THE REVOLVER CHECKOUT - 10 year anniversary update.

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Mosin44az

New member
Read through this, thanks for all the work and information.

One thing happened to me at a gunshow in December, I bought a nice-looking Smith .357 Magnum and it turns out I CAN'T eject the magnum cases after firing--not without extreme measures anyway. It's been cleaned multiple times, including with a chamber brush attached to a drill, by a gunsmith even. It looks like the chamber dimensions might be off.

How can you tell if a revolver will eject properly, when checking it out at a show? I did not spot that advice in your guide but admit I may have missed it.

Closer inspection after learning of my new problem, I noticed a bunch of scratch marks on the rear of the cylinder. Obviously previous owners were PRYING cases out. Damn. But is there any other clue to this issue?
 
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Mosin44az

New member
It checks out fine otherwise as far as i can tell.

It even ejects .38 cases easily, now that it has been thoroughly cleaned by my gunsmith.

It STILL will not eject .357 mag cases after firing. The first cylinder fired, you can push them out using the ejector rod with some effort. The SECOND cylinder fired, I can no longer push out the cases in the normal fashion, using my palm only, and have to use a hard object to push or strike against the end of the ejector rod to force out the casings. Yes I know to be careful with what material I have to use for that .

The .357 mag cases stick HARD, even after repeated cleaning by the gunsmith including use of a brass chamberbrush and drill. As stated earlier, I have now noticed scratch marks on the rear of the cylinder indicating previous owner(s) probably were prying cases out.

So it appears to me at this point there COULD be a dimensional problem with the chamber holes, although it could just be more extreme cleaning/polishing of the cylinder is required.

No other revolver I've ever owned, including several Tauruses, has been so problematic. None in fact, has had this problem at all, so it was a shock to pick up a nice-looking classic revolver and have it with a major functioning issue.

So I was wondering if there was a good way to quickly tell in the future if there is a problem with the cylinder chambers, as I did not spot that as part of your checklist ( though I could have missed it). I will DEFINITELY look for scratches on the back of the cylinder from now on!

Thanks for any help or advice on this.
 
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Jim March

New member
Hmmmm.

Until I know what the cause is, and we really don't yet, I don't know how to check for this.

It's an extremely unusual situation!
 
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Mosin44az

New member
Yes, fortunately, but still aggravating. Only time it's happened to me. I believe I have isolated it to two of the 6 chambers. Perhaps they need more polishing is all.

Can't think of any way to tell before shooting if this will be a problem, though. Is there a cylinder chamber gauge?
 
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Jim March

New member
For revolvers? Not really. Snap-caps won't cut it. And you don't want to ask permission to load live shells in at a gun shop!!!
 
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Jim March

New member
Ummm...it has no special issues that I'm aware of in terms of "the checkout". Nothing special to check that's not found on any other snubby revolver. That's assuming I understand your question and you're talking about a Smith & Wesson snubbie in 32H&RMagnum. You might also be talking about an H&R revolver in 32S&W, and that I don't know squat about.

The 32H&R cartridge is an oddball of sorts. The very hottest loads are almost as effective as 38Spl, a few even come close to a decent 38+P load although not quite. Problem is, the 327Federal has kind of supplanted it and good ammo in 32H&R is getting harder to find. Buffalo Bore is still supporting it though:

http://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=257

http://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=270

On that last load, note the headstamps on the back of the shells: that symbol is Starline brass, meaning Buffalo Bore isn't buying enough of that caliber's shells to make it worth having them in their own headstamp ("BB" I think?). So...support is kinda barely hanging in there.
 
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Jim March

New member
No, what happened was, the old thread on the first-get instructions lasted 10 years. Then when I did the anniversary update, we started a new thread BUT with the previous URL, with the old thread archived. That way the old links take you to the new material, and we start the discussion fresh for the newest version :). Custom forum trickery for this one post, basically.
 
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Scrumbag

New member
Thanks for putting this really useful resource together.

Hoping to buy first revolver in the next couple of weeks so am going through this several times.

Thanks again for helping a newbie to handgunning.

ATB,

Scrummy
 
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CarbineWilliams

New member
I love Buffalo Bore and I love their realistic evaluations of their ammo's FPS and ft lbs based on real world applications. Love that they chose to load their .454 without going all 'Hornady' on it. I have a box of BB .454 sitting around. Looks like great stuff, quality wise. Haven't shot it yet... $2 a round... saving it for a buffalo! Their 30-06 ammo is great.
 
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aaronsc

New member
Thanks for this sticky. It was really interesting and informative. I really enjoyed it.

As for the guy with the hard ejecting 357, could it not be a bulgded cylinder bore from a hot hand load that has effected an adjacent bore. If so would looking for a shadow line in each chamber expose such a condition.
 
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Viper99

New member
Thank You Jim,

I have 10 pistols and no revolvers but have been looking for my first. My problem? I have no idea how to check them. Now you have given me the means to learn how.

Thanks again.
 
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navajoRN

New member
Thank you!

I'm a newbie and love revolvers. Been told to stick with Colts, S&W and Rugers but now I have some ways to check out used ones. Gotta Colt Mark III Trooper lined up on GunBroker so I'm not sure how the heck I'm going to be able to check it out until it is actually in hand?!:confused:
 
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