AzShooter Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 I finally had a chance to go out and bench my 627 after a long time of shooting the same loads. They used to print into 1.5 inches at 25 yards from the bench all day but lately I've had problems hitting even easy targets. Benching was the logical way to see if it's me or the gun. Probably me anyway. Well I tried my old faithful load and it wouldn't keep shots into 5 inches at 25 yards. I then tried going up and down in powder charge by .10 grains for a full 1/2 grain charge and tried four different bullets. Best I could do was 2.5 X 3 inches with a lead bullet and 3.8 grains of powder. 4 inches to 4.5 would be the average with all other loads. I'm starting to think I need a new gun. This one only has about 80K rounds through it. All lead and all minor. The barrel has no lead in it and has been tottally cleaned. Benching my other .38 still produced my normal groups of 1.5 to 2 inches but it's not an 8 shot. What do you feel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 If nothing is going on in the throats of the chambers, barrel forcing cone and muzzle crown it ought to shoot fine. 80K isn't that much for a revolver. I assume it still locks up tight and times OK? Shoot some softer lead bullets. It will probably help a lot. Commercial cast bullets are at least twice as hard as they need to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 Totally cleaned as in electrochemically? (Outers Lead Out) Otherwise it's not nearly as clean as you think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
357454 Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 I would try using slightly larger diameter bullets, one of my guns was keyholeing the occsaional shot and about as accurate as a shot gun. I changed from 357 to 358 diameter bullets, the keyholeing went away and the group size was cut in half. Also take a look at the muzzle, if the crown does not look perfect spend a few bucks and have it recrowned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 What am I missing here? Can't you just replace the barrel? I cracked a forcing cone in a .38 S&W once and just bought a new barrel. Is that not possible here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuzinvinny Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 Are you trying to tell us you actually need a reason to buy a new gun Actually your gun sounds like my last truck. One of the timing gears broke. My mechanic told me he could drop in a new motor to keep it running, but was quick to point out that there were no guarantees on the transmission, rear end, etc. If it were me, after 80K I'd be thinking about a new gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revchuck Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 Shoot some softer lead bullets. It will probably help a lot. Commercial cast bullets are at least twice as hard as they need to be. +1. Swaged RNLs are the perfect hardness for minor. My record is 750 rounds in one day with no leading - none - using Zero 158 grain RNLs. Hornady and Speer should work as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzShooter Posted May 24, 2008 Author Share Posted May 24, 2008 Thanks to all. I'll try some different lead and see if I can find .358 sized. The barrel is clean, crown is in perfect shape, throat has been checked. All looks good. An excuse to buy a new gun. Now that's an idea. Gotta use that Uncle Sam's money on something. There still may be hope because when I tested Sellor and Bellot .38 wadcutters they printed a nice 1 1/4 inch group. It could be my crimping, I'll try that next. Thanks again for all the advise. More things to try and I love the testing phaze of shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhgtyre Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 Talk to Rudy at Billy Bullets. He has bullets of varying diameters and should be able to set you up with what you need. -Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyinAZ Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 I agree. call Rudy and order up some 135 gr in .358, put in 3.5 to 3.7 gr of solo 1000 powder and go see how it shoots. if it wont shoot with that, buy a barrel or a new gun. i have done a bit of work with the loads and the .358's shoot the best. www.billybullets.com i am not sure what bullet you shoot now, buy Billybullets are the ONLY way to go for lead, my opinion. let me know how it works for ya or if you find another problem. have you checked the timing and lockup?? will you be down for sundays match?? Hi Lary!! Scott Shepherd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 (edited) I'm starting to think I need a new gun. This one only has about 80K rounds through it. All lead and all minor. The barrel has no lead in it and has been tottally cleaned. Benching my other .38 still produced my normal groups of 1.5 to 2 inches but it's not an 8 shot. What do you feel? The cylinder may be not locking up tight or it may be locking slightly out of line due to wear at the hand and frame window. That does affect accuracy and it can be fixed by a smith who knows what he's doing. Edited May 28, 2008 by bountyhunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 The cylinder may be not locking up tight or it may be locking slightly out of line due to wear at the hand and frame window. That does affect accuracy and it can be fixed by a smith who knows what he's doing. Of course, it starts to get tough to fix when the center-pin hole in the frame gets worn into sort of an egg shape. You can generally tighten everything else back up, but that problem requires the installation of a special bushing (which I'm told the factory no longer will do), or a welding and redrilling job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhgtyre Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 I agree. call Rudy and order up some 135 gr in .358, put in 3.5 to 3.7 gr of solo 1000 powder and go see how it shoots. if it wont shoot with that, buy a barrel or a new gun. i have done a bit of work with the loads and the .358's shoot the best. www.billybullets.com i am not sure what bullet you shoot now, buy Billybullets are the ONLY way to go for lead, my opinion. let me know how it works for ya or if you find another problem. have you checked the timing and lockup?? will you be down for sundays match?? Hi Lary!! Scott Shepherd I have some of the 160gr .358's and they are really nice bullets. Unfortunately I can't seem to make ICORE powerfactor using the Trail Boss powder I bought. I am sure they will make it with another powder but I am not going to change this close to the IRC. -ld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebg3 Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 Measure your chamber throats/mouths and whatever those measure is what size bullet you need to shoot. In a Ruger .44mag of mine, they measure .431 so I size to .431 even though the barrel is .429. This makes a large difference in accuracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kframe_mike Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 The cylinder may be not locking up tight or it may be locking slightly out of line due to wear at the hand and frame window. That does affect accuracy and it can be fixed by a smith who knows what he's doing. Of course, it starts to get tough to fix when the center-pin hole in the frame gets worn into sort of an egg shape. You can generally tighten everything else back up, but that problem requires the installation of a special bushing (which I'm told the factory no longer will do), or a welding and redrilling job. FYI,we've got a machinist in our neck of the woods that can do that bushing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 (edited) The cylinder may be not locking up tight or it may be locking slightly out of line due to wear at the hand and frame window. That does affect accuracy and it can be fixed by a smith who knows what he's doing. Of course, it starts to get tough to fix when the center-pin hole in the frame gets worn into sort of an egg shape. You can generally tighten everything else back up, but that problem requires the installation of a special bushing (which I'm told the factory no longer will do), or a welding and redrilling job. Come on now, you knew I wasn't talking about the factory when I said: That does affect accuracy and it can be fixed by a smith who knows what he's doing. Just kidding..... you're right, if the frame is hosed that makes it a lot tougher. Edited May 28, 2008 by bountyhunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzShooter Posted May 28, 2008 Author Share Posted May 28, 2008 I agree. call Rudy and order up some 135 gr in .358, put in 3.5 to 3.7 gr of solo 1000 powder and go see how it shoots. if it wont shoot with that, buy a barrel or a new gun. i have done a bit of work with the loads and the .358's shoot the best. www.billybullets.com i am not sure what bullet you shoot now, buy Billybullets are the ONLY way to go for lead, my opinion. let me know how it works for ya or if you find another problem. have you checked the timing and lockup?? will you be down for sundays match?? Hi Lary!! Scott Shepherd I'll be there Sunday. I've been using the 160 gr Billy Bullets for a while but think I'll swith to the 135s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenwick Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 why not just put a price on it. after 80k you certainly deserve a new model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irq23 Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 Have Marty or Derrick at Accuracy check it out and make sure everything is in order. Something obviously has changed if your old loads that were accurate before are no longer shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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