March/April 1983 - American Handgunner

Cone faults caneasily be cu red withhand-operated chamferingtool, provided extreme care isused during 'accurizing' process.By Russ GaertnerRvolver shooters long have been toldby "experts" that their guns are lessaccurate than semi-autos in similar calibers.But they still choose their wheelguns forversatility, reliability and economy, especiallywith less than perfectly brewedhandloads.The source ofthis claimed revolver inaccuracyis bullet distortion, caused by highpressuresbehind the unsupported slug, asit jumps the cylinder/barrel gap and entersthe rifling.Medium- and big-bore revolvers are notinherently less accurate than semi-autos.The fine accuracy ofmany match revolversproves that.I have a Colt Custom Shop .357 MagnumPython which outshoots most customaccurized .45 autos, and it does about aswell with full .357 Magnum loads as thetarget .38 Specials it was set up for. Many'smiths routinely turn out equally accuratematch revolvers.Turning to factory-assembled, out-ofthe-boxrevolvers, however, we find a verymixed bag. The best guns average oneinchgroups, or less, at 25 yards from a machinerest. That's fine accuracy, which fewfactory or even custom semi-autos canequal, let alone beat. On the other hand,the average factory, service~type revolverdoes well to fire a three-inch group.What do custom revolvers and the bestfactory wheelguns have that the averageservice model lacks, to make this big differencein accuracy?Many excellent custom features.providebetter aiming, steadier holding, andsmoother letoff. Lightened, smoothed actionshelp the shooter to score well, butthey do nothing for machine-rest performance.A custom heavy barrel, properlyfitted, is more accurate than an ordinaryfactory tube, but the difference is small.Brownell's reaming tool is easy to use. Note muzzle-centering bushing and pilot infront of JJ-degree reamer. Also shown: another reamer and two cutters.30 AMERICAN HANDGUNNER· MARCH/APRIL 1983