‘Dragging’ cylinder on Ruger SBH.

[Jbotto]

I took my Super Blackhawk out shooting the other day with a new box of ammo. On the first cylinder the cylinder was having a hard time turning as I cocked the hammer. It almost felt like the brass on the cartridge rim was a bit too thick or something. I mean you really have to force the cylinder to turn. I have been shooting Winchester white box through it and switched to Federal American Eagle. I have been playing with it the last few evenings and it continues to ‘drag’ with the Federal empty cases loaded in the cylinder. Never had an issue with the Winchesters as live ammo or with the empties recently. Any help as to what is going on?


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[Jbotto]

here’s a picture of the back of the frame behind the cylinder. It seems to have brass rub marks at about the 1:00 position.


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[UncleEd]

It's quite possible a particular lot of Federal is a bit thicker than
normal.

Not uncommon for brass to be uneven in lot to lot. Usually
not a factor as it's so miniscule.

Try a different lot number of Federal or buff the 1 o'clock
position of the recoil shield ever so slightly and then try
with the same Federal.

I had a Blackhawk that was a little bit off/out of spec at
that position and giving the area a buffing fixed things.
That was right from the get-so when I got the gun.

 

[NoSecondBest]

Scrub the chambers with a wire brush and make sure they're totally clean and try it again. If it's still doing it send it back. The gun's out of spec. (If it's new brass/ammo).

 

[Master Blaster]

IS it all ammo or just this box? Do you have a dial Caliper? Measure the OAL and the case mouth diameter of a round. Hard to believe I know, but ammo manufacturers screw up and make out of spec ammo from time to time. I had a whole box of Winchester shotgun shells where the plastic tube of the body was incorrectly crimped to the case head. I keep them as an example when I teach a shotgun class of why you need to look at your ammo before you put it in the gun.

 

[BBarn]

Scrub the chambers with a wire brush and make sure they're totally clean and try it again. If it's still doing it send it back. The gun's out of spec. (If it's new brass/ammo).

What he said.

The cartridges rims should bottom against the cylinder when you load them. If not then something is wrong and you should follow NSBs advice above.

 

[44 AMP]

I have been shooting Winchester white box through it and switched to Federal American Eagle.

And reporting no problems with the Winchester ammo, right??

Scrub the chambers with a wire brush and make sure they're totally clean and try it again. If it's still doing it send it back. The gun's out of spec. (If it's new brass/ammo).

I agree with thorough cleaning, to ensure the rims of the rounds are seating where they should be.

I DISAGREE with the statement that the gun is out of spec. The gun being out of spec is the LEAST likely thing at this time. It might be, but I doubt it. Generally speaking when you have no issues shooting Brand A, B, C, and E but have trouble with brand D its not the gun that is out of spec.

The gun may be out of spec but when other ammo works ok, and one brand (or one Lot#) does not, the first thing to look at is not the gun, its the ammo.

If you have crud in the chamber rim recesses, so the rims are not fully seating, then they can drag on the recoil shield. Careful cleaning will tell you if this was the problem, or not. (and for pete's sake, DON'T use a steel brush!)

CLEAN the gun, but don't go polishing anything at this point, you could do more harm than good. Get some other ammo, and see if the issue happens with it. If it happens with all ammo, or more than one brand, THEN call Ruger, and see what they say about looking at it.

 

[NoSecondBest]

I've seen so many guns over the years that were "bad" or ammo that was "bad" and have lost count...to the fact that most of those guns simply needed a good cleaning. It could be the ammo, but I've never seen handgun ammo with oversized rims right from the factory. I've been shooting for over fifty years and for quite a few years when I was shooting a lot of competition my round counts for the year exceeded 30,000. I agree it can happen, but I'll go back to giving the gun a very, very good cleaning as a place to start before getting theoretical about what mechanical issues are probable or the likelyhood of having defective ammo. Ammo passes through a chute that acts as a go-nogo gage to look for out of spec rim thickness. It's a very simple inspection process that is built into the manufacturing process. I don't mean the gun is "out of spec" as delivered, I mean it's been put out of spec somehow by subsequent "adjustments" either deliberately or inadvertantly.
Get a set of feeler gages and see how much gap you have between the front of the cylinder and the frame. Any leading there?

 

[James K]

Can you check to see if the problem is caused by a thick rim on the cartridge cases or by cases that are too long? Either would be corrected by simply changing ammo, but a better solution if the chambers are short would be to touch the chamber a bit with a reamer. That would also work if the rims are too thick, but would be visible.

In general, one should not alter a gun to correct an ammo problem, especially if the problem is with one ammo lot, but sometimes it is the easiest way.

Jim

 

[Jbotto]

Alright, I have a little follow up after trying to figure it out tonight. I cleaned it tonight and used brass or bronze brush as normal in the cylinder. No steel brushes used. This revolver had shot about 100 rounds since the last cleaning. All clean factory ammo, shooting jacketed bullets so it wasn't sooted up from cast loads.

I then took my ammo, after marking a "starting" chamber on the cylinder with a sharpie, and ran each round through the whole cylinder, one at a time letting the cylinder spin two full rotations for each "loaded" chamber. I went through all the remaining Winchester ammo (which I never experienced this problem with) I had on hand to hunt with and found no issues. I then started going through the box of American Eagle. I found one round in the first ten that did scrape the recoil shield on at least two different chambers. I did not finish going through that box, but have that round marked so I don't mistakenly load it essentially locking up my revolver when I may need a quick second shot.

Thank you for help and suggestions to all who chimed in so far. It's the last few days before deer season and I decided I'd take this along in case I have a close shot. I don't have a ton more time to look at it before this weekend, but as I learn more, I'll share it here.

 

[warnerwh]

I would make Federal send me a new box of ammo. Usually the ammo companies are pretty good about taking care of customers. I'm sure Federal would like that box and lot number so they can see what happened.

 

[UncleEd]

Related ammo story:

Years ago a shooting club outside Chicago had to
return a large lot of Remington rifle ammo because
primers were seated too low.

A lot of rifle shooters complained about misfires.

So, yes ammo makers do have problems occasionally.