From the time its new how long/many rounds fired does it take for the cylinder to start showing the drag mark of the cyl lock? I'm trying to get an idea on this to determine amount of use it takes if at all possible, might be different for each but worth asking. The revolver in question is a SS S&W 38 Spcl. M60. Tom
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Cylinder Drag Line
- Thread starter TomL
- Start date
Sometimes it will show right after the first few cylinder rotations (either dry fire or live fire). Depending on how many times the cylinder has been opened and closed, it can show up as a partial turn line without any firing, just because the cylinder wasn't exactly indexed when swung shut so had to be rotated a bit (against the cylinder latch) to line up a cylinder notch.
Especially on a blued gun, it can appear very quickly with the first bit of use. And even on a stainless one, it will show pretty quickly with use.
IMO, it is not an useful indicator of usage at all. Even for a given model, it will vary a lot, since the cylinder latch beveling may be a little different from one gun to the next, the cylinder latch plunger spring tension may be a bit different from one gun to another - just not something that usefully tells you much about how much use a gun has seen. Especially after the first couple of hundred rounds, you could not use it to tell a gun with hundreds of rounds through it from one with thousands.
Depending on how many test rounds are fired by the manufacturer, a factory new gun may come with a faint drag line already in place.
Especially on a blued gun, it can appear very quickly with the first bit of use. And even on a stainless one, it will show pretty quickly with use.
IMO, it is not an useful indicator of usage at all. Even for a given model, it will vary a lot, since the cylinder latch beveling may be a little different from one gun to the next, the cylinder latch plunger spring tension may be a bit different from one gun to another - just not something that usefully tells you much about how much use a gun has seen. Especially after the first couple of hundred rounds, you could not use it to tell a gun with hundreds of rounds through it from one with thousands.
Depending on how many test rounds are fired by the manufacturer, a factory new gun may come with a faint drag line already in place.
azredhawk44
Moderator
That's a lot more than I've heard.
I've heard that it's desireable to be around 0.004 to 0.006. 0.008 is getting sloppy.
I've heard that it's desireable to be around 0.004 to 0.006. 0.008 is getting sloppy.
Cylinder drag lines will appear worse depending upon how rough the surface of the bolt/stop is. You can polish it and it will not gouge the finish as bad but it's still going to make a line. Yes, it can be stopped but it's not worth the trouble involved to retime the stop. As long as it releases and locks the cyl. when it's supposed to I would not worry about it.
Just FWIW, on S&W's, drag lines are normal and should be present after a relatively small amount of shooting/dry firing. If they are not, the revolver is out of time.
But on Colt DA's and Colt type Single Actions the cylinder bolt should drop (it's called "dropping" even though it is moving up) into the leade, which is the triangular cut ahead of the stop notch. If the bolt drops too soon, and mars the cylinder, the revolver is out of time. In addition, most SA's have too strong a bolt spring and the bolt gouges the cylinder; a good tuneup job will prevent that.
Jim
But on Colt DA's and Colt type Single Actions the cylinder bolt should drop (it's called "dropping" even though it is moving up) into the leade, which is the triangular cut ahead of the stop notch. If the bolt drops too soon, and mars the cylinder, the revolver is out of time. In addition, most SA's have too strong a bolt spring and the bolt gouges the cylinder; a good tuneup job will prevent that.
Jim