Smoke to fit the barrels, is there a better way ?

[Cold Spring]

I'm pretty meticulous when fitting barrels and want them dead flat on the face with at least 75% contact on both barrels, and with a few thou clearance gap between the barrel flats and the frame bar (water table) to accomodate future wear. I use oil lamp smoke to get close, and machinist dykem (layout fluid) for the final fit. Smoke is thicker than dykem and is too easily "disturbed" as the barrels drop home, and you can get false contacts. Just drop the barrels softly one time when checking. If you slam the gun closed or do it multiple times you'll also get false contact readings.

You can make the smoke a little less messy by inserting a plug of paper towel into the front end of each chamber, wiping off excess smoke after each try so it doesn't build up, and resmoking afterwards. I also use disposable gloves.

PS I don't have a FFL to do fitting work for others and only work on guns I own myself.