shooting short shells in mag chamber

[Clifford L. Hughes]

Has anyone ever ringed a revolver chamber shooting .38 Special, .44 Special and .45 Colt in their respective magnum calibers?

 

[stevieboy]

Well, uh, no, but that's because I clean my guns. It's not rocket science. Just brush the chambers vigorously after each trip to the range. That's about 30 seconds' work.

 

[Crazy88Fingers]

I'm sure someone out there has. But, as Stevieboy wrote, it is easily prevented or remedied.

 

[T. O'Heir]

"...ringed a revolver chamber..." If you mean damaged it, no. And you won't. A lube gunk ring in the cylinders after shooting .38's in a .357 is normal. Comes out with normal cleaning. A .45 cal brush cleans it out with no fuss.

 

[Ozzieman]

All the time shooting 44 special in my 629 since that is about the only thing I shoot in it. Its more lube from the lead reloads than it is lead and normally it come out with cleaner and a patch. If not a quick pass of a brass brush and its gone.

 

[kraigwy]

Shooting of short rounds in a magnum, such as 38s in a 357, will put rings in the chamber, but that's not a problem, simply clean the gun every now and then.

I've found the best method to clean the ring from cylinders is to take a 357, case, bell the mouth where it has to be forced into the chamber, The belled case cuts the ring out, finish the project with a brush and patch. Really simple and fast.

 

[Old Grump]

Only with the 357. I went on a kick of shooting only 38's for awhile and didn't clean my cylinder well enough. Fired a round of 357's and all of them stuck and one separated when I pounded it out. Only do that once. lesson learned.

 

[44 AMP]

In theory, shooting enough of the shorter shells will "ring" (flame cut) the chamber at the point of the shorter shell's case mouth. This has been observed in .22LR, when extensively fired with .22short ammo. And it takes multiple thousands of rounds before any problem has been seen to develope. Even then, its rather rare.

However, this is not a commonly seen situation in centerfire revolvers. In fact, the opposite seems to be true. The "crud buildup" has a similar effect to a ringed chamber (making the longer cases stick), and as noted, is common, but easily avoided by simple cleaning.

My guess is that 1)the low pressure of the typical .38SPL, combined with 2) the crud buildup, and finally 3) virtually no one shoots enough .38 ammo to matter (when it comes to flame cutting the steel) is what keeps "ringing" the chamber from being an issue in the most common short shell/long chamber situations.

 

[Webleymkv]

I've not personally ever experienced a problem from shooting shorter cartridges, but my dad did albeit a rather minor one. Shortly after buying a used Ruger Service Six. He bought some very cheap .38 Special Wadcutters at a gun show ($5/50 rounds). While the ammo was accurate enough, one chamber of the revolver's cylinder was just a bit sticky from then on regardless of how much he cleaned it (Dad always used a regular bronze bore brush and Hoppes No. 9 to clean that revolver).

 

[Rifleman1776]

.22 rims were mentioned.
A caution should be noted here. A .22lr is NOT simply a shorter version of the .22 magnum/WMR.
The mag is actually slightly larger in diameter than the LR.
Do not use .22LR in a mag cylinder.

 

[Clifford L. Hughes]

Thanks guys, your observations coincide with mine. I was just wondering about all the hype that I was hearing that shorts damage chambers.