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Old November 1, 2020, 06:59 PM   #1
ilmonster
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Cylinder gap flames

I have a Taylor's Smokewagon 45 Colt SAA revolver I recently purchased. I have put just over 100 rounds of reloads through it and love it. Well built, accurate.

The issue I'm having is when firing a round, a reasonable amt. of flames comes out from the cylinder gap. I'm curious why.

Some specifics include:
Cylinder gap - .0015" feeler goes in gap. .0025" won't. So cylinder gap is ~ .002" which doesn't seem to be too wide
Load - Hytech coated 250 RNFP Acme bullets. 6.9 gr. of HP-38 powder. CCI primers, Winchester cases (new).

I haven't noticed any unburnt powder flakes in cylinders (a friends Uberti used to not burn all it's powder, but it was a slower pistol powder than HP-38).

Just curious why the cool flames. My other revolvers I load for don't put on quite the same show. They are a Ruger SuperBlackhawk (load 44 Spcl level loads), GP-100 (.38 loads) and LCR (.38 loads). Thanks!

Last edited by ilmonster; November 1, 2020 at 08:31 PM.
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Old November 1, 2020, 08:21 PM   #2
Aguila Blanca
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A barrel cylinder gap of .002" is actually pretty tight. It might be that the tight gap causes the flame to shoot out farther than a wider gap would -- sort of like putting your thumb over the end of a garden hose to act like a nozzle to send the stream of water farther out.

What are the gaps on the other guns you mentioned?
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Old November 1, 2020, 08:31 PM   #3
ilmonster
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I'll have to measure the other gaps, good idea. Yes, .002" seems to be where it should be. Could be as you describe. Like I said, not a problem, just curious why this revolver does this.
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Old November 2, 2020, 12:05 AM   #4
Driftwood Johnson
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Howdy

.002 is a very tight gap.

.006 - .008 is more common.
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Old November 2, 2020, 10:52 AM   #5
Carmady
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Are the flames about the same all around, or are they more pronounced in one area?
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Old November 2, 2020, 11:50 AM   #6
ilmonster
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The flames are about equal on both the left and right sides of the cylinder.


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Old November 2, 2020, 01:21 PM   #7
Geezerbiker
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Are you using the same powder in all your reloads? It could be as simple as different powders have different burn characteristics.

Tony
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Old November 2, 2020, 02:09 PM   #8
T. O'Heir
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You lit a pile of gun powder. That's going to send the fire through the easiest way out. Regardless of the size of the gap. Your other revolvers do it too. You're just not seeing it.
The Uberti didn't do anything. It's the load that does it. The brand or type of revolver doesn't matter.
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Old November 2, 2020, 02:11 PM   #9
Jim Watson
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I don't know why you are not seeing gap flash on your other revolvers, but it is not a sign that there is anything wrong with this one. Carry on.

Keep it clean, .002" is a very small gap for a mass production revolver and it might be subject to coking up enough to bind rotation.
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Old November 2, 2020, 02:17 PM   #10
Aguila Blanca
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The "Smoke Wagon" is one of Taylor's special products. It's sold as already tuned and optimized for cowboy action shooting competition, which probably explains the tight barrel cylinder gap. They probably assume that these guns will be bought by serious competitors (I have a friend who bought a pair of them for SASS competitions), and that they will be cleaned and maintained accordingly.

https://taylorsfirearms.com/hand-gun...ntm-model.html

Quote:
The Taylor Tuned Smoke Wagon™ comes ready to shoot out of the box featuring a hand polished action and our custom springs. For mounted shooters if extra forcing cone clearance is needed this service must be requested when placing an order. Taylor's gunsmiths custom tune guns specifically for each order. This means that if a standard gun is in stock then we can tune it for your order if we do not have a tuned gun already showing in stock!
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Old November 2, 2020, 07:51 PM   #11
ilmonster
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As Aguila suggested, this is the Deluxe model. Yup, it certainly appears to be a very well made revolver. And as with all my firearms, it will be kept clean.

The powder I use in all my handguns is HP-38. I'm not saying there is anything wrong, it is just interesting that this one is "flamey" where the others are not. It is not an issue by itself. Looks kind of cool! Doesn't keep me from keeping all shots in the black.

Also speaking to its quality, the chambers are all .452", just where they should be. I guess I will just have a flashey gun! Thanks for all the replies gent's!

Last edited by ilmonster; November 2, 2020 at 07:59 PM.
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