A Tale Of Two Cylinders

Some time ago, my cowboy action shooting friend "Chili Ron" showed me a stainlesssteel large-frame Ruger Vaquero that came with two cylinders; one in .45 LC (Long Colt), and a second one in .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol.) I thought that was a great idea as I’m a big fan of convertible revolvers because of the additional flexibility of being able to use different cartridges.

I own two Ruger Single Six convertible revolvers that each came with two cylinders; one for .22 short/long/long rifle, and a second for .22 Magnum. I thought it would be fun to shoot .45 ACP out of my Ruger large-frame .45 LC Vaqueros, not to mention the lighter rounds would be good for cowboy action shooting. .45 ACP is the cartridge used for Wild Bunch matches in 1911 pistols. It’s worth noting that not all cylinders are alike.

I purchased two .45 ACP cylinders found on e Bay that were advertised as having come from old-model Blackhawks. I can’t help but wonder what happened to the original revolver and how the cylinder became separated from it. When I started this project I made a rash assumption—and we all know what happens when we make assumptions. I had assumed that all Ruger cylinders were manufactured to the same specification.

Perhaps I didn’t hear the game-show buzzer going off indicating I had guessed incorrectly but my two new cylinders were as different as night and day. Both chambered .45 ACP cartridges, were fluted, and came from Ruger single action revolvers, however, that’s about where the similarities ended. The first cylinder I purchased, which I called cylinder #1, came in ared felt bag as originally provided by Ruger. The problem with these bags is they absorb moisture.

Most people never removed the spare cylinder from the bag and the cylinder eventually develops rust. This cylinder had almost no bluing left and had plenty of rust spots from being stored in the felt bag. In case you’re wondering, I did not save the red bag because it had too many holes in it where it touched the cylinder, causing rust. This cylinder had been fired at one time and was stored without being cleaned. It measured 0.740 inches in length and the ratchet measured 0.611 inches in diameter.

The rim of a dummy cartridge set flush with the rear face of this cylinder. Cylinder #2 was in pristine condition, cleaned and all of the bluing was intact. I knew it had been installed in a revolver at one time because it had the drag ring caused by the cylinder latch. To my surprise this cylinder was shorter; it measured 0.700" long and the ratchet measured 0.577". When I inserted a dummy cartridge The cylinder on the right is pristine.

Notice how the rim of a dummy cartridge is sitting above the right cylinder’s face. into one of the chambers, the rim was exposed, sitting above the rear face of the cylinder. Milling The Cylinders I wanted both cylinders to be the same as the original .45 LC cylinders that came with my two Vaqueros. I measured the original cylinders and found they measured 0.700" in length and their ratchets measured 0.560" in diameter.

This meant that I would need to reduce the diameter of the ratchet of each new cylinder and reduce the length of cylinder #1 by 0.040". I measured the gas ring of each new cylinder and they both measured 0.435" wide by 0.095" high, so I milled a 0.436 hole 0.200 deep in apiece of aluminum mounted to my older MAXNC-10CL (maxnc.net) hobby CNC mill. I then drilled and tapped a 1/4-20 hole in the center of this hole.

I placed apiece of 1/4-20 threaded rod through the pivot hole of cylinder #1 and screwed the rod into the threaded hole. I installed a 1/4-20 nut onto the threaded rod to hold the cylinder in place. Using a 1/4" square-end milling bit, I programmed the CNC mill to reduce the diameter of the ratchet and mill the rear face of the cylinder. I used the same program to reduce the diameter of the ratchet of cylinder #2, but because this cylinder was already the proper length, no metal was removed from the rear face.

End Shake Both cylinders had end shake issues. Cylinder #1 had an end shake gap of 0.030" and cylinder #2 had an

This could cause the cylinder to rub against the rear face of the barrel and induce misfires due to the primer moving away from the firing pin. end shake gap of 0.014. Excessive end shake causes the cylinder to move forward and rub against the rear of the barrel and can induce misfires by the primer moving away from the firing pin. End shake can easily be corrected by installing an end shake shim.

Brownells sells a 10-pak of 0.0045" Single Action Revolver Gas Ring Shims (#713-000-080) which I could have stacked to fit. Since I have a CNC mill I fabricated my own using apiece of 3/64 tool steel. I milled the two end shake shims I needed I used Super Glue Gel to attach it to the front of the cylinder. 0.436" in diameter with a center hole of 0.270". I installed the 0.030" shim onto the front of cylinder #1 and the 0.014" shim onto the front of cylinder #2.

I used Super Glue Gel to hold the shims in place so I don’t have to worry about losing them when removing the cylinder. Refinishing Cylinder #1 I am a big fan of cold-bluing. I have done complete receivers with cold blue solutions and they have come out looking very nice. After reducing the diameter of the ratchet of cylinder #2 I cold-blued it to protect the exposed metal. For cylinder #1 I wanted to try a different process using Brownells Dicropan IM.

Rather than using hot bluing salts and a single dip process, Dicropan IM is a slower rust-bluing process that requires multiple repeat dipping and carding.

Brownells sells a complete Dicropan IM bluing kit (#082-905-105) but I already had most of the components, so I purchased just what I needed: One quart of Dicropan IM (#082-008- 032), 400-grit polishing compound (#080-505-400), and a soft stainlesssteel wire wheel (#360-164-631.) The wire wheel is used to brush off the surface rust ("carding") caused by the rust-bluing process. The Dicropan IM instructions say to use degreased steel wool for the carding process, but the wire wheel will helped card the front