what the heck happened ? and can it be fixed ? (RIC clone)

[skneub]

Last year i bought this , I was not having luck getting ammo to fit it.
Turns out I had a 1 in 6 chance of trying the one shown.
Well thats the one I tryed several times.
now i see it fits ..one dont and one just a tiny bit raised still.
Adding info:
It was thru talking to a member about brass that i discovered this.
I have never fired this revolver.


Can it be fixed ?

 

[skneub]

 

[mkrnel]

A lot of these older Belgian RIC clones were chambered for .450 Adams which is slightly shorter that .455 Webley Mk.II ammo -

From left to right: .450 Adams, .455 Webley Mk I, .455 Webley Mk II cartridges

It should not be a problem to find a gunsmith who can slightly ream the chambers to fit .455 Mk.II ammo!
​

 

[tiriaq]

Cases need to be timed to fit. Easy to do, but you have to handload.

 

[skneub]

Thats kinda what I wondered.
however the mark 2 ammo that is in it is all factory loads in the pictures.
Interesting though is that the 2 chambers that have the issue are cleaner and less patena on them than the rest.
As if someone may have attempted to lightly clean with a fine grit of sandpaper or perhaps even steel wool.
to my eye with a light there is a very faint warble in the bad one..gotta look hard to see it.
cant be much though..very very faint

 

[skneub]

Cases need to be timed to fit. Easy to do, but you have to handload.

Trimmed is what you mean i think.
yes i plan to reload , i bought the factory stuff as a source of brass ;-)

 

[tiriaq]

Yes, trimmed.
I have a couple of .450 RICs. Neither accepts factory .455 Mk.II without trimming.

 

[skneub]

Cool , but dont you find it odd that it seems to be just one ?
I would be ok with not useing that chamber.
but still wonder if a smith can fix it.

 

[tiriaq]

Might be that the original reaming was inconsistent.

 

[skneub]

True enough

 

[mkrnel]

I have seen a lot of these old revolvers were some had slightly larger or smaller chambers in the same cylinder, these were mostly hand made back in the day without the same close industry standards we have today!

 

[oldstarfire]

I have encountered the problem where the ejector "spider" was not inserted as made (after dis assembly), and caused hangups of cartridges.
This was on a S&W 32. Belgian may be even more picky.

 

[H Wally]

As above - there's some variation in older revolvers. Had a Belgian gun that had rim recesses cut out and identical chambers when cast, but the recesses themselves varied enough that the same cases wouldn't fit in some recesses simply because they didn't do a clean job at it.

 

[skneub]

Glad to hear this is near the norm
Looking at a finishing reamer for colt 45

It wont take much to clean up i suspect.
I had already been considering putting some very fine sandpaper on something .

But that seems so bubba.....

 

[H Wally]

Cast the chambers and figure out exactly how off the chambers are and by how much - that should determine your course of action. Wax casting is an easy ghetto solution, or cerro safe is $30 from Canam and re-usable.

 

[skneub]

Cast the chambers and figure out exactly how off the chambers are and by how much - that should determine your course of action. Wax casting is an easy ghetto solution, or cerro safe is $30 from Canam and re-usable.

That is a great plan as a starting point.
I have some cerro safe .
bought it to check out my old Ariska