Carmoney Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 I just heard from a guy who's interested in having me do some work on his 625-8, and part of what he wants done is to have a Ti cylinder installed and chambers chamfered. Two questions for those with direct experience in this: 1. Is installing a Ti cylinder in a 625-8 as simple as switching over the original ejector star, and putting it all back together? If not, what else did you need to do to get things running with the Ti cylinder? 2. How are you chamfering the chambers on the Ti cylinder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom E Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 I've had the same Ti cyl in two frames now, 625-8's. Keep the star that goes with frame and all that was required was shimming on one frame (one .002" shim) and slight stoning on the end of the yoke for clearance on the 2nd. The cyl comes mildly chamfered. My Brownells cutter didn't want to cut it. I found it necessary to polish the chambers, they were sticky on extraction. Ended up using a 220 grit roll. 400 and 320 didn't do anything. Both the coating and the titanium seems really tough. Reaming and chamfering a SS cyl is a piece of cake. Not so on the Ti cylinder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R112mercer Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Mike; I used the old star from SS cylinder, it dropped in without any fitting or barrel/cylinder gap problems. Like Tom said the cylinder comes mildly chamfered already, I chose not to open it up any further. I think Bob Perdue said he used a Cratex wheel (you have one of those, right? ) to chamfer his. DO NOT use a chamfer tool, the Ti is too hard to cut. My chambers got sticky on me. I intentionally shot the gun without cleaning it to see if they would stick. They did. Bad. I was able to remove the cylinder, place a full moon of loaded rounds in the cylinder, and turn it upside down without the rounds dropping out. I purchased a chamber hone from Brownells to smooth out the chambers. Not sure on how well it worked, haven't been shooting the gun enough to tell yet. Last year I ran the SS cylinder to avoid any issues. If I can get out to a few local matches (were I won't mind loosing because of equipment issues) I'll try to figure the Ti cylinder stickyness out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkelso Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 I had a Ti cylinder installed on my 625-2. The smith said all he did was work on the timing. I polished the holes with some flitz and I get miner sticking. I always keep after the chambers anyhow. There is some chamfer, it seems to be enough for me. My reloads seem like they are being sucked in compared to the SS cylinder. kelso Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
festus1 Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Randy Lee put the Ti cylinders in my guns so I'm not sure what was done to fit them, but they were chamfered quite a lot. I had the cylinders coated with Birdsong's black T coating and that totally cured the cases from sticking. On the 25-5 I sent the whole cyl assembly and the yoke for coating. I haven't had a problem with cases sticking since. The turn around time was less than a month and the cost less than $30 for the whole assembly incl shipping back. The 8" model 25 weighs 44.8 ozs with the Ti cyl. Here is a picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 You have an 8" 25-2? I am soooo jealous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
festus1 Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 You have an 8" 25-2? I am soooo jealous. Well, actually it started out as a 25-5 in .45 Colt. Randy set the barrel back and made it a .45 ACP. I don't know if an 8 3/8" 25 was ever made in ACP? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted January 25, 2008 Author Share Posted January 25, 2008 I know of several 25-2s and 625s that were retrofitted with 8-3/8" 25-5 barrels. I think Herb Beck had the first one of those I ever saw..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bwana Six-Gun Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Randy Lee put the Ti cylinders in my guns so I'm not sure what was done to fit them, but they were chamfered quite a lot. I had the cylinders coated with Birdsong's black T coating and that totally cured the cases from sticking. On the 25-5 I sent the whole cyl assembly and the yoke for coating. I haven't had a problem with cases sticking since. The turn around time was less than a month and the cost less than $30 for the whole assembly incl shipping back. The 8" model 25 weighs 44.8 ozs with the Ti cyl. Here is a picture. That is so SWEET. I may have to start hunting for a barrel and send one of mine to Randy to have that done. It looks incredibly cool. Does it shoot as good as it looks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R112mercer Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Bob Perdue (slflr) has a 8" 625. I think he said it transitioned a little slow. Bob? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted January 27, 2008 Author Share Posted January 27, 2008 Rob, I think you're right. That was my experience with the long-tubed 25-2 as well. It was pretty good for bowling pins, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
festus1 Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 That is so SWEET. I may have to start hunting for a barrel and send one of mine to Randy to have that done. It looks incredibly cool. Does it shoot as good as it looks? It does shoot quite well. On shorter range steel courses my 4" 625 is faster, but on stages with farther targets the 8" is great. There are trade offs for both. Major loads in the 8 inch feel quite soft and almost pleasant compared to the 4". I looked for just a barrel for a long time and finally ended up just going with an 8" 25-5 in 45 Colt that Randy then converted to ACP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheetahs Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 I just heard from a guy who's interested in having me do some work on his 625-8, and part of what he wants done is to have a Ti cylinder installed and chambers chamfered. Two questions for those with direct experience in this: 1. Is installing a Ti cylinder in a 625-8 as simple as switching over the original ejector star, and putting it all back together? If not, what else did you need to do to get things running with the Ti cylinder? 2. How are you chamfering the chambers on the Ti cylinder? Hi Mike In 2007 I installed 6 ti cylinders on different guns from new 4inch 625 to a 25-2 6.5 inch Here is what I have found. The cylinder from smith comes with a pre fitted star. the cylinder is also champhered at the factory pre-treating. The champher is better than the first one they created that had reasonably no champhering before they were coated. (I think Jerry had a say in that.) fitting the cylinder is different on every gun. the modern frames the task is a little simpler than the hammer firing pin guns. The star has to be cut for timing(they are oversized from factory) Some guns you will need to stretch the crane and some older guns you may have to remove a couple of thoushands off the forcing cone I have not heard of sticking in any of the newer Ti cylinders I do know the original Ti cylinders had this problem. Hope this helps Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted January 27, 2008 Author Share Posted January 27, 2008 It does, Gary. Thanks to everybody who chimed in to help me out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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