Need advice.

[littlejack]

A few months ago, I posted about having a new barrel put on my 57 Smith. I brought the revolver to a gunsmith that was recommended to me by a LGS I had done business with. I ask this guy to leave between .004 to .006 between barrel and cylinder, and cut an 11° forcing cone. Fast forward a couple months. I get a call from him, that the revolver was finished. I brought the it home and done some checking with my feeler gauges. The gap between the barrel and cylinder face, was .010 on one side of the barrel, and .015 on the other. Yep, I called him. He told me to bring it back and he would make it right. He told me, he does not do the machine work himself, he has his "machinist" do the work. Although, he said he would be the one facing the barrel for gap. So, it goes without saying, he didn't even do that. So, I brought the revolver back for him to correct. Fast forward to this Friday last. He called and said it was ready for pick up. I got it back home, and began giving it a good going over. The barrel to cylinder gap was between .002 and .003. A little tight, but I could live with it. Heres what really bothers me. One of those idiots, used a buffing wheel on the face of the cylinder. I was in the steel trade for 40 years, and worked in a lot of machine shops. Anyone knows that if you buff a hole, the edge facing against the direction of the wheel is going to get rounded. Yep, all six (6) holes. I called and confronted him about it. He is sending me my money back. I called another gunsmith, asking If he could repair it. He does not work on other people's screw ups.
Question: Should I leave it alone, and see how it shoots? Should I have a 2-3 thousandths taken off the face of the cylinder to get the chamber faces to what they should be? This would give me the .005 gap I requested. Oh, by the way, it looks like there was "no" cutter used on the face of the barrel to get the proper gap.
Any sound advice would be very appreciated.
Regards
Littlejack

[Winger Ed.]

I'd shoot it and see how it acts first.

[RC46]

yep! agree shoot it. Give it a good test at least a box of shells, then decide.

[Bazoo]

I agree with shooting it to see. Doug does cylinder work, wonder if he'd face it for you.

[megasupermagnum]

So did they re-blue the cylinder? Why on earth would they even touch the cylinder? I would definitely shoot it. There is no reason not to, and you may find it shoots so good it will be a lot easier to forget about any mishaps. I feel any possible rounding couldn't be worse than what happens from normal shooting of the gun.

[littlejack]

The other gunsmith I talked to, also said to shoot it and see how it does. Here's my theory on why they buffed the cylinder face.
Seeing as how there are not even the slightest radius cutter mark's on the barrel face. I believe the (whoever) guy cut one thread to set the barrel back. It was to close of a fit, so rather than finish facing to get the proper gap, he took a file to it to remove more material.
(Yes, theres file mark's on the barrel face.) Then, took a buffing wheel and commenced to removing material. The front of the cylinder looks to have had cold blue used on it.

[Mk42gunner]

Whatever you do, I would not take anything else to that butcher. IMO, if he didn't know how to do the work, he should have been honest with you.

Robert

[littlejack]

Robert
I agree with you 100%. A little professional courtesy would have been real nice. Nope, not ever going to let him work on another of my firearms. And, I will caution others about his butchery.

[Bazoo]

You aught to have a gunsmith fix it, then seek damaged from him.

[Outpost75]

You should post the supposed "gunsmith's" business name as a warning for others. I would not let that guy work on my lawn mower.

[littlejack]

Update:
I received a total refund from the guy. I have ammo loaded to test. Waiting for decent weather.
I'm one of those fellas, that if something isn't right, it contuiously bothers me, especially when I'm using it. So, with that being said, I may still have the cylinder faced off a .002 - .003. I believe the rounded edges on the face of the chambers, will give a good point to gas cutting to start.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Everyone is different about expectations. My 2¢ ...If you shoot it, and it seems fine, and since it will likely continuously bother you, then I'd just sell the gun to hopefully get your money back out of the thing, and move on...maybe look for another 57.


Side Note:
My buddy is one of those fellas, that if something isn't perfect in his mind, it bothers him. But get this, he is the same person who will use a buffing wheel on a cylinder face to remove the carbon/discoloration. I've told him a hundred times, that doing so removes metal that you don't want to remove...for some reason that doesn't bother him, or it's just he doesn't believe me?

[littlejack]

Nope, don't believe I will be sellin my 57.
It'll all work out. Still waiting for decent weather to test it out.

[littlejack]

Well, the barrel stayed put when I pulled the trigger. It didnt have any rotation in the frame. I was shooting 9 and 10 grain loads of Herco under the 410459 swc. The face of the cylinder is rubbing the barrel at two of the chambers. That leads me to believe that the cylinder face is not square.
"Warning, do not bring your firearm to Rangemaster Gun Works in Lebanon Oregon, to have gunsmithing done".