Bob McGee

After a quick read of this thread I didn't see any mention of the one one doubt I have always had about the Taylor throat, that being the possibility of increased leading with cast bullets. It seems that the extremely long free bore would allow hot gasses to melt the lead on the side of the bullet before it had a chance to completely enter the bore. I would appreciate a comment on this aspect of the Taylor throat.

I have bought 4 of Randy Lees hammers, of which I have installed three, and have one in my spare parts box for some future project. I had some problems with ignition on the first gun, Until I took Randy's advice and went back to using a recurved S&W main spring. I use an 11lb return spring and get snappy enough trigger return, to be able to shoot .20 splits, with the trigger set at 4.25 lbs. At that setting I am getting 100% ignition. I have experimented with lighter settings and was able to run 3.75lbs in the summer time, however, started to have problems in the winter and settled on the 4.25lb setting which I am very happy.

Recently I was lucky to be able to purchase a like new Ernie Hill holster on E-bay. The holster works great, but I have one concern. The holster has a plastic like stud to locate and hold the muzzle of the revolver. My worry, is the stud likely to cause wear in the portion of the barrel it slides into? The reason I am concerned is that the Kydex holster I have been using has really done a number on the outside of the muzzle, I would hate to think the same thing will happen to the inside of the barrel. Please comment. Thanks in advance

Any recommendations on a soft shooting minor load for the .45acp. This load would be to transition a teen age shooter from .22rf to center fire without starting a flinch. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

I am sure this is common knowledge, there fore I am almost embarrassed to ask. Can a commander slide be used on a government model frame.

I want to thank everyone for helping with this problem, I just ordered a Lee factory crimp die from midway. I will post the results in a week or two.

With the cost of bullets going way up, I decided to give lead a try after many years of shooting only plated. I have tried several brands of 180 t0 200 gr. bullets all measuring .452" and keep getting about 5-8% that will not drop into a case gage. The problem being a slight bulge in the loaded case caused by the bullet. I have heard that this could be cured by using a Lee carbide factory crimp die. Has any one tried one of these dies, and can they be used in a Dillon 650 press in place of the Dillon crimp die, or must they be used as a separate operation after the round has been completed in the Dillon.

Tom's last comment brings up an other problem, I learned a long time ago that picking up range brass was was just inviting problems. Brass fired out of Glocks seem to be a real problem in my 625.

John, The information that you left out of your post, just could be the problem. That is, what powder and how hot of a load are you trying to shoot? If you are shooting Titegroup or WW231 in powder puff loads, And probable most other powders, you will run into this problem. The light loads just don't burn with enough heat to keep the chambers clean. With a hot load both WW231 and Titegroup will burn super clean, however if you like the softer shooting loads then try going back to the old stand by "Bulls Eye" and you will never have to worry about cleaning chambers again. I know that a lot of people say Bullseye burns dirty, but I find the sut generated by Bullseye burns completely out of the cylinder. One other point, that some will disagree with, is that you will probably find that lead bullets will be a little slower and less reliable on the reload, for that reason I use lead for practice but shoot Berry's double struck plated for matches.

Carmoney, the answer is yes, you can use the same spring that comes in the R. Powed kit but with a .187" ball, you will need to make your own staking tool. I like to drill a .062" hole completely through the crane, that way if I stake the ball a little to deep I can lightly tap it from the rear to reposition the ball.

Has anyone used a S&W pellet revolver as a winter training aid? If so what is your opinion. IT looks as it would be better than dry firing, that is if there is any similarity in the trigger pull.

I just bought a used Ernie Hill holster for a 4" model 625. Given that my old Kydex holster was really wearing the finish on the barrel, won't the barrel locating stud at the bottom of the holster do the same to the crown?

About 35 years ago I had a PPC gun built by a noted west coast gun smith. When the gun arrived it did not have the front eject rod lock. This had me really worried so I placed a phone call to the smith inquiring what was going on, his reply was that all of his guns went out that way and that he had never had a problem. Since then I have built a number of K & L frame guns with out the front eject rod lock. I know this will raise some eye brows, but I have never had a problem, however, I also never shot hot loads in any of these guns. If you look at Jerry's tape on the S&W action job, you will see that when he spins the cylinder it really free wheels. With no ejector rod lock, no no bolt spring plunger and end shake set at .002 I still can't make any of my guns spin almost friction free like Jerry's. What else is he doing???

I have been using Randy's hammers in my 625 & 627 for about two years, they are both working flawlessly at 4.25 lbs. I also use the C&S firing pin without modification, as it comes from Brownell's. For a mainspring I use the stock S&W with a slight arch added to the top 1/3 of the spring, for the trigger return spring I use an 11lb Wolf with one coil clipped off . I then back the strain screw off until the gun starts to fail to ignite the primers. Then tighten the screw 1/4 - 1/2 turn, what ever it takes to give 100% reliability. I'm sure if I wanted to start doing some of the other things listed in the previous posts I could get the double action pull even lower, but I am happy with the 4.25 lbs. I am so pleased with Randy's product that I have just ordered two more.

Quite often when working on a S&W action, you will need to cycle the action to see if everything is working as it should. I have found that if I back way off on the strain screw, that I can relieve most of the pressure on the various pins, and not have to constantly be removing and replacing the side plate.

Dave my plan is to cut the new insert from either a .357" or .356" blank, with the O.D. turned to .461", except for the lengthened and enlarged diameter in the forcing cone area. Then heat the reamed barrel, and freeze the new barrel blank in liquid nitrogen, It should just drop in. I might not even need to use LocTite. That would give me an approximate thickness of .052" per side, that along with the support gained from the shrink fit of the new barrel blank into the model 23 barrel should handle any pressures I will run into, given that this is a straight walled pistol case.

Doug, Thank you for answering my fears on cutting back the cylinder. I do most of the work on my guns, not that I am a gun smith, but I am willing to take two hours to do a twenty minute job in an effort to get things right. I currently have a 6.5" model 23 barrel on one of my 627s. I like the looks and the feel of this set up, and was thinking about maybe reaming the model 23 barrel to .460" Then cutting a custom barrel that could be inserted into the reamed model 23 barrel to take up the gap caused by cutting back the cylinder. I don't know if having an insert set in locTite would cause a heat build up problem because of an insulation effect created by the locTie boundary between the two metal surfaces, but I'm betting that it will not. Anyway thanks again, for your reply to my previous post.

There are several things that bothers me about cutting the front of the cylinder back. Isn't the constriction in the front of the cylinder intended to keep hot gases from melting the sides of lead bullets, and also to keep the bullet in alignment with the bore as it jumps to the forcing cone. It seems to me by doing away with this design feature built into most revolvers that you would end up with both accuracy and leading problems and maybe a large drop in velocity. I hope some one address these questions as I have thought about this modification for some time.

I want to thank everyone who addressed the two threads on this subject. I'm sorry to say that I am just as confused now as before, but I do appreciate all of your comments. Bob

This question is so basic I feel foolish for asking. What % of shooters, shoot with both eyes open. Is it worth the effort to try to change a life long habit of shooting using the dominate eye only. If your advise is to switch to shooting with both eyes open, is there any drill that can be practiced that will help make the transition?

I need to place an order with Randy Lee, but have had no luck in finding his new address or Ph. # can any one help me out?

I have two 627s and one 625 set up with Ti cylinders. I have put 4,000 rds through one of the 627s, half in competition, half in practice. I set the gun up with a Randy Lee hammer, at the same time that I installed the Ti cylinder. I have to say this is the most satisfying modification I have ever made to a gun in last 40 years. I can't imagine ever removing either the cylinder or the Lee hammer. Bob Mcgee

DM, Thanks for the tip on Andersons Book. I tried to get info about the book on the net with very little luck. It is my understanding that Anderson primarily shot a 1911, so how does he handle dry firing on multiple targets? How applicable are the dry fire drills to a revolver? Thanks again Bob.

Well winter is almost here, and snow can't be far behind. For the next several months I will be basement bound, not all that bad as I have several projects that need attention. I have a question, I would like to ask about training._________________________________ Has anyone tried using a pellet gun, as a training aid? I'm talking about the gun that is a not so close copy of a S&W revolver. In the past I have used pellet guns to improve my slow fire accuracy, and I believe that I benefited from the time spent. Now I am wondering if I could improve my split times, with the use of one of the double action revolver copies? Any input will be appreciated. Bob

At 70 years of age, I feel that this is one subject that I am well qualified to comment on, and about. Fourty years ago I was a bulls eye shooter of some merrit, with age I found my hard earned skill leaving me. One day while getting ready to go to the range, I couldn't find my shooting glasses, So I went into the shop and picked up my 2x safety glasses that I use for fine Lathe work. Well to my supprise, I shot as well as I ever have, and have continued to ever since. Try shooting with your reading glasses, you will find that the target is real fuzzy but your sights are clear and sharp. If this works for you, you can buy industrial safty glasses in various power ratings for about $25. A friend of mine had a set of bifocals made with the reading lens ground into the top of the glass, so that he could shoot and run with the same glasses.