New to Revolvers: .357 casing sticking in cylinder.

[pietro beretta]

Hello y'all,

I just purchased my first revolver. I picked up the Colt King Cobra target. I wanted the Python but the KC fit my hand better.

I am having some trouble with the .357 shell casings sticking in the cylinder. So much so the ejector rod won't budge without some major force.

The ammo is from LAX ammo, new: 125 grain FP, it's pretty light for .357 @1150 fps.

Is it the ammo, or could it be the firearm? Looking for some advice and/or suggestions from people that have experience with wheel guns.

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[RVTECH]

Was the gun 'squeaky' clean when you got it?

If NOT it could be a case of the gun possibly being shot excessively with .38 Special and building up the 'infamous' carbon rings in the cylinders and causing sticking of .357 brass when used. It's happened to a lot of us who own .357 revolvers!

Start with a good cleaning before your next shooting session.

 

[TTSX]

My guess is it's the ammo. Only time my .357 gets sticky is when my loads are getting warm. If you haven't chrono'd the ammo, you don't know for a fact it's not actually pushing those little bullets to 1500.

 

[pietro beretta]

Was the gun 'squeaky' clean when you got it?

If NOT it could be a case of the gun possibly being shot excessively with .38 Special and building up the 'infamous' carbon rings in the cylinders and causing sticking of .357 brass when used. It's happened to a lot of us who own .357 revolvers!

Start with a good cleaning before your next shooting session.

Squeaky clean, only ran .357 through it.

To add on, this is my second time to the range, the first trip 1 or 2 casings out of 40 or so stuck, but not like the second time at the range. Cleaned it well like I do all my guns after the range, as well as cylinders.

Edit: clarification

 

[pietro beretta]

My guess is it's the ammo. Only time my .357 gets sticky is when my loads are getting warm. If you haven't chrono'd the ammo, you don't know for a fact it's not actually pushing those little bullets to 1500.

Anything is possible for sure, I don't have a chrono to be sure. It is LAX ammo and not a larger company brand, maybe I will pick up some different ammo if its not outrageous and try that.

 

[ma96782]

My hunch.......

It's the ammo. Try shooting some .357 loads with "less power" or even some regular .38 specials.

If you're still having problems, it might just be an undersized or rough chamber walls in your cylinder. It also wouldn't/doesn't hurt, to see if it's only with "certain" chambers.

Aloha, Mark

 

[OldBroad44]

Was the gun 'squeaky' clean when you got it?

If NOT it could be a case of the gun possibly being shot excessively with .38 Special and building up the 'infamous' carbon rings in the cylinders and causing sticking of .357 brass when used. It's happened to a lot of us who own .357 revolvers!

Start with a good cleaning before your next shooting session.

Right. This is my guess too. Assuming gun is used. The rings at the .38sp length are obvious. If thats the problem scrub the cylinder chambers with the brass brush attachment on your cleaning rod. Use plenty of solvent. Pure solvent such as Hoppes, not lubruicant or a lubricant solvent combo. If there is really bad buildup you may want to remove cylinder and soak it in solvent overnight first.

Use a bore light and inspect for a burr or roughness in cylinder chambers. Does unfired ammo slide in snd out of cylinder easily? Sometimes revolvers stick that way because the cylinder chambers weren't finished properly.

If there are no obvious problems with the cylinder chambers I would just change ammo. Whatever your ammo was supposed to be, maybe it wasnt. And if it was too hot or they used used brass that had been fired too hot, it could stick.

 

[pietro beretta]

Does unfired ammo slide in snd out of cylinder easily? Sometimes revolvers stick that way because the cylinder chambers weren't finished properly.

New from the factory, I only have used .357.

New unfired ammo slides in and out easily and cylinder chambers appear smooth.

I supposed the easiest thing to do would be to find different ammo and still see if the problem persists.

 

[orygun]

What do the fired cases look like? An imperfection in any (or all) chambers will show up on the fired brass. I'd be giving them all a good looking over.

 

[drstrangelove]

First thing to do is make sure you are ejecting with the barrel pointed vertically. If any unspent powder ends up under the ejector star, it will almost always cause this very problem. Simple fix.

I would flitz polish the chambers with a cordless drill and tight fitting swab on a cleaning rod. Any small burr on just one chamber will cause a hangup. Been there with a 66 6". Easy to test which chambers involved…. Number them with a felt tip marker and load each one individually and fire. The ones that stick need attn.

I also had less of the problem (by far) with using newer brass for reloading for that revolver and relegating older brass to less picky revolvers and leverguns.

 

[outwest]

If it is a new colt revolver you might want to get a hold of colt before doing anything to the cylinders.

 

[DLS]

I'm betting rough chambers. Colt of today is not the Colt of the past. I'd run through the steps listed above, looking for burs or scratches. Numbering cylinders to see if it's only on a few is a good idea as well. Regardless of what you find call Colt and let them fix it.

Having said that, I polish all my revolver cylinders as soon as I own them. The tools are inexpensive and available from Brownells.

 

[CountryGent]

Got to second (or third) the theory that it is due to the Lax ammo. I've had both .357 and .44 Magnum from them be a trifle "sticky", in both wheelguns and at least one carbine.

 

[Member 34319]

The ammo is from LAX ammo

Is it the ammo

From LAX or made by LAX?

If made by I'd say yes it's the ammo.

Try other ammo by more known ammo manufacturers first before doing anything else.

 

[pietro beretta]

Try other ammo by more known ammo manufacturers first before doing anything else

Made by LAX (new, not reman), first time using their ammo. I'll take a look at the cases too since I kept them indending on doing my own reloads.

I'll buy some known ammo this weekend and report back.

(When I cleaned it on Sunday I didn't notice anything that I would consider rough in the cylinders.)

 

[Member 34319]

Made by LAX (new, not reman)

Someone can correct me if I am wrong. However, I'm fairly certain all LAX ammo IS remanufactured. I'm not aware that they make their own cases and or bullets. If I had to guess they are likely using the absolute cheapest components they can like most ammo companies that remanufacture.

 

[Jay Walk]

NormaShooting.com has .357 today.

 

[CountryGent]

Someone can correct me if I am wrong. However, I'm fairly certain all LAX ammo IS remanufactured. I'm not aware that they make their own cases and or bullets. If I had to guess they are likely using the absolute cheapest components they can like most ammo companies that remanufacture.

That is my understanding too about Lax branded ammo, though I could be wrong. (My experience with their ammo has been generally pretty good. Their service, at least on one major screw up of theirs, not so much. YMMV.)

 

[aksu747]

Was the gun 'squeaky' clean when you got it?

If NOT it could be a case of the gun possibly being shot excessively with .38 Special and building up the 'infamous' carbon rings in the cylinders and causing sticking of .357 brass when used. It's happened to a lot of us who own .357 revolvers!

Start with a good cleaning before your next shooting session.

This, followed by are you man handling the ejector rod?If not you should be, if you are you will have no problems ejecting cases.
Best part of this advice as an experienced revolver shooter it will work for all calibers, just don't shake the guns shut like you see in the movies/tv it will damage the ejector rod over time.(leads to bad timing of the cylinder due to bent ejector rod)

 

[Tony617]

The only ammo that had issues getting stuck and had a lot force were the old Winchester 158gr Silver-tips 357 magnum rounds that I bought in the early 1990s. I am glad that shot them all up back in the early 2000s. They really hurt to fire 6 rounds of the silver-tips.