American Handgunner May/June 1978

By RON POWER as told by Massad F. AyoobIt seems that every day brings word across a guneditor's desk of yet another gunsmith or hobbyistwho is now specializing in custom Smith & Wessonrevolvers. Many of them do good work.We sent our handgun editor Massad F. Ayoob tostudy in the shop of the master, the man againstwhose guns every other custom S& W is judged. RonPower of Independence, Missouri is the acknowledgedleader in the field of custom, slick-actwned,tightly-refitted, heavy-barrelled Smith & Wesson revolvers.Ayoob spent several days with Power, study-ing his techniques, from selection of the basic revolverspecimen to the finishing touches of whatmay be the finest custom wheelguns now available.If testimonial is needed, be advised that almost allof the champions at the '76 Combat Nationals usedPower Custom S& Ws, including Jim Collins.Power Custom guns run the gamut from PPCcompetition revolvers; to heavy caliber metallic silhouetterevolvers; to hunting revolvers with accuracy,range, and recoil control that exceed anythingelse available; to serious gunf+ng tools.n this series, Power outlines the basicsI of selecting a prime specimen of theCombat Magnum (or any other Smith &Wesson revolver), and then basically refiningthat instrument for the maximumpossible fit, accuracy, and smoothness.POWER ON TESTINGCYLINDER ALIGNMENTThe first thing to do in making sure thateach of the chambers line up properlywith the barrel is to plug-strike. The plugstrikedevice is a rod that's .349" or .350in diameter. Hold the gun with the muzzleup, pull and hold the trigger, then dropthe plug-strike down the barrel and see ifit goes ihto the chamber without snagging.This makes sure the gun meets factoryspecs, and a lot of custom gunmakers aresatisfied with that, but my customers expectmore accuracy from my guns thanfrom anybody else's, so I have to go somewhatfurther.I use a punch to number each chamber,"1" through "6." Then I'll take six 158-grain round nose lead .38 Special factoryloads, and lightly scratch-mark the side of38Power, left, explains method ofcylinder alignment to Mas Ayoob.each bullet. These are also numbered ''1"through "6", and inserted in the correspondinachambers. I'll fire all six into a1 water tank, which permits me to recoverthe bullets without any out-of-the gun deformation.Each cartridge had beenplaced with the scratched number at 12o'clock, so that this part of the bullet hitsthe top edge of the forcing cone with eachshot.From this, I can tell which chambers, ifany, are off just about to a thousandth ofthe inch. Which part of the bullet is deformedtells me a lot, too. For instance, ifthe bullet shows rub marks at 6 or 7o'clock, that probably means the frame issprung a little and gaping open at thecrane juncture.POWER ON CORRECTINGCYLINDER END SHAKEEnd shake is the back and forth movementof the cylinder inside the frame. Endshake has to be minimized or you aren'tgoing to get consistent ignition shot toshot, and in really bad cases, you'll havemisfires.AMERICAN HANDGUNNER MAY/JUNE 1978