Sleeving a revolver cylinder

[docmagnum357]

I know folks used to sleeve barrels when one was shot out, or more likely, rusted out, or to change calibers. I have gotten back into revolvers lately, and I got a hankering for a moon clipped 9mm K frame smith, or maybe an N frame.

Midway lists new cylinders and they are even in stock once in a while. I got to thinking it might be a pretty easy job to ream a cylinder, push in a piece of steel a little undersized and then ream with a 9mm Luger chamber reamer.

I think I remember reading that the old gunsmiths would silver solder the sleve in a barrel, but I may be wrong. Is this a doable job? Could someone press a sleeve in a cylinder, then ream to 9mm chamber? Sounds like it would be a lot easier than making a new cylinder and a fellow could have a dual caliber rig; shoot 9mm when it was available, 38/ 357 when it was available.

Would it work?

[williamwaco]

That sounds pretty expensive.
By the time you buy a revolver, then a cylinder then reamers, then a competent revolver smith,

You can buy a Smith and Wesson 9mm seven shooter revolver straight from S&W.

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product4_750001_750051_827555_-1_757767_757751_757751_ProductDisplayErrorView_Y

[bhn22]

i don't know that I'd do this with a high pressure case. Most of the sleeved barrels I've heard about were 22LR, or some low pressure 25 or 32 caliber chambering. I'd probably try locating a 32 caliber cylinder and simply reaming that out instead. Do remember that the SAAMI pressure spec for the 9mm is the same as the 357 magnum, 35,000 psi. I'd be concerned about the longevity of a K frame so chambered.

[Ragnarok]

I own a Spanish made(think it's a Tracola) S&W clone revolver that was probably made in 8mm French revolver caliber. At some point some reasonably talented gunsmith had sleeved all six chambers and relined the barrel to .22LR. The gun itself is about used-up...but whoever sleeved the chambers and barrel had done an excellent job!

Just shows that it can be done...

[M-Tecs]

A little info on Barrel lining here:

http://www.redmansrifling.com/relining.htm

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?100990-TJ-S-Barrel-liners



Could someone press a sleeve in a cylinder, then ream to 9mm chamber? Sounds like it would be a lot easier than making a new cylinder and a fellow could have a dual caliber rig; shoot 9mm when it was available, 38/ 357 when it was available.

Would it work?

As too would sleeving an N frame cylinder work for a 9mm/357 the answer is yes, however, unless you can do the work yourself it would not be cost effective. A 9mm cylinder would be cheaper and easier. On a K frame the cylinder walls are thin enough that reaming and sleeving may create strength issues.

For a dual caliber rig you still need two cylinders.

[StrawHat]

Several gunsmith will machine an existing cylinder to accept 9mm. They have it worked out, apparently.

[M-Tecs]

More info here:


http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-revolvers-1961-1980/232344-mod-19-convert-9mm.html
“Because the chambers will be tapered with a larger inner diameter after the conversion you won't want to shoot .38s and .357s out of it. The standard pressure .38s will bulge and +Ps and .357s will split the cases, fire forming them to the chambers and making extraction very difficult.”

http://www.tkcustom.com/content/machine.asp


a fellow could have a dual caliber rig; shoot 9mm when it was available, 38/ 357 when it was available.

Would it work?

Sounds like you still need two cylinders.

[StrawHat]

http://www.pinnacle-guns.com/revolver.asp

[M-Tecs]

http://www.pinnacle-guns.com/revolver.asp

**In regard to the caliber conversions, I do not recommend shooting .38/.357 case's in the cylinder once this conversion is done. The cases will fire form to the 9x23 case dimensions and they will most likely stick in the cylinder.

They will shoot, but they will probably stick.

The OP was asking about relining a barrel and sleeving the cylinders for a dual use 38/9mm. Could a 41, 44 or 45 be sleeved and relined to 9mm or 38 the answer is still yes. It would still be an expensive undertaking.

As the links show a standard 38/357 can be reamed to 9mm but it will not be a dual caliber.

[leftiye]

If you ream either a .38 spec. or a .357 to 9mm, there will be no step at the rim/mouth of the 9mm case, but rather a long jump in a approx. .379 chamber until it hits the .358" step of the original chamber at the rear of the chamber mouth. Then the boolit will be too small for the chamber mouths still, unless you use .358 dia. boolits or larger. Won't help accuracy Atall. You can't get either .38 spec or .357 in a 9mm chamber, even the 9X23, they're too long (if the chamber mouth is .356"). You might be able to thread a liner into a chamber and have a tight enough fit to allow full loads without case sticking.

[docmagnum357]

I id it again. I meant I wanted to get another cylinder. I know you can't run 38 in a cylinder that will take 9mm. A rig with a separate crane, yoke and cylinder would be a one screw conversion. Take one cylinder out and put the other in.

One problem I might have is the 9mm reloading dies are usually set up for a .355 bullet, and the chamber throats would be too small as well. I would have to lap the chamber throats to a size bigger than the bore, and I MIGHT have to get a larger expander for the sizing die. You would normally run .358 boolits. .003 bigger.

Now that I think of it, It would be a lot easier to start with a .32 cylinder. I could find a crane/yoke/ cylinder in 32 and be ready to use the reamer.I would still have to fit the thing up, and I Might have to shave the cylinder so the moon clip would clear. Really not as bad as I thought.

The "bolt thrust" would be higher than with a .357. Same pressure, smaller head diameter. K frames will handle 357 stress, no problem with 9mm.

[docmagnum357]

http://www.pinnacle-guns.com/revolver.asp

Now that I see this, I KNOW what to do! $250 is a bargain. Looks like if you send him an extra cylinder, you can get just what want.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

http://www.pinnacle-guns.com/revolver.asp

**In regard to the caliber conversions, I do not recommend shooting .38/.357 case's in the cylinder once this conversion is done. The cases will fire form to the 9x23 case dimensions and they will most likely stick in the cylinder.

They will shoot, but they will probably stick.

The OP was asking about relining a barrel and sleeving the cylinders for a dual use 38/9mm. Could a 41, 44 or 45 be sleeved and relined to 9mm or 38 the answer is still yes. It would still be an expensive undertaking.

As the links show a standard 38/357 can be reamed to 9mm but it will not be a dual caliber.

Lining a high power rifle is frequently done safely and efficiently, and I am sure a revolver barrel could be - to a smaller calibre certainly, and the original calibre maybe. It depends on the relationship between the hole needed to take a thick enough liner, and the diameter of the barrel threads.

Similarly, lining a revolver cylinder to a smaller calibre should be fine, and rimfire conversions are common. But the scope for relining a cylinder are more limited. I've seen the French 11mm M1873 Ordnance revolver lined for their 8mm. round as well as tiny saloon-pistol ones, and that seems to work. I think the large-frame S&W is the only one safe for sleeving to 9mm., and then, for the reasons given, it would have to be a one-cartridge gun. I don't think you can buy a better .45 revolver than an early 20th century peacetime Smith and Wesson, and the military ones come close. But anybody using one to experiment with the .45 Casull or the equivalent is bidding fair to have his head examined by one sort of medical practitioner or another.

You can't just add the total strength of liner, plus total strength left in the cylinder, and still less can you assume that total thickness after equalling total strength before, means same strength as before. You also have to remember that modern high-pressure revolvers depend increasingly on modern steels and heat-treatment of the cylinder, which is hard on reamers and will be impaired by heat. I would want to make a liner duplicating the dimensions of the .45 chamber and lead, so that I didn't have to ream it at all.

Rifle liners are customarily either soft soldered or fixed with the bearing-fitting varieties of Loctite. (Well they were. There are probably high-temperature epoxies which are better now, for it the liner stopped moving on the way in, with Loctite, it was that way for keeps.) Silver solder requires enough heat to undo the heat-treatment of steel, and doesn't flow well enough to coat the inside or the liner first.

If you use soft solder and the liner expands - even little enough to spring back through the elasticity of the steel) - the solder will stay deformed. You need a really good fit, or you end up like the man who wears belt and suspenders, but doesn't make sure they grip his trousers equally well. First one goes pop, and then the other. My inclination (though I've never tried it) would be to turn tapered liners, matching a taper pin reamer of 1/8in taper per foot, and drive them in tight.