Is this normal in a revolver?

[Edg]

couldnt really photo down the chambers too well, but where the casings end has swelled the cylinder walls slightly...when i put a cleaning rod with no attachments down the cylinder wall there is a bump. should a cylinder swell? Its been fired about 200 times. 44 mag.

[Dave_n]

If you are talking about the grainy debris towards the far end (the barrel end) then this is nothing more than unburnt or partially burnt powder. If you fire 0.44 Specials (which are 0.12 inches shorter) then you will see the powder debris build-up.

Quite normal and can be removed by chucking a bronze bristle brush into an adjustable rate drill and very gently cleaning the well soaked end of the cylinder (soak by immersing in Ed's Red). To do this you have to know how to remove the cylinder and crane. For S&W and Colts and the Brazilian knock-offs (Taurus and Rossi) you remove the screw just under the cylinder (very carefully with a hollow ground screw driver of the correct size) and the crane and cylinder come out and pull apart. For Ruger's you have to remove grips and follow their specific instructions.

It looks as though you have been firing without cleaning the cylinder by removing it. Not a good practice as you will end up straining the crane assembly.

I have close to 50 revolvers (most are S&Ws with Webleys added) and religiously clean them by stripping to cylinder, crane and frame/barrel every time I use them. Some are close to 100 years old and still function perfectly, so a careful and thorough cleaning will solve your problem. Dave_n

[Xringshooter]

The "bump" you feel is where the cylinder is tapered down to keep the bullet centered when it comes out of the case. The bullet of a .44 is actually .429 (or so depending upon the type of bullet). The OD of the .44 Mag case is larger than that so they taper the cylinder so the bullet enters the barrel correctly. If the cylinder were bored just for the size of the bullet you wouldn't be able to insert the cartridge. If the cylinder was bored the full length the size of the cartridge the bullet could get off center when coming out and hit the edge of the barrels forcing cone (with pretty bad results). If you take an empty casing and put it in and look from the front of the cylinder you should see that the mouth of the case stops at that point. If it is a .44 Mag and you put a .44 Spec case in you will see that it will come up around 1/8th inch or so SHORT of that point. Same as a .357 Mag, a .38 Spec case will be 1/10 inch short also. This is why if you shoot a lot of .38's in a .357 Mag, or .44 Specials in a .44 Mag, and don't clean the cylinder good, you can have a problems inserting the magnum rounds because of the ring of crude that can build up.

[Noah_Zark]

The front end of each cylinder chamber will have a slightly reduced diameter. This is normal. A cleaning patch will "stick" a bit as it hits this area.

Noah

[knight0334]

Its called a "throat". Some manufacturers use a long taper like a forcing cone, some use a more abrupt change - a throat.

With revolvers there is another change in diameter of the bore at the barrel, which is actually called the "forcing cone". Its for when the cylinder is slightly out of line with the barrel the bullet gets funneled to the rifling.

[brian]

try inserting a cartridge head first into the front of the cylinder, it will verify the above rather quickly.

[Edg]

Thanks, its definetly not crud, its really clean. I never noticed the bumps before I shot it this past session and I fired about 70 magnums in 30 minutes. Thought I might have hurt it.

[Edg]

I had a Colt .357 before and didnt ever notice these, never had another revolver. Kinda worried now that I have been reading some bad stuff about titanium wearing faster then steel.

[pred]

You can shoot 500 in 30 minutes if you want, You wont hurt the gun if you didnt load yourself "HOT" loads.
If the chamber was bulged the cases would not extract because they too would be bulged too.
You are looking at the case mouth where the case of the 44 mag will sit against it,,,, Perfectly normal.
Try and stick a 357 in a 38 special cylinder,,, It wont go all the way in, You wont be able to close the cylinder while the 357 is only 1 to 2 MMs longer.
Keep shooting!
Peter