chambers larger than barrel

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vikingo

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picked up an old Manhattan pocket revolver. .31 cal Looks nice, all engraved. mechanically functions smoothly. Metal looks great. solid gun. However, all the reading I've done and the vids I've watched on cap'n'ball revolvers says the ball needs to fit tightly in the chamber. And ideally the chamber should shave off a ring of lead from the ball. On this one my .32 cal ball drops straight into the bottom of the chamber. I've never seen anything about using a patch wad in a revolver. Does anyone know if this is normal for .31 cal? The ball fits tightly in the barrel, as it should. I don't understand why the chambers seem so outsized.
Theories? If it was just from ordinairy wear through ordinairy use, then wouldn't the barrel be equally distended? the serial numbers match.... What gives?
Thanks for weighing in.
 
i bought a bacon revolver with matching serial number on the cylinder and frame in .32 but the chamber was in about .38 someone had drilled out the cylinder probably to deactivate it?
 
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vikingo said:
and the vids I've watched on cap'n'ball revolvers says the ball needs to fit tightly in the chamber. And ideally the chamber should shave off a ring of lead from the ball. On this one my .32 cal ball drops straight into the bottom of the chamber.
Theories? If it was just from ordinairy wear through ordinairy use, then wouldn't the barrel be equally distended? the serial numbers match.... What gives?
Thanks for weighing in.
Click to expand...

I think the problem is just quality control at the time the gun was made. I have owned at least 3 cartridge rifles whose bores were dramatically over factory bullet diameters. In your case, I think the question is how much is the chamber oversize. If it is only 2 or 3 thousandths over, it is probably safe to just give your ball a light tap with a hammer before trying to seat it. That tap would increase the ball diameter a bit so that you would get a tight fit. Also I am referring to a tap with the ball sitting on a piece of metal, not while it is in the chamber

cheers mooncoon
 
If it's not more than 5thou over do as mooncoon suggests or find a bigger mold. If it's much more than that I'm not sure what your best plan would be. Probably don't want to invent a way to patch them.

What size are your balls?
I had a friend with a .36 cap and ball revolver that uses .375" balls then buy a .36 muzzleloading rifle. At first thought he could use the same balls but the muzzleloader uses a .350" ball. The 2 types of gun are measured differently.
 
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I could see someone trying to flatten a ball while it's in the chamber. :) Same guy who saws off the tree branch he's sitting on. Good idea, but I wonder if the added width would get the ball wedged in the barrel. A squib, or worse. l guess l'd have to measure the size difference between the barrel and chamber before doing any experimenting.
thanks.
 
A bigger ball won't cause squibs but could raise pressure. Soft lead deforms easily but this isn't a modern steel gun either so no need to push it too much.

When comparing the sizes you want the ball to be at least the same diameter or a few thou over the groove diameter not just the bore diameter. Sorry if you know all this but not sure how versed you are in slugging the barrel or cast bullet sizing.
 
vikingo said:
I could see someone trying to flatten a ball while it's in the chamber. :) Same guy who saws off the tree branch he's sitting on. Good idea, but I wonder if the added width would get the ball wedged in the barrel. A squib, or worse. l guess l'd have to measure the size difference between the barrel and chamber before doing any experimenting.
thanks.
Click to expand...

It won't wedge.
Got a Bulldog that uses the bbl as a forcing cone...tapers from .429 to .405 in 2.5".
Use Pure lead
 
vikingo said:
I could see someone trying to flatten a ball while it's in the chamber. :) Same guy who saws off the tree branch he's sitting on. Good idea, but I wonder if the added width would get the ball wedged in the barrel. A squib, or worse. l guess l'd have to measure the size difference between the barrel and chamber before doing any experimenting.
thanks.
Click to expand...

tapping the ball while it is in the chamber would mostly compress the powder and probably make no change in the ball diameter. It has been a while since I shot it, but I think it is my Hall rifle that needs a ball slightly larger than my mold. A light tap on the ball that I do have (while sitting on a heavy piece of iron, increases the diameter by a few thousandths and the gun shoots fine because it compresses down slightly once in the barrel

cheers mooncoon
 
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