I fired the revolver quite a bit over the weekend (See Post #15) and my crappy bench shooting technique aside, it's shooting very well. The only fly in the ointment is it leads somewhat at the start of the rifling, but it's not terrible, especially with slower burning powders and I can mitigate the problem.
So no, it's not going back to Ruger.
Good results! I checked the forcing cone, and bore of my. Flattop .44 Special, and to my naked (and weak eyes) looked good.
On another note, has anyone tried
"brush lapping" as opposed to fire lapping?
John Barsness, writer for
Rifle and Handloader described this process years ago, as opposed to Fire Lapping, or making a lead lap to fit the bore (as British gunmakers did a century ago.)
The procedure is to wrap on oversized phosphor bronze brush (use a .45 brush for a .44 bore) tightly wrapped with an oversized cotton patch.
Coat with a lapping compound, run in through for 100-200 strokes, then clean the bore.
He learned this process from a respected gunsmith that did a lot of rifle barreling.
If this works, based upon those here that may have tried this, I will try it on my .44 Special Flattop, to really minimize leading and copper fouling.
