Anyone know gunsmiths who will make custom cylinders for an X-Frame?

[ReloadingNoob]

I'm looking to find someone who will make a replacement .500 S&W cylinder.

[Ozark mike]

Smith and wesson if ya send it to em

[ReloadingNoob]

I'm looking for a custom cylinder designed for 1.875 long cartridges with a COAL of 2.320 and made out of Vascomax c350, or any of the other 350 series maraging steels. I'm not sure the performance center at S&W would be willing to make that/

[Nobade]

Hamilton Bowen can make a cylinder, but what are you trying to achieve?

[reddog81]

Hamilton Bowen can make a cylinder, but what are you trying to achieve?

I'm guessing it related to this - http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?407292-Replacement-metal-for-reloadable-cartridges-cases-meant-for-extremely-high-pressure

I guess 60,000 PSI isn't hot enough for some people. He has another thread asking about custom brass makers other than RCC Brass because $4 a piece is too much...

[DougGuy]

Afaik there is a federal law prohibiting greater than 50 caliber in a handgun, somehow they skirted it with .510" for the Linebaugh, so when this is lifted then the most curious shooters can go to a .600" or a .700" bore at 60kpsi and still be safe with known high tensile steels. Until then, some feel the need to take the 50 to pressures equal to 5x tjhe depth of the Marianas Trench.

[ReloadingNoob]

Yes, I sent out an email to Bowen so I'll what they say when they get back to me. Does anyone know how to contact Jack Huntington at JRH Advanced Gunsmithing? I checked the website for a contact email but couldn't seem to find one.

[John Ross]

Under normal circumstances, I might point out the irony of a poster who calls himself "ReloadingNoob," and who, with a grand total of 33 posts here, is asking about having a custom .500 S&W cylinder made that will tolerate 95K pressures on a regular basis.

Since I have just subjected myself to constant bashing on another gun forum that seems to be comprised mainly of people who appear to hate me, these are not normal circumstances, and I'll answer the question as reasonably as I can.

First of all, assuming that someone could make a cylinder for the .500 that would be strong enough and have enough margin of safety that it could operate on a regular basis at 95,000 psi, and further assuming that cases could be had that will hold up at this pressure level, what do you hope to accomplish?

Let's do some estimates with Quickload. In a 5 inch barrel .500 with a tight cylinder gap, you can get slightly over 2000 FPS at 60,000 psi with a 400 grain long nose, short shank bullet loaded to an overall length of 2.320 inches. A 725 grain bullet can be driven to about 1185 FPS in this gun at the same pressure. These are loads that I have actually shot, chronographed, and had pressure tested. The 725 grain load is 28 grains of a non-canister surplus ball powder that gives 98% loading density.

(As an aside, the muzzle energy of the 725 grain load is much lower than that of the 400 grain load, because the usable case capacity is much lower due to how deeply the bullet needs to be seated.)

Let's take that 725 grain load and add powder until Quickload tells us that the pressure would be 95,000 psi. To do that, we need to raise the charge weight to 31.5 grains, which is a slightly compressed load. Quickload says the pressure would be 94,000 PSI and the velocity 1310 FPS.

We have just gone to a huge amount of trouble to get an additional 125 FPS. This extremely high pressure 725 grain load gives us an energy of 2760 Foot-pounds.

By going to a long nose, short shank bullet of 590 grains, we can get 1450 FPS at 60,000 PSI for 2750 foot-pounds of energy. Again, this is a load I have shot, chronographed, and had pressure tested. We are ten foot-pounds away from the hypothetical 95,000 PSI load using an unmodified, already available gun.

I ask again, what are you trying to accomplish?

JR

[snowwolfe]

Yes, I sent out an email to Bowen so I'll what they say when they get back to me. Does anyone know how to contact Jack Huntington at JRH Advanced Gunsmithing? I checked the website for a contact email but couldn't seem to find one.

IMO Jack doesn’t provide an email because he prefers to talk on the phone. Call him up if you are serious.