Why Gunsmiths Love Revolvers

A gunsmith is a special type of mechanic. He swaps parts in automatic pistols. He smooths the action of a shotgun. He redoes the hot bluing on grampys old shotgun. He refits a new stock on a gun that got damp and warped during that nasty hurricane. But there's one kind of gun a gunsmith loves. A revolver. Revolvers require lots of labor to keep working right. They need trigger jobs. They need replacement cylinders. They need barrels removed, forcing cones redrilled, threads cut, and the barrel reseated, properly. They need sights replaced. They need grips fitted. They need their finish redone. They need cylinder timing jobs. They need cylinder locks replaced and refitted. So much to do on a thing that looks simple, but has more moving parts, exposed, than an automatic does. Of course, the ones most damaged by use are daily carry weapons, and the ones most damaged by firing are the popular magnum rounds like the .357 and the .44. Turns out that the pressure of moving a round one way and the firearm the other stretches the top strap over time. Eventually the gap between the cylinder and the barrel widens. More and more gas leaks out. This causes high pressure gas erosion of the steel. It is also dangerous to the operator and anybody standing nearby.

 

What does all this work cost? A standard full sized automatic pistol suitable for daily carry in a holster is around $600. Cheaper ones exist too. So do more expensive ones. A suitable revolver with smiths comfortable working on them, which generally means a Smith and Wesson rather than a Ruger or Taurus, is around the same starting price. However, gun smiths charge around $100 per hour, sometimes more. A trigger job to smooth the action properly is several hours of work, plus parts. Fitting new grips to the hand of the user is also several hours, plus more work if the customer isn't happy with the first fitting, needing more new parts to get the exact shape and carve that out of hardwood, which needs to be presentation grade walnut in most cases. Ivory was banned, after all. The more the firearm is fired, the more the torque against the rod will deform it, making the torque worse and stretching the top-strap more. You either replace the gun or you replace the cylinder and rod. That's where you start getting into serious money. That's thousands of dollars in work.

 

Yes, gunsmiths love customers with revolvers. It puts steak on the table, buys them a car for the weekend, pays off the mortgage.