I now own a Ruger single action revolver, which is my first revolver. I've installed a steel ejector rod housing and a Belt Mountain cylinder base pin(with lock screw) on it. I've also disassembled it and slightly polished surfaces with Flitz. The gun is pretty slick but I was humbled after handling another SA(Beretta, Stampede) that is "tuned" by a gunsmith---The cylinder in its locked position basically has what they called "welded" solid feeling to it.

Is there some website or books where I can learn the trick? Any tips welcome. I plan to acquire a double action revolver in the near future as well.

Don't know what did you mean by a "welded feeling". Most mass produced sixguns should have a little rotational play in the cylinder lockup to compensate for any mis-alignment between chamber and barrel. In another word, it is not a bad thing to have some side play in the cylinder. I have had several Rugers with a sloppy cylinder but they were exceptional shooters out of the box.

However, with high quality "custom" sixguns like those from Freedom Arms and Bowen Classic Arms, each "raw" cylinder is carefully fitted to the frame with near zero play and then the chambers are line-bored one at time to the barrel axis so each chamber is aligned with the barrel near perfectly. These sixguns have a tightly fitted cylinder from the get go by design so they cannot be compared to those pre-bored mass produced sixguns.

There is a very good sixgunsmithing video that I saw recently but I cannot think of it right now. I will post something if I can find it.

George Nonte wrote "Pistolsming" and it's a good reference. It's out print now but you may be able to find copy on e-Bay or Amazon.

Don't try to do too much without help - it's easy to screw up a revolver.

That's "Pistolsmithing". We need spel chek bad.

Pyrotek. The proof of the pudding is in the eating! How does it shoot? There are plenty of "loose" guns that shoot very well, perhaps better than your ability to hold.
Peter

Some revolvers are tuned so that the hand exerts pressure against the cylinder when the bolt has dropped into it's corresponding notch in the cylinder, thus giving that tight no slop feeling. That being said, and me not being an expert, I'm not sure that's a good thing, as it assumes the cylinder alignment is perfect when the cylinder is rotated as far as it can go in the direction of rotation against the bolt and held there. That may or may not be the case. I think a small amount of play is desireable for reliability and alignment. Rugers are fine revolvers and I wouldn't worry too much as long as it shoots better than most cowboys can hold, which most Rugers do.

[ 10-10-2003, 18:45: Message edited by: Bobby ]

Before you play with your Ruger, see if you can find one of the many S&W Model 10's released by the cops in the last 10 years or so, to practice on. You won't spend a fortune on it and if you bugger it up completely, who cares? You'll have no trouble finding parts etc and you will learn, by doing, everything there is to know about tuning revolvers. A good trigger man is hard to come by.