO drag line, up too soon, drag line...I know when back in the day we worked with smiths, they felt as long as the drag line was straight, not a wiggle or a wobble or an interruption ( skips) all is normal and OK with them...........Mass production does NOT allow for the time it takes to "fit" ( and yes back then the gunsmiths were "fitters" cut and file and tap with a hunk of 'german babbit' get the timing down pat....ah, those were the days...now its either cast (MIM) or CNC to more precise measurements and drop it all in, voila ,,,,ship it
.....................class dismissed

 

[bigbillyboy]

I never worried about drag lines , just a revolver thing .

 

[peachhead]

I never worried about drag lines , just a revolver thing .

Me either. I don't see what the big deal is.

 

[Enigma]

A modified hammer plunger, shown below, will normally stop the drag line from appearing. Get you some 3/32" round stock, and get your files out. I ordered a 10-pack of 3/32" Chinese drill bits from Amazon, and used them ($7.99).

3/32" Drill Bits

 

[wproct]

Just one more thing that makes me love stainless steel on handguns. Those drag lines are barely noticeable.

 

[GypsmJim]

My very first handgun was an old model Single Six, bought new 50 years ago. It has been shot many thousand times. It has a ZERO turn line.

I have other Ruger single and double action revolvers and they all DO have a very slight turn line, but much smaller than any of the S&Ws I own.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

As you can see these have been shot a few times and no crappy turn line. The one in the middle I bought new 55 years ago.

It would break my heart to have a turn line on these

 

[kcsteve]

A modified hammer plunger, shown below, will normally stop the drag line from appearing. Get you some 3/32" round stock, and get your files out. I ordered a 10-pack of 3/32" Chinese drill bits from Amazon, and used them ($7.99).

3/32" Drill Bits

View attachment 15864

This modification works great. I did this for all of my SA Rugers.
The trick is to do it when the gun is brand new.
The only difference on my pins is I slightly rounded the ends and polished.

 

[john guedry]

With all the bad things going on in this country/world ,there are worse things than a "turnline" to worry about.

 

[kcsteve]

With all the bad things going on in this country/world ,there are worse things than a "turnline" to worry about.

No turn line. One less thing to worry about.

 

[Hondo44]

If the line doesn’t extend from one notch to the next notch, it’s normal. Bu if it does, the hammer has not been cycled correctly. When decocking the hammer manually, it must always be fully cocked before lowering it.

 

[Cholo]

Hondo, I think he's talking about a New Model Single Six, but I might be wrong.

 

[Hondo44]

It's still possible with an new model. In fact a new model is more prone to add to the cyl line because the same thing can be done with the loading gate on new models since it also operates the cyl bolt.

 

[wproct]

I've always been pretty anal about taking care of my handguns, but one thing I have refused to do is worry about drag/turn lines. Life is way too short.

 

[gr8guns]

With all the bad things going on in this country/world ,there are worse things than a "turnline" to worry about.

Well, I haven’t lost any sleep over it. I simply prefer not to have the marks. I’m not gonna worry about things I have no control over. After 71 years on this earth, I’m just playing with my toys. Guitars, fiddles, mandolins, motorcycles, single action .22 revolvers……to quote Alfred E Nueman…..” What ? Me worry ? “ . I ain't smart enough to worry.