won't go in, won't come out

[vertigo7]

< Austin Powers > "Wheelguns aren't my bag, baby..." < / Austin Powers >

The problem child of my collection: Taurus 617 7-shot wheelie in .357. It's a fun piece at the range, but every now and then it gets uppity and misbehaves.

Tonight I took it out of the safe (empty) and gave it a good cleaning, and loaded it before tucking it back in the safe. When loaded with .357 rounds, several of the rounds stick out of their chamber by about 1/4". If I gently push to seat the round, it drops nicely into place. One chamber won't let the cartridge seat itself completely, so the cylinder won't close. Tested some .38s and they work fine, which leads me to believe there's fouling of some kind on the front edges of the chambers. Along with this, suddenly now I've got to apply a lot of force (ie where's my hammer? Wham wham wham.) to the ejector to drop the rounds from the cylinder. If the cylinder is empty, the ejector works effortlessly, as it should.

I've cleaned front and rear faces of the cylinder and the area under the ejector star, triple-cleaned all chambers and checked them for burrs and other damage, and given the ejector a liberal coating of CLP. Problem still here. What now?

 

[steveno]

I assume you shoot a lot of 38's in it? did you try a sst chamber brush? the sst brushes seem to have the stiffest bristles

 

[mtnboomer]

If you shoot a lot of lead bullet .38 Specials in the gun, you may have a lead buildup in the front of the chambers. A Lewis Lead Remover kit (www.Brownells.com) will remove it quickly and easily. If you can see a dark ring about 2/3 the way up the chambers, it could be carbon buildup, but you said you cleaned them and I assume you didn't see one.

 

[vertigo7]

I typically shoot 70% .38s and 30% .357s while at the range. The brush used was a plain 'picked-it-up-at-Wal-Mart' brush made by Outers.

No dark ring is visible so I'll rule out carbon build-up, but I'll give the lead remover kit a try and see what happens next.

As to the ejector issue, could it be that the fouling is creating a tight-enough fit that the rounds won't pop out as they should?

 

[carebear]

Yep, especially lead fouling. Because it is so soft it will smear itself around the casing when you seat the round and act like, I guess, a bedding compound, especially after the case expands post firing.

.oO(I see myself writing a gun rag article "Individual Chamber Case Bedding for Revolvers - Get the Most from your Wheelie!")

 

[Majic]

Quick and easy, take a close fitting bore brush and wrap "chore boy" around it so it fits tight in the chamber. Chuck it up in a variable speed drill, add a few drops of cleaning solution and power it out.

 

[Radicalcleric]

This is why I don't use 38s in my 357s. No matter how clean the chambers look they still seem to get sticky when shooting the shorter cartridges and I hate the extra effort to try to get them clean. Not to mention the wear inflicted on the chambers with all that scrubbing. I think the manufacturing tolerances are so tight with modern guns that even the tiniest bit of material gums up the chambers. This gives me an excuse to own a couple of good 38 revolvers.

 

[C.R.Sam]

Crud cutting

After shootin .38s through it, and before loadin with .357s...
Stuff a FIRED .357 case in each hole.
The full sized case mouth will cut most of the crud out and the loaded .357s will drop in.

Possible safety thing.
If .357 round has to be forced in, there is a good chance that when fired there will be interference to the uncrimping of the bullet.
Hence, higher pressure.

Sam

 

[vertigo7]

I ordered the de-leading tool from Brownells last night before Majic posted his solution, so I'll try both items and see which works best, *and* I'll have the newest Brownells catalog to leer over. Thanks to everyone for the great tips.

If .357 round has to be forced in, there is a good chance that when fired there will be interference to the uncrimping of the bullet.
Hence, higher pressure.

There's no way I'm firing this thing until it passes safety muster, that's for certain.

vertigo7

 

[vertigo7]

A quick update: A short trip around town this morning and I found a box of Chore Boy, as recommended by Majic. A little quality time with my cordless drill and a bottle of Hoppes, and things are 100% better. All rounds seat completely and instantly when loaded, and the ejector will pop out the rounds with a light tap. I appreciate the help, everyone. Thank you.

vertigo7