At our monthly revolver match a fellow member's Model 15 had his cylinder lock up and would not open. I slipped a business card between the cylinder and frame and disengaged the cylinder stop. The cylinder could be opened enough to move the ejector rod away from the locking bolt but no further. The only other thing I could think of was a high primer wedging things up. As the revolver was still partially loaded, the owner packed up the gun and would deal with it at his home. Anything else that would cause such a problem?

1. extruded primer stuck in the recoil shield.

2. heavy lead firing residue or even a partial bullet jacket stuck in the b-c gap.

How about a gas ring coming loose?

__________________
Dick

That is also a possibility, as is a badly neglected cylinder arbor and cylinder that needs thorough cleaning. Old bullet lube and firing residue can migrate into the cylinder arbor through the gas ring and really gum up cylinder rotation.

Back in the late 1970s S &W received reports of the gas rings on K frame magnums (M13, M19, M66) seizing up and binding cylinders when they got hot from rapid fire of magnum ammunition.

The engineering fix was to move the gas ring from the cylinder to the crane, and a -dash eco was created. A few years later, for some reason, the manufacture of K frame magnums moved the crane-mounted gas ring back to the cylinder, and no more was heard of cylinders binding up.

Dunno if the original problem ever reared up again, or if it was resolved by changing manufacturing tolerances or materials.

It could be as simple as dirt or unburnt powder under the extractor star.

Thank you all for the suggestions. If find out what the problem was, I will post an update.

+1 on Pennlineman's analysis.
Always look at the simplest item first, not last.

__________________
-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

To update. The shooter removed the sideplate, disengaged the cylinder stop with a business card, pulled the hand back out of the frame, opened the cylinder enough to clear the ejector rod away from the locking bolt and gave the cylinder a knock with the heel of the hand. The cylinder opened. The problem was caused by a split case that knotted the works together. Live and learn.

It sounds like the split case was the straw that broke the camel's back; there is likely one or more of the other issues mentioned involved and the case let a little debris get under the extractor star to finish it up.

I have had a lot of cases split on me over the years and I usually was unaware of it until I had already tumbled them and discovered them during inspection. Never had one give the slightest problem as far as causing a malfunction such as you described.

Your bud's gun may very well need nothing but a detail cleaning. I love the wheelguns, but they have a number of places where crud accumulates and will eventually degrade performance to some degree. A little here and a little there adds up.

Happened to me yesterday at the range, fully stuck. I left my 686-6 to the gunsmith, he said it can happen again and recommended a fix, I agreed. He told me that the ammo could be also responsible, they were NORMA 357 mg 158gr FMJ.
Did anybody have an problems with NORMA?

Norma is typically classed as top-of-the-line ammo, and potent, too.