How do I slug a revolver?

Jericho

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Or, how do I slug any firearm that dosen't allow access through the chamber to the crown? I have a revolver that needs slugging.

Also I'm not sure where to get a slug. I was thinking of making one. I need one .363 in diameter. The closest drillbit I can find to drilling one out is 9.25mm and that. .3642...
 
With a revolver, the size of the chamber mouths can be more important then the barrel, best slug material, would be assortment of egg sinkers(dif. sizes) these are the ones with the hole in the middle and are very soft.
 
I believe it is best done by slugging both the forcing cones in the cylinder and slugging the bore. If your forcing cones are much smaller than the bore, they will need to be opened up for best accuracy, elseways your bullets get shaved & swaged in the cylinder and become undersized to the bore.

I've never had to do it, though, so I can't comment on HOW. Maybe a very short rod with a strong T-handle that sticks way out to the sides?
 
Oil barrel and drive slightly oversized soft lead slug down barrel with cyl. out of the way. Use wood dowel or alum., brass rod to drive slug, do the same with cyl.
 
I am assuming that you want to slug your Enfield revolver but this will work with any revolver.

Get a pure soft lead (or close to it) bullet that is close to the size that you need and squeeze it in a vise end for end so that it squishes the bullet out and thus making it fatter than the size you need. Don't need much just enough so it is a bit fatter than the end of the bore.

Oil the barrel really good and you can also put a bit of oil on the fat bullet.

Place the revolver in a well padded vise with the barrel up. It is easier to just remover the cylinder on a revolver to get it out of the way.

Now with a plastic hammer or a piece of wood taped to the end of a hammer to protect the barrel, just lightly tap the bullet into the barrel till it is about flush with the end. Use a piece of brass rod about 3/8" in diameter (buy it at home depot, only need a foot or so) and tap the bullet thru the barrel until it comes out the other end.

Some barrels are a pain in the back side to try and use a micrometer/caliper on because they have an odd number of lands/grooves. What you are trying to do is measure across the lands (the fat parts) which are actually the grooves in the barrel to get the correct size.

Now take that slug that you just drove thru the barrel and drop it in the loading end of the cylinder and see if it comes out the throat of the cylinder. Try it in every cylinder and see what you get. Ultimately what you want is a barrel that is 1 or 2 thou. smaller that the throats on your cylinder. If the bullet will pass thru all 6 cylinders with no resistance or just a slight amount than you can smile. If the slug will not go thru a cylinder or all 6 then we have a problem because the cylinders are smaller than the barrel and you will do good to hit a 8"x11" target at 20 yards. What it means is the bullet will be squeezed upon ignition of the round thru the throat and will bounce around down the barrel before exiting. This was a common problem on Ruger Blackhawks/Vaquero's/Redhawks made in the 90's and some Italian 1873 clones, the cylinder throats were smaller than the barrel. Have a gunsmith open up the throats to at least 2 thou over the barrel size and you will be amazed at the accuracy you will get from it.

I bought a Ruger Super Blackhawk that had been traded at least 4 times and was officially considered a dud, couldn't make it hit a milk jug at 25 yards twice in a row. I bought it for parts because i wanted the grip handle. When I slugged the barrel it measured .430" and when I took the slug it wouldn't go thru any of the cylinders. When I measured each of the throats they were all over the place 2-.427, 2-.428 and the last two were .429. Well no wonder it was a dog at the range. I had the cylinder bored out to .432 and using .432 bullets it will hold all six shots inside 2 inches at 25 yards any day of the week.

I size all my revolvers to the size of the throat for best accuracy.
 
The critical measurement for accuracy in a revolver is the cylinder throat as hunter64 has stated so well. If however the bore size is so much bigger than the throat size that the bullet is unable to form a good gas seal it is unlikely that the gun will ever shoot well. It is possible to find a vintage Colt SAA .32-20 with a .308" throat and a .313" bore and similar problems have been reported with .38-40's, .44-40's, and .45 Colts. The cure here is to ream the cylinder throat slightly, or to use very soft bullets that will obturate under gas pressure to fill the bore. With respect to accuracy, the .44-40 revolver has always been an ugly step child for this reason, but can shoot in an acceptable fashion with soft lead bullets.

An accuracy enhancement for revolvers is to cut freebore 1.5-2 calibers in length ahead of the forcing cone. The theory is that this allows the bullet to completely enter the barrel and align with the bore before engaging the rifling.
 
Here is how I slug a barrel. I load a soft oversize lead bullet on top of a small charge of pistol powder and shoot at a big pillowsized wad of pillow stuffing stuff. White fluffy stuff looks like cotton balls.

The bullet spins through this stuff and gets caught in it and the drag cause the whole pillow of stuff to fall to earth within 25 yards. The bullet is not damaged by pounding and neither is the barrel.

Works for any kind of gun, long or short.
 
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