I have a GP100 357 that I have only shot 38's in it. I wanted to reload and shoot some 357's in it. I have heard about the burn ring you get in the cylinder from shooting the 38's. I cleaned the cylinder really good several times. I dropped a bullet into the cylinder to see if it would fall all the way through, it didn't. I have an old colt 38 cylinder I use for a go no go gauge. I dropped the same bullet into the colt 38 cylinder and it fell through no problem. The bullet can be pushed through the Gp100 cylinder with little effort. My question is should the bullet drop freely through the gp100 cylinder or is it good enough? Any one out there with a GP100 willing to try this and see what happens in your gun please let me know what it does. Thanks Pontiacdm
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It is highly probable you just need some quality powder solvent and some more cleaning with a wire brush to solve your problem. It is not about dropping a bullet through the cylinder. It is about the cylinder accepting a loaded .357 mag round.
Try some more cleaning with the powder solvent and a new wire brush.
I rather suspect this will put your question to rest. I have never seen a .357 mag cylinder that some Hoppe's no. 9 and a wire brush could not fix.
Can you actually see a ring in each chamber? Before you get all upset, see if a .357 mag cartridge case will chamber and eject easily. I shoot both .38's and .357's in mine and have never had a problem. I don't think your bullet test tells you what you think it does.
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i chuck a brass brush that is a bit oversize in a cordless drill.
squirt a lil solvent on it and stick it in there.
takes about 10 seconds per cylinder.
i do it with my .357's and my .454 when i shoot .45colt through it.
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i chuck a brass brush that is a bit oversize in a cordless drill.
squirt a lil solvent on it and stick it in there.
takes about 10 seconds per cylinder.
i do it with my .357's and my .454 when i shoot .45colt through it.
I'm another one that never had a problem with .38 Specials in a .357. Proper cleaning will eliminate any fouling left behind by the .38's. It happened to me in a .45. I bought my Ruger New Vaquero slightly used, and I could tell someone had shot some Schofields out of it because there was lead built up on the steps in the chambers where the cartridge case is supposed to rest, and the rims of the Long Colt cartridges didn't set quite flush against the rear of the cylinder when I inserted them. I scrubbed it good by hand and got all the lead fouling out and the Long Colt cartridges fit like a dream. The Cowboy shooter who owned it before me must have liked the lower recoil of the Schofield round for some reason. I don't. I've shot it with both now and my experience has been that not only do the Long Colt's hit harder, they're more accurate as well.
I did experience problems with a cylinder that only had .38s shot from it. It belonged to a friend of mine and I worked on it for him. There was so many .38s shot out of it, it did leave a "ring " in the cylinder. The expanding casemouth of the round made a ring "into" the steel of the cylinder. I tried the special brass patch and so on to get the lead out of it. It was clean. But, when you fired .357 magnums out of it, the case would expand, into that ring and make getting the cases out very difficult. The cylinder was ruined for firing magnums through. Shooting .38s was ok. He did contact Smith and Wesson and they told him the same thing. (hey, I was actually right-someone tell my wife) He needed to get a new or different cylinder to be able to shoot magnums out of it. A used cylinder will work, provided you take the extractor and guts out of the old one and make sure it all fits. I would think that you would need to steady diet of thousands of .38 rounds to do that to the cylinder.
Dropping a bullet through it doesn't tell you much. Fire some magnums through it after a good cleaning. If the cases hang up and are hard to extract, you have a problem. Any idea on the number of .38s through your GP-100?
This .38/.357 deal is "NOT"something to take lightly.Shooting .38,s in a .357 and not getting the buildup out before using the longer.357 case can lead to high pressures or chamber eruption because of poor bullet release or possibly no release at all. ,,,sam.
The gun was produced in 1989. I have no idea before me how many 38's have been shot in it. I would say at least 1000 38's by me alone. I'll clean it again. I'll try it out when I get my trigger assembly back and let you guys know the results. I'm also going to contact Ruger and see if I can purchase another cylinder and swing out arm just to have a cylinder to shoot 357's in.
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There is a special cleaning kit that includes a rod, heavy brass screen and such, made to clean the build up in the cylinder. Not expensive at all. Try that first to see if you have a problems. Try shooting the magnums first, if they don't stick, no problem. I wish you the best.
I had the same thing in my S&W 66-2. Its nothing to worry with, just use some good solvent and a wire brush. It will take awhile to clean out, but it will come out. Just take your time and keep ramming the brush through and turning it quite a bit.
When I first go this S&W it took me about 1.5 hrs to get it cleaned out good. After getting it cleaned good, make sure you keep it that way and it won't take long to clean.
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