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S&W Revolvers: 1980 to the Present All NON-PINNED Barrels, the L-Frames, and the New Era Revolvers


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Old 08-15-2011, 12:25 AM
BROKEN HAND BROKEN HAND is offline
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Default Tight cylinder problem

I have a 65-6, 3 in revolver. It has not been shot a great deal. It seems that my reloads fit awful tight in the cylinders. They are snug when loading. The brass is hard to eject. I have checked them to be clean and the cylinder throat is sized right to the bullet, but I am wondering why the case is so tight in the cylinder? I am using Starline brass and a medium load. It all works fine in my 2 other 357's. Anyone ever have this problem or any ideas for me? Thanks in advance to anyone's help.
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Old 08-15-2011, 01:25 AM
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Default measurements

What brand bullet and weight are you using?
You need to measure a finished round. Use your calipers and check the diameter where the bullet is seated into the case. It should be .375-.377" to fit the cylinder properly. You could be crimping to hard causing a bulge in the case.
Check the bullet diameter .357-358".
When loading different cases the case wall thickness can and will vary from brand to brand and lot to lot. How deeply are you seating your bullets? Thicker cases will bulge in the middle when a bullet is seated extra deep.
How far are the cases going into the cylinder before they are tight.
Now check these things out and maybe you will find out why there is a problem.
Good luck.
Bruce
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Old 08-15-2011, 09:40 AM
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Maybe try some factory loads for comparison.
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Old 08-15-2011, 10:10 AM
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If the loaded cartridges fit well in two other S&W .357's, then the cylinder becomes suspect. If they only get tight at the very end, then maybe your gun shot a lot of .38's and not much .357, so the ends of the cylinder may just need a serious cleaning. Have you tried putting a bore brush & rod on a drill and working it pretty hard in the cylinder, NOT the barrel? Does the gun shoot .38 Specials OK?

Also, is it only one charge hole that is too snug?

Lots more investigation to do. Until you get a good solution, I'd keep the loads on the light side.
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Old 08-15-2011, 12:41 PM
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One other thing to look for is do you have your sizing die down all the way to the shell holder when you size the shell's. Can result if s slightly bulged case and difficulty to get the last 1/8" or so to chamber.
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Old 08-15-2011, 10:42 PM
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Have you considered a Lee Factory Crimp Die as the last step in the reloading process? I have my seater die set to only seat the bullet, and do all the crimping in the final stage with the factory crimp die. In addition to being very easy to adjust the crimp, it also does a full resize on the case to factory minimums (so they say) - any bumps you might have created in the reloading process get ironed out.

I've never had a chambering problem with any of my rounds that have gone through the factory crimp die (except when there's carbon buildup from 38s in 357 cylinders, which others have mentioned and for which there are other solutions.)
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Old 08-16-2011, 07:16 AM
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When I began reloading, I found out in a hurry that spending $15 on a case gauge was money well invested. And as Wrangler5 points out, a properly adjusted crimp die is highly desirable. They may not be the answer to your problem but they will eliminate some variables.
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Old 08-16-2011, 08:14 AM
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Maybe an oversimplification, but since no one else has asked -- have those chambers been throughly cleaned, and I mean CLEANED? With some revolvers, it doesn't take much shooting of .38s in a .357 cylinder to buld up a thin layer of crud in the front of the chamber. Sometimes, just looking won't reveal this.
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Old 08-16-2011, 08:25 PM
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Default Second on the hard-to-see carbon

It may be irrelevant in your case since the rounds won't even chamber easily BEFORE firing but I recently chose to spend $35 at the local gunsmith on a Model 29 that had been fed too many .44 Specials and not thoroughly cleaned enough. I did not have a super-aggressive Stainless CHAMBER brush at the time and gave up on IOSSO cream and lesser brushes after something around three hours scrubbin'. My carbon problem would allow chambering but difficult extraction of Fired cases and was HARD to see even for the dealer with the naked eye. Should have tried a new, stiff Stainless CHAMBER brush from both ends of the cylinder in retrospect. Still learnin'....




Quote:
Originally Posted by Pisgah View Post
Maybe an oversimplification, but since no one else has asked -- have those chambers been throughly cleaned, and I mean CLEANED? With some revolvers, it doesn't take much shooting of .38s in a .357 cylinder to buld up a thin layer of crud in the front of the chamber. Sometimes, just looking won't reveal this.
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