Eroded Taurus .44 mag revolver cylinder.

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

I ran across the photo below, and had to show it. I hope it shows for all. the cylinder is on a 444 UL Titanium .44 Mag 4". By the looks of the cylinder face, there is too large of a barrel to cylinder gap. On the forum that the photo is on, he says it was also cutting into the top strap, or it was 'cracked'. What do you think happened?


444-cyl by matneyw, on Flickr

Photo from:

http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/ta...ul-44-mag.html

[jimbob86]

What do you think happened?

Somebody bought a Taurus. They got what they paid for. TANSTAAFL.

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

The more I look at that pic, it could be a sprung crane, as it looks to be always spitting at the top right, if looking from the front.

[Slopemeno]

Wow. That's pretty wild.

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

In all my years, that is the worst that I have ever seen. If its not the crane out of alignment, it could be the barrels bore off center, and when the bullet hits the start of the rifling, its actually shearing off a ton of lead, and spitting it out. I would say that the top strap was eroded to the point that it did crack while firing. The owner never showed a pic of it, only stating it was cracked.

[g.willikers]

Expect to see it for sale at a local gun show?

[mete]

For guns that are made of titanium there are special coatings .Once the coating is damaged you can get major problems. There are limits to which bullet weight that should be used . Maybe someone can give details an those things ? I hope he destroys the gun.

[FrankenMauser]

Looks like...
out of time,
bent base pin,
twisted crane,
chambers improperly bored in the cylinder,
or some other problem causing the bore and cylinder to be out of alignment.


My father has a POS Taurus .357 that is so bad it'll drop the hammer on the rim of the cartridge occasionally, and has set off several cartridges by striking the very edge of the primer. Needless to say... the forcing cone took some serious hits from those bullets, and sprayed copper and lead all over the place.

He's afraid to sell it, fearing some kind of liability for its condition; but doesn't want to spend even $20 to fix it. So, he keeps shooting the thing....

[g.willikers]

Wasn't it the Texas gunman, John Hardin, who had a six gun in such bad shape that he had to hold the cylinder in place by hand?

[FrankenMauser]

I'd love to see that forcing cone and top strap.

[James K]

The crane may be sprung or the rear of the barrel may have been machined at an angle. I also rather suspect that the owner is using some pretty hot handloads with some pretty nasty powder.

The problem might not be too much barrel-cylinder gap, but too little. Remember, cylinder face and top strap erosion is caused by hot gas being channeled through a small opening (see Signor Bernoulli about this). The condition is alleviated by opening up the gap.

Jim

[jimbob86]

I also rather suspect that the owner is using some pretty hot handloads with some pretty nasty powder.

+1.

Look at the marks on the rear of the frame (recoil shield?) ......

Those are some serious gunbeater loads. I've seen similar marks on brass framed c&b revolvers subjected to 40+ gr of black powder ....

[Old Stony]

I always believed in the old saying "you get what you pay for", but in Taurus's case nowdays you get less than you pay for. I don't understand people paying big money for a cheap product, but it just continues. I'm sure some of their guns are out there doing what they are supposed to, but their failure rate is just too high. I wonder what that forcing cone looks like?
I remember one instance at a friends gun shop where he sold a Judge to a guy when they were first coming out and hot on the market. They guy brought it back right away because he couldn't get a 410 to fit in it. They had the extractor set so far out of alignment that it couldn't be loaded ! It was sent back Taurus and they eventually made it right. If a factory won't even test fire a revolver it is a sad thing.

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

Another thing odd on that cylinder, I just caught, is that a few of the chamber faces don't show being damaged, or if they are, its not much at all, while three are in really bad shape. That would seem to imply that the cylinder face was out of square with the center line, but how could that happen when its turned on a lathe? Surely, they didn't polish the face of the cylinder on a belt, etc. while not holding it square to the belt, and not turn it? Though, to me, it would have had to been held to it for a good bit of time to take away that much metal, unless it was something like 80-100 grit. It seems that it could be either that, or the hardness of the metal varied all over the cylinder, and some chambers eroded more than the others over it. I would think, with using the same ammo, that it would have all be the same.

[FrankenMauser]

I noticed that as well.
That was one of the primary reasons for my previous suggestion of, "...chambers improperly bored in the cylinder..."

Oh. Just for the record...
I don't believe, for one minute, that that revolver only fired 100 rounds, as the original poster claimed.

[madmo44mag]

I've worn the forcing cone out on a pistol and it did not look anything like that!
That gun had 0.057 barrel to cyl gap.
I'm with the group of the cyl holes being bored out of square.

My experience was the cyl did not have much leading but the forcing cone / end of barrel was badly leaded and spit lead and brass out both sides of the cyl from between the cyl gap with the barrel.