Alan Westlake Alfa 357 Mag Revolver

[arsefactor]

Thanks, I'll have another range session on Monday night and will report back.

I also have a nitro burning Uberti revolver from Anvil Conversions - the de-priming tool from that gun is perfect for use on the Westlake cylinder.

[Frag Muppet]

Thanks, I'll have another range session on Monday night and will report back.

I also have a nitro burning Uberti revolver from Anvil Conversions - the de-priming tool from that gun is perfect for use on the Westlake cylinder.

How are you getting on with it now.

Have you sorted out the problem you had with it?


Just an update on the bullets I have tried.

I was sent some free samples to try from the "Shellhouse Bullet Co."
Some solid 148gn & some solid 125gn .358 Wad cutters
The 125gn would not fit in the cylinder
Some of the 148gn ones did, but where not as accurate as the Wad cutters I brought direct off Alan Westlake

I was looking at casting my own, so I sent one of Alans Wad cutters to Henry Krank with a view to buying a Lee Mould & Sizer.
They measured Alans Wad cutter & found it to be just under .357 (356.5 size)
The same as I had measured using my cheap callipers.

Would love to know what Mould Alans guy uses to cast the bullets as they shoot the best.
I am just concerned a little when the day comes that I can no longer purchase bullets direct from Alan.

The closest bullets I have seen to Alans are Hornady 148gn 38 Cal Hollow Base Wad Cutters.
Norman Clarkes should be able to get hold of these, don't know whether to give them a try or not.

Stuart

[dannywayoflife]

Stuart I believe the bullets from Allan are swaged. I've used some of the 158's from shell house and they were better than the ones Allan sold me.

[arsefactor]

Sorry for the late report back guys, not had much range time lately.

Bullets - I cast 105gr SWC from pure-ish lead (not range scrap), size to .357 and lubed with liquid alox. (Lee dual cavity mould and Lee sizer) These are every short plain base slugs, about half the size of Alan's HBWC. (These also shoot great cast from range scrap in my Marlin rifle for gallery work) They shoot perfectly well and don't move under recoil, I think they are just long enough to be gripped where the chamber steps down in size. Feel the same as the HBWC when laoding with the supplied tool. Anyway they are working fine on charges of Blue Dot from 3.2gr to 3.5gr. Accuracy every bit as good as the HBWC at 22 yards and no hollow base to have skirts blown off.

My stuck cylinder problem - narrowed this down to the primers sitting very slightly proud and binding on the rear of the action. (Remingon 209's). After much testing I had a good friend of mine (cheers Steve!) deepen the primer pocket flanges *very* slightly. Primers now sit flush and I can actually get a full cylinder away without problems. On testing the primers there was a bit of variation in rim thickness on the Remingtons plus there was a variation in primer pocket depth on the chambers, obviously when it was sticking I had a fat primers sitting on undersized chamber flanges.

Also noticed that the crane arm can work loose, inducing a wobble on the cylinder alignment. Keep nipping up the screw every 2 cylinder's worth and it's fine.

Trigger adjustment - remove the grip panels to reveal a screw which gives a limited range of adjustment. It's attached to an ovoid pin which a spring rides on so 360deg gives a full range of adjustment. It is possible to dis-assemble further if you want to fiddle but I wouldn't recommend it. Not *too* difficult but it's unlikely you'll ever need to clean inside, mine didn't need cleaning when I checked.

[arsefactor]

To illustrate the problem I've just photographed the difference in primer seating.
Same batch of primers, I find about 2/3rds are OK and the other 1/3rd sit just proud. All were Remington 209's.

"fat" rim primer sitting proud : http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps77bbb929.jpg

"thin" primer sitting flush : http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps0c49d4bc.jpg

Yes, that's enough to make the cylinder bind. The "fat" primers work great in my Remington 1858 nitro conversion though so they still get used.

[pete.s]

Hi all. Well I got my Westlake Alfa on Friday last week. I had managed to get some herco as well. so am going to try it out tomorrow
starting with a 3grn powder load. cci primer and Mr Westlakes own brand hbwc
looking forward to seeing where they go.

[Frag Muppet]

Hi all. Well I got my Westlake Alfa on Friday last week. I had managed to get some herco as well. so am going to try it out tomorrow
starting with a 3grn powder load. cci primer and Mr Westlakes own brand hbwc
looking forward to seeing where they go.

Let me know how you get on with Herco

Thinking of swapping to this when my Blue Dot runs out as was Alan's first powder choice.

I think Alan recommended 3.5gn with Herco let us know your findings.

Are you using Alan's bullets?

Stu

[pete.s]

How are you getting on with it now.

Have you sorted out the problem you had with it?


Just an update on the bullets I have tried.

I was sent some free samples to try from the "Shellhouse Bullet Co."
Some solid 148gn & some solid 125gn .358 Wad cutters
The 125gn would not fit in the cylinder
Some of the 148gn ones did, but where not as accurate as the Wad cutters I brought direct off Alan Westlake

I was looking at casting my own, so I sent one of Alans Wad cutters to Henry Krank with a view to buying a Lee Mould & Sizer.
They measured Alans Wad cutter & found it to be just under .357 (356.5 size)
The same as I had measured using my cheap callipers.

Would love to know what Mould Alans guy uses to cast the bullets as they shoot the best.
I am just concerned a little when the day comes that I can no longer purchase bullets direct from Alan.

The closest bullets I have seen to Alans are Hornady 148gn 38 Cal Hollow Base Wad Cutters.
Norman Clarkes should be able to get hold of these, don't know whether to give them a try or not.

Stuart

Hi. My Westlake Alfa shoots better with hornady hbwc than with the Westlake stuff. and i find it easier to load the cylinder. CCi primers can be a tad hard to remove the cause is i am told. Mr Westlake uses Remmington for a size setting and there a tad smaller than the CCi . i have been using 2.7 Herco but as my supply is running out i am working up a load with Bullseye at about 2.5gn if at rest i can get a 2" group so very happy . But i am thinking of going to NOI moulds in the states to get my own mould

[beagle2]

I just came across this and I have to admit that I no next to nothing about BP shooting apart from what I have seen on the net but one thing that is puzzling me is if every time that the gun is fired the drum rotates and should line up with the barrel so that the bullet/ball slides from the drum into the barrel this being the case why is it that the caps do not have the indent from the hammer/firing pin in the same place in each cap ??????????

[arsefactor]

"drum" ... you mean "cylinder" :-)

The firing pin *should* strike in the center of the cap each time. On my revolver there was a problem with the cylinder where the cap recesses weren't quite machined deep enough for the caps I was using. This caused a couple of the caps to sit slightly proud of the cylinder which was enough to cause binding. Also the arm which the cylinder rides on kept working loose which caused a slight mis-alignment on the centre cylinder axis. Fixed that by tightening up the arbour retaining screw.

Primer pockets were fixed by deepening the primer recesses *very* slightly on an end-mill. The primers now sit flush and are being struck centrally every time.

Of course it could also have been that my primers (Remington 209's) are a little thick compared to others but since that's all I can get hands on locally, I had to go with them.

Anyway, it's working fine since the modification.

Regards
Paul M.

[beagle2]

One has to think that for a gun that is by now means cheep to buy some of the problems that you have had should not be happening especially the arm which the cylinder rides on working loose but at least you have got it working ok as for the drum/cylinder I admit that I do get confused with the names of parts and stuff at times one of the joys of getting old I'm afraid.

[dannywayoflife]

Well my Armscor version hasn't missed a beat!