Revolver Fitting and Checkout
BY Herschel Smith
6 months ago
I like finding resources like this. Actually, reddit/Firearms is the source, and this comment was insightful.
Easiest way to check the forcing cone for wear is to put a straight edge on it (if you see light from a gap, it has some erosion – not necessarily an issue) and to run a q-tip around it to see if there are any burrs (the burrs will pull off strands of cotton).
Offhand, I would say that one looks pretty much new.
My first GP100 was bought well used and easily has 25k-35k rounds of handloads, including a ton of rapid fire (~900-1000 rounds in an hour and a half or so, barrel was literally too hot to hold) nuclear bear loads. Even with the forcing cone eroded a bit it will still shoot about a <4″ group at 100 yards.
The cylinder wear timing mark looks normal – GP100 / Redhawk / Security Six actions lift the cylinder stop pin into place relatively early to ensure it drops fully into the cylinder notch during rapid fire.
Pro tip to smooth out the trigger pull as a novice without messing with the sear:
- Take the hammer strut and smooth & polish the top and sides to mirror finish, then lube with grease – many of the factory guns are under lubed and may have burrs left from the factory (giveaway in the gunshop is if you hear a squeak when cocking the hammer).
- Deburr the trigger return spring / trigger guard latch hole and the trigger return plunger. These often have a burr.
- Polish the sides of the hammer and frame window where the hammer pivots to remove burrs – you can tell if this is necessary if there are rub or scrape marks on the sides of the hammer.
Then later in the comments, located on Google drive, is a more complete description of revolver checkout. If you have any resources yourself, feel free to drop them in the comments.
On June 23, 2024 at 8:35 pm, Heywood said:
I can’t wait until I have enough rounds through my babies to start to worry about this! I am going to bookmark this for future reference.
On June 24, 2024 at 5:22 am, jrg said:
Those were some insightful tips. Thanks for linking them to us to read.
On June 26, 2024 at 12:20 pm, 41mag said:
thanks for sharing this Herschel. My revolvers need some checking.