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x101airborne
11-09-2010, 08:23 PM
my local gunny had a model 15 for sale for 350.00 with 98% finish, full target grips, trigger job, and 6" barrel. bought it. it shot j bullets pretty well at 25 yards, around 3 inches. Cast boolits went all to hell, around 5 inches. That wont hunt. slugged bore, it measured .3575 with no variance between muzzle and crown. Slugged throats, .3557. Well there ya go. Got the dremmel barrel sanders and a wooden dowel to open throats. Opened them to .358 after polishing. Shot it today with Lyman 140 gr. swc and 2.0 gr bullseye for a very rewarding 1 1/2" group with me pulling one out. Shot it again and got a beautiful, actual, true 1" group. Repeated around 4 times. All groups went from 1" - 1 3/4". Hot dang boys, we got a shooter!!

63 Shiloh
11-09-2010, 08:49 PM
Good to hear mate,

Would you mind explaining how you opened up your cylinder throats?

I want to do the same with one of my wheelguns.

OT, I met a few blokes from your Division when I was in the Australian Army, Infantry. Not too bad of a bunch of 'splat cats' :-P

Mike

x101airborne
11-09-2010, 09:23 PM
I served with a lot of the Auzzies in Kosovo. owe many of the enlisted my life, and one captain a 30 round mag. i used a wooden dowel chucked in a drill press with a Dremmel barrel sander on the end. The wooden dowel was not centered and wobbled a little. I removed the cylinder from the weapon and held it on the dowel, oiling like crazy. Got a nice even, round throat. polished with 1000 grit. Worked wonderfully!!

TCLouis
11-09-2010, 10:27 PM
I wonder how many inaccurate revolvers are the result of cylinder throat/barrel ID mismatch?

x101airborne
11-09-2010, 10:55 PM
I think most of em.....

dualsport
11-10-2010, 02:12 AM
I know that gun is a beauty. I just read an old TFS article by Ed Harris discussing the merits of different revolvers for bullseye shooting. Claimed the S&W with it's 18 3/8 twist won't shoot as well at 50 yds. as a Colt with a 14" twist, but they're fine for 25 yds. The way your gun is shooting I think you could prove an exception to that statement. I'd be curious to know if that accuracy holds up at 50.

x101airborne
11-10-2010, 07:44 AM
dualsport, me too. The wind was just starting to blow and i didn't have enough time to move back to 50 before it really picked up. I guess im just picky or spoiled, but Im so tired of revolvers that wont group under 3 - 4 inches at 25 yards. I have autos that will shoot 3 - 4 inches with anything you feed em. I have a colt python near new condition that dont shoot for nothin. if it wasn't my fathers at one time, id ship it down the road. This is really what fuels me to cast is reducing my groups with my revolvers. just figure the more i learn about my weapons, the better my boolits will group!

Shiloh
11-10-2010, 11:23 AM
Pictures??

Shiloh

x101airborne
11-10-2010, 11:30 AM
Another of my handicaps is my computer literacy. I have tried to post pics on here several times and cannot seem to figure it out. is there a tutorial? instruction manual? SOP? I like sharing pics and they make the posts more interesting. If someone can give me a block of instruction, i would like to share my photos.

beagle
11-10-2010, 12:41 PM
Great score on the M15. I picked up a used "cop gun" about 10 years back and it has become the "wife's gun" along with a Model 18 .22 LR.

Mine came to me as a good shooter and is not picky at all about cast reloads. I can shoot it DA almost as well as I can SA.

You got a gem there.

Also ex 101st Airborne./beagle

a.squibload
11-11-2010, 04:58 AM
...I have tried to post pics on here several times...

I'm no expert but sent you a PM with my miserable tutorial, from trial and error, heavy on the error!

Also poke around the Test area, here's a thread with the same question:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=96867

StrawHat
11-11-2010, 06:49 AM
I don't believe there were many M15s built with 6" barrels. If yours is from the factory, you've got a nice one!

fecmech
11-11-2010, 03:07 PM
I know that gun is a beauty. I just read an old TFS article by Ed Harris discussing the merits of different revolvers for bullseye shooting. Claimed the S&W with it's 18 3/8 twist won't shoot as well at 50 yds. as a Colt with a 14" twist, but they're fine for 25 yds. The way your gun is shooting I think you could prove an exception to that statement. I'd be curious to know if that accuracy holds up at 50.

The 14" twist is probably an advantage shooting 600-700 fps wadcutters which the old BE shooters used to do. My 18 3/8 K-38 will stay inside the 10 ring (but not the "X" ring) on a 50 yd BE target with 700 fps wc's. Once you bump the speed up a little to 800-900 fps I don't think the Colt twist has any advantage.

9.3X62AL
11-11-2010, 03:32 PM
I wonder how many inaccurate revolvers are the result of cylinder throat/barrel ID mismatch?

I think Ruger 45 Colts from the 1990s call that a "product characteristic". I have one such offender, and opening the throats to .453" (from .448"-.449") to mesh with its .452" grooves turned the revolver (BisHawk) from a "One-Boolit Wonder" into a delightful and accurate handgun.

A Model 15 x 6".......that is an unusual example, most 6" examples were/are Model 14s. Never say "never", never say "always" when it comes to nomenclature, though. Possibly a re-barrel, but a factory letter could confirm that.

MtGun44
11-11-2010, 08:09 PM
I, too, have a 6" model 15, which they alegedly didn't make, and definitely didn't
catalog. I asked around and found that often PDs would order a large
batch of M15s (std 4") for the force and specify a small number of 6" bbl versions with a
target front sight for the BE or PPC teams.

Sounds plausible, I suppose the only way to verify would be to find a retired
PD RO or purchasing officer that could corroborate it. The cyl throat dimensional
issue surprises me because I have owned around 10-12 different .38 Spl/.357 Mag
S&W revolvers and all have gauged .357 or .358 with gauge pins.

Bill