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May 17, 2010
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Soooo,
if you have been following my saga I have been swapping cylinders among three 15-2's (plus a spare cylinder and crane). Tonight I was back at it trying to make the final swap:
Swap a cylinder that is too "tight" to allow anything but the smallest .357 load round in it. My practice has been to keep the "extractor" with the frame and keep the cylinder with the crane... keeping them as a set. That practice failed tonight and thus gives me a riddle.. that may be answered by our DW 15-2 collectors!
As it turns out not only is the "tight" cylinder too tight for .357's it also has an extractor with smaller "studs" and within the cylinder the pinned piece in the front of the cylinder has smaller notches to receive the studs on the back of the extractor. Due to this although the extractors would swap, the .357 extractor with the larger studs would not sit flush in the cylinder and therefore the cylinder could not be closed.
And so fellow DW 15-2 collectors... can we demostrate a real pattern here:
do all .38 caliber 15-2 have a matched set of exctractor/cylinder such that a .357 extractor will not fit and function with the .38 cylinder??
Pine wants to know!!!
Soap Box, Ballot Box, Ammo Box
in that order.
4 Monson Model 15's
1 Palmer FB 15
1 Rossi 357 Model 92 (lever)
1 CZ 75B
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Range Officer
Range Officers
May 2, 2009
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First of all, I gotta ask... do you have a true 38 cylinder? or just a tight 357 cylinder?
I'll take a look at my 38's this week.
SHOOT
May 17, 2010
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SHOOTIST357 said:
First of all, I gotta ask... do you have a true 38 cylinder? or just a tight 357 cylinder?
I'll take a look at my 38's this week.
SHOOT
Excellent question. The answer is.... I dunno. The gun was bought used, the 4" BA is marked .357CTG... therefore the answer SHOULD be NO. It should be a .357. However, I have 5 cylinders... all from 15-2 .357 ( as marked on the shroud) and yet this is the only cylinder that both will not take most .357 rounds AND has a small stud extractor.
Note: it will take both 110gr and 125gr .357 most times, 158gr ( ie 158 JHP) is hit or miss. 180gr cast.. 98% it will NOT take them.
Note that I have used a Stainless steel "torpedo", as well as 0000 steel wool on a .357 brush to attempt to "polish it out". No luck.
Soap Box, Ballot Box, Ammo Box
in that order.
4 Monson Model 15's
1 Palmer FB 15
1 Rossi 357 Model 92 (lever)
1 CZ 75B
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Range Officer
Range Officers
May 2, 2009
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If it takes ANY 357 round it is a 357 cylinder. A 38 cylinder is not reamed deep enough to accept an empty 357 case.
SHOOT
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Dans Club
February 22, 2009
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I'm going to guess there was a bit of hand fitting at the factory. Typically, 1911s of the same era were finished by hand, so it stands to reason, the same occurred with revolvers, right? Regarding a different type of extractor/ cylinder; I submit that maybe there was a tooling change around the time that particular wheel gun was made. That could explain the sizing differences... but, the bottom line is- I'm just guessing.
Technically, the glass is always full; half liquid, half air....
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January 24, 2009
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Pinetor said:
...and yet this is the only cylinder that both will not take most .357 rounds AND has a small stud extractor.
It sounds like you're describing this style of extractor.
This cylinder & ejector rod is from a Porkchop, so if you have one in a 15-2, that means someone has done some swappin' at some point...but that doesn't mean that it shouldn't chamber a .357 case. Are you using factory ammo or reloads?
Ron's got a good point, some of my DW cylinders do have some variation in bore size & may have had some hand fitting done. A while ago, I screwed up the final crimp on a batch of my .357 reloads & ended up bulging the top of the cases a little. Most of those from that batch did not fit in any of my guns, however I do have a 15 Porkchop that seems to have "loose cylinder bores", that would accept the bulged cases (had to shove them in). So that's the gun I used for all 200 rounds. I watch my crimps more closely now.
Maybe you just have a cylinder with tight bores? I imagine a gunsmith could ream the bores to a usable size for you.
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Dans Club
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November 17, 2008
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Maybe you just have a cylinder with tight bores?
I would first start with checking the ammo although I imagine you have already. This reminds me of a friend who recently started casting his own bullets and is using the tumble lube type. He lubed some bullets twice and that made enough difference in case diameter as so they would not chamber in one of his guns. I realise this is probably not your issue but it speaks to how little tollerence for variation there is.
LB
Wisdom is merely the realization of how little one knows, therefore I am wise.
Range Officer
Range Officers
Dans Club
March 27, 2009
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I think you may have a pork chop 38 mixed in and as CF said the older ones may not be to speaks as the newer 2's! Not sure on any of this! Do you have 15-2's that are working now?
November 12, 2011
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Hmmm, Thinking a little out of the box here but it seems to me.
A, You seem to have enough .357s.
B, You are not opposed to moving parts around.
C, Have a part that is to troublesome to use.
If it were me and I was spending your money I would contact Reeder Guns and check as to the possibabilty of a rechamber to his 356 GNR round.
Now that would add some versatility to the pile.
May 17, 2010
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needsmostuff said:
Hmmm, Thinking a little out of the box here but it seems to me.
A, You seem to have enough .357s.
B, You are not opposed to moving parts around.
C, Have a part that is to troublesome to use.
If it were me and I was spending your money I would contact Reeder Guns and check as to the possibabilty of a rechamber to his 356 GNR round.
Now that would add some versatility to the pile.
I will let A slide as you may not have a case of DWAS yet! 
Moving parts, tinkering... all seem to be part of DW ownership... no I can't leave enough alone, I blame all the pics of awesome DW's with Hard chrome cylinders and custom barrels...
As this is a small frame the 356 GNR is out of the question.
thanks for the ideas though.... I shall push forward!!!
Soap Box, Ballot Box, Ammo Box
in that order.
4 Monson Model 15's
1 Palmer FB 15
1 Rossi 357 Model 92 (lever)
1 CZ 75B
May 3, 2011
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Pinetor the mad scientist will create something unique in all this. It's good to seek out these idiosyncrasies between DWs. It will help someone down the road I'm sure. 
November 12, 2011
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While re-reading the post it occurred to me that the troublesome cylinders issue may stem from tight chamber throats. Sounds like the brass fits fine, it's the longer bullets that are hanging you up. If you can access a set of pin gauges it is easy to check and a simple ream to standardize. Single action guys have this issue all the time.
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January 24, 2009
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needsmostuff said:
While re-reading the post it occurred to me that the troublesome cylinders issue may stem from tight chamber throats. Sounds like the brass fits fine, it's the longer bullets that are hanging you up. If you can access a set of pin gauges it is easy to check and a simple ream to standardize. Single action guys have this issue all the time.
That's not a bad idea, you may be on to something.
February 4, 2012
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I'm just about through reading everything on the forum so my apologies for picking up an old thread, but I just found this one.
Lacking pin gauges, a quick and dirty way of checking throat diameters is to use miked cast bullets of different sizes to check for fit- that is how I do things and it will get you very close. Jacketed bullets are usually on the smaller size if the cast ones are too tight. If nothing you've got is big enough you can remove the cylinder, place it face-down on a solid bench, drop a lead bullet in the hole, then carefully using a brass drift and a hammer upset the bullet to fill the hole. When the bullet just requires a push to move measure the end you pounded on since it will spread first and Voila- using only outside measuring tools you now have the inner measurement. Pounding too hard might actually expand the steel but I think it would take less attention than folks here would give it so I'd say not to worry as long as you're being careful.
To check for 38 vs 357 chambering another down-and-dirty method I use is to use a fired case from a full-house 357 load. The casing has expanded and should not seat in a 38 chamber, whereas a crimped or resized case might just make it into the taper and seem OK but be tight enough to wreak havoc with pressures.
Phil
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