sorry, this post is deleted

sorry, this post is deleted

tomhaka,

First, bullet sizing has absolutely nothing to do with sticking a bullet, unless it is significantly undersized. Even that is unlikely.

Several things you say don't make a lot of sense. First, WIH is AE ammunition, American Eagle? You mention there was damage to the frame/cylinder. What kind of damage, and from what? There is nothing about sticking a bullet except how it is removed that should cause any sort of damage to the gun.

I am assuming this was a jacketed bullet, since getting a lead one out is virtually just a matter of pushing. If you got out a stuck jacketed bullet with a wooden dowel you were extremely fortunate. Usually all that will happen with a dowel is it will shatter and jam in the bore also and you will have just that much more to get out. And, yes, having trouble getting a stuck jacketed bullet out is quite normal. The coefficient of friction of any jacket material is much higher than that of any lead alloy.

While shooting .38 Spl in a .357 Magnum chanber is considered safe from purely a pressure standpoint, shooting jacketed ,38s is probably not the best idea, and the longer the barrel the worse an idea it is. Just think, if the gun had been a 4" the bullet would have cleared the barrel from what you say about it sticking at 1" from the muzzle. Typically a .38 shot in a .357 chamber will develop less velocity than when shot in a .38 chamber because loss of some of the gas pressure around the bullet in the longer chamber.

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Gunsmithing since 1961

It sounds like there are two issues you experienced, neither having anything to do with the other.

I have no idea what the "rattling" would have been, but it certainly does not have anything to do with the stuck bullet. The cylinder falling off sounds like the yoke screw is very loose or missing. The yoke screw is the very front screw in the sideplate on the right side of the gun. The piece the cylinder rotates on and that retains the cylinder is called the yoke in a S&W.

Same for the small pin. It looks like about 1/2 of either the cylinder stop stud or the trigger stud or even the rebound slide stud. It would be really odd for any of these to break in the middle though, and virtually impossible for the piece to fall out of the gun without it being dis-assembled. Was this a new or used gun? Being a -6 it could be either. Either way, it sounds like the shop you are dealing with is first-rate and handling this in the best possible way. Even if a new gun, many dealers would just send it back under warrantee and let you wait for it. Did he have another in stock and make a direct exchange, or did he have to order one? If he didn't have another in stock that is something that couldn't be helped. If that is the case, then having it sent to the factory could be the quickest and best way to get you a functioning gun. S&W is just like most manufacturers in that sometimes quality control leaves something to be desired, and the gun could actually come back from warrantee as a better product than when it left the factory the first time.

Regardless of the wait, don't let this discourage you. S&W may not put out a perfect product, but they still make the best revolvers in the world. Their current production product is, in some ways, not as good as they used to make, but in others it is superior to what they made in the past.

Going back to the first problem, the stuck bullet. This isn't very common, but still not unusual. It has been known to happen with full power lead bullet factory .38 Spl. ammunition fired in a .38 revolver. It is more likely with jacketed bullets and longer barrels as above. To save money it would be far better to buy the equipment and learn to reload rather than buying the loss-leader ammunition sold by even the major manufacturers. Buy a manual, the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook is excellent. Read it and learn as much as you can from it then come back and feel free to ask for suggestions on equipment to get into this at whatever level you would feel comfirtable at.

tomhaka,

Why did you delete you delete your post? I was in the middle of this and found it had been deleted when I posted it to save.

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Gunsmithing since 1961

Sorry Alk,
It wasn't anything you wrote, as a matter of fact, you have some good info. I just want to get my facts straight, like terminology, before I post. I felt I wasn't stating things the way I wanted. I wanted to sound a "little bit" educated on the subject before I post, even though I'm just a newbie.
thank you, haka