I received a H Schmidt 22 Mag 6 round single shot revolver with miss firing ever 1 or 2 times. I noticed forward and aft movement in the cylinder, so I figured I would remove some of the end shake temporarily by shimming the gas ring with 2 pieces of masking tape went and test fired 18 rounds never miss fired once. And of course I picked up B/C gap close to .013″ which is not good for the guy shooting next to you, if you get what mean. You guys ever tried stretching an un-removable gas ring with such mass as this one or should I just steel shim it and do a barrel setback which I have never done in my time as a gunsmith. All experiences appreciated. Thanks 007
There is a way to do this 1. make a washer to go (Gas Ring) over it. 2. You can take a piece of spring stock tie it around the Gas Ring tighten it to move the metal. You can do this in more then one place on the Gas Ring. 3 if you can take a small hammer / punch with small taps work the metal out from the Gas ring so you can take up to about .004 this is the two thing I know how to do this. Bob Dunlap show this in the Pistol course “Pro One Course”. TC
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When you go to stretch it, make sure you put a mandrel in the cylinder. If you don’t, there’s a chance you’ll close up the base pin hole.
Answer
I have an Enfield #2 in similar situation; quite a bit of endshake. I stretched the gas ring. Endshake was gone, but I had 2 new problems (fixed the muffler and the engine dropped). Headspace became so little that the cylinder actually dragged on the recoil shield, and the cylinder gap became huge. I had to shave metal off the recoil shield to make enough headspace. But I gave up on fixing the cylinder gap, at least for now. The gun shoots a mild .38 S&W, but it does sound like a .357 magnum, because of the cylinder gap. Muzzle velocity is lousy too.
In retrospect, I probably should have done differently. It is an old gun. The endshake is most likely caused by the tip of the extractor being bashed in by the recoil. I should have replaced the extractor (if I can find one), or TIG welding the tip of it. Now the goose is kind of cooked. Unless I can find a new cylinder and matched extractor (pretty hard), barrel setback is the only option. –TL
Answer
You can make a tool for stretching the fixed gas rings. Sort of like a pipe cutter that is dull and flat on one side so it will slide up next to the cylinder face. Clamp it and twist the cylinder or the tool. Tighten it and twist again. Another method is to drill out the old gas ring and make a new oversized one to fit in the cylinder, press it in and fit as need.
TL when you tightened the headspace on the revolver too much you didn’t have to file off of the breech face/recoil shield you could have simply run a chambering reamer in the desired amount so the shells would sit deeper in the cylinder. Barrel cylinder gap is fixed by setback, as you know. Ken
Follow Up
You are right about the option of reaming the chamber deeper. I didn’t hesitate to file the recoil shield as it is replaceable in this model. I still wonder whether building up the tip of the extractor a possibility. That would save a lot of trouble. Say turning down the old tip and making a “crown” out of alloy steel. Solder the crown over the old tip. It is sort of like what a dentist would do after root canals. Or like re-tipping a firing pin. TL
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If it needs to be longer that sounds like and acceptable repair. Ken
