Revolver chamber liners

[McLintock]

Question for you machinists out there, would it be possible to line a revolver cylinder, similar to relining a barrel? I'm asking as I'd like a Ruger Old Model 3 screw .357 in 32-20, and currently the only way to get one is to buy a rather expensive custom cylinder from Bowen Classic Arms. I was thinking if you could bore/ream/drill a cylinder to about 7/16"'s or so, and take tubing that size and with an I.D. of .306" (they're supposed to make tubing in various wall thicknesses and 16 gauge would do it), you could cut the chamber in the tubing and insert it in the cylinder. There would be plenty of cylinder wall thickness left for strength, and if you heated the cylinder and froze the tubing it would be a tight fit which should hold it good. They acruglas some barrel liners in so you could even do that if necessary. I'm sure that machining the liners out of similar steel would be the best, but doing 6 per cylinder may be more expensive than buying the custom one. Just asking and getting thoughts on the fesibility, but you experienced machinists and gunsmith's could give me a much appreciated idea.
Thanks for any insight,
McLintock

[dubber123]

I would think it should work. I'd be more tempted to solder them in, or Loctite Vs. just depending on friction, although that may work just fine. Either way, I would think chambering after would lead to a more accurate end product, eliminating any possible distortion of the chambers.

[MtGun44]

I believe I'd machine a piece of thick walled 4130 tube to the shape
of the chamber plus throat with a snug fit and solder them in with
Brownell's hiforce solder, then chamber the cyl. Make sure to understand
the fairly critical throat dimension issue, vs boolit diam and bbl groove diam
for best chance for accy. You may be very familiar with this, if not, read
various threads on measuring revo throats and fitting boolits, plus revo accy sticky
on the handgun page here.

Good luck.

Bill

[Bret4207]

Brownells sells BH cylinders for this conversion. They're unchambered, but the guide hole is there. No worries about heat treating or anything else that way,

[leftiye]

Askins (sp?) mentioned lining in cylinders in his book on revolvers. I looked, and can't find the book, but IIRC he basically just mentioned it as if it were a given. I think I'd go with a slight interference fit and press them in if I did this (so the liner could gain strength from the cylinder). I also would use a shoulder (maybe the existing chamber mouth) to keep the liner from being pushed forward. A shoulder at the rear is possible, but won't work well in a double action (ejector star).

[McLintock]

Thanks to all for the opinions, seem to be positive. I just had a thought last night after posting and going to bed, you could make the liners, at least for the 32-20, out of a .30 caliber rifle barrel, and I happen to have an old rusted '94 30-30 barrel. Cut a section, turn it in a lathe to your needed O.D., and then chamber after you've installed it in the cylinder. With that, you'd have good steel for the liner; might just give it a whirl. And Bret4207, those cylinders from Bownells are made for the large frame gun, I have one fitted to a .30 Carbine and chambered to 32-20. They're not real high quality cylinders, as the one I got couldn't be line bored due to the pilot holes being off just enough that you couldn't line bore for the small caliber. Again, thanks all for the replies.
McLintock

[Willbird]

The guy to ask is Paco Kelly, he is a 32/20 fan and also a devotee of Ruger Revolvers, and he is a bit crazier than some folks so he would know if it will work and how hot you can load it afterwards without blowing it up. I have emailed him with questions and he answered them :-).

Bill

[Bret4207]

And Bret4207, those cylinders from Bownells are made for the large frame gun, I have one fitted to a .30 Carbine and chambered to 32-20. They're not real high quality cylinders, as the one I got couldn't be line bored due to the pilot holes being off just enough that you couldn't line bore for the small caliber. Again, thanks all for the replies.
McLintock

Oh. Bad news then. If they were that far out did you contact Brownells about it? I missed the differing frame size. If you look at some of the older gunsmithing books they discuss lining the chambers. They all silver soldered them.

[Johnw...ski]

It is possible to line revolver chambers.

Years ago an 1878 Mrc d'Armes St. Etienne 11 mm. French Service revolver was sitting on the counter of my local gun shop, I asked about it and the shop owner said someone had just sold it to him and he would sell it to me for $50 but it had to be a quick deal before he put it in the books. I bought it as a wall hanger since I had little hope of ever finding ammunition for it. After bringing it home and examining it further I noticed that someone had tried to drill out the cylinders. And I mean drill out, it looked like they tried to drill them with a dull 1/2" drill in a drill press.

Since I can never leave well enough alone, I started measuring and scheming. The bore of the barrel was close to .457 and five of the six cylinders were drilled either partially or all the way through. The sixth had not been touched. My plan became to mount the cylinder on a rootary table and using the undrilled chamber as a starting point bore them all out and silver solder liners into the chambers.
The liners were then machined flush with the ends of the cylinder and then bored to accept .45 ACP cartridges headspacing on the mouth of the cartridge and counterbored to accept .45 auto rim.

It all worked fine and I still shoot this revolver to this day.

Remember this was just supposed to be a wall hanger but if you use an actual chamber reamer for the finished chamber and keep the wall thickness to a minimum it should make a fine shooting revolver for a low pressure cartridge like the 32-20.

Good luck,

John

[TAWILDCATT]

John: the french in WW2 opend them up to accept 45 acp but some top straps cracked.I just opened to 45 colt but shorter than scofield. my barrel is .450 so I am shooting SWC 200 gr lead.the gun was made of steel,the first revolver that was.:coffee:[smilie=1:

[Johnw...ski]

John: the french in WW2 opend them up to accept 45 acp but some top straps cracked.I just opened to 45 colt but shorter than scofield. my barrel is .450 so I am shooting SWC 200 gr lead.the gun was made of steel,the first revolver that was.:coffee:[smilie=1:

That's interesting, I have tried hard ball in mine but only once. I usually shoot my target loads, 190 gr. cast boolit and 4.0 gr. bullseye and it seems to be doing fine. I may have been off on the bore diameter though, after all it was more than 30 years ago that I lined those cylinders.

John