How does this happen? Doing a reload drill today; shoot 2 from 3" 66', press ejector rod slightly to pop up 2 spent casings, pull them out and load 2 from 2x2x2 ammo carrier. Wound up with 1 live round under star. Assuming it was one of the unfired remaining 4. Never happened before after 40+ years of heavy shooting. Using Georgia arms .38 copper plated ammo with new casings. Gun is kept GI basic training clean. Any suggestions?

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Metro Man

Assuming that you are not re recipient of a grossly out of spec round (unlikely), and assuming your Revolver is in good repair, the only way I know that could happen is that you dropped a round into a charge hole while the ejector rod was being pushed a bit. Maybe not enough for you to realize, but enough that a cartridge case was able to slide under and get caught when all pressure was taken off the Ej. Rod. That's pretty much it.

During horizontal ejection empty cases, and once in a while a live round can fall partially out enough to slip under the ejector and get trapped.

In order to prevent this and particles of grit and burned powder getting trapped under the ejector, hold the revolver muzzle up while ejecting so all rounds and cases, plus all debris will fall clear.

JScott:

Welcome to the Forum. It has been many years since I did a reloading drill as you mention. As I recall, that was a fairly common occurrence when doing the drill. Now, since arthritis has robbed my fingers of any semblance of the dexterity needed to pull off that drill, I wouldn't even attempt to try it. If I remember correctly, I was taught to find cover, dump the entire cylinder, loaded rounds and all, with the muzzle straight up, and then load two rounds (minimum), and get back into the fight. If time and circumstances permitted, you could find the live rounds you ejected on the deck, recover them and place them in your pocket. Of course, back then, gunfights rarely exceeded the six rounds in the cylinder.

Regards,

Dave

The partial reload works, but ONLY IF: (1) the rounds are not pushed out too far (too far is the distance that allows the round, by its weight combined with gravity given the angle at which the weapon is held, to no longer be sufficiently in line with the chamber that the star will pass under the rim); and, (2) the weapon is held as close to true vertical as possible to eliminate the possibility of a round, due to gravity and position of the weapon, coming out of alignment with the charge hole enough to allow the rim to pass by it when it snaps shut.

It is not a matter of if such will occur, but when. It is a real pain to clear, and another reason the military adopted semi-autos in 1911. Malfunctions occur, but are MUCH easier to clear with pistols, as opposed to revolvers.

As others have posted this is NOT an uncommon malfunction when doing partial/tac reloads of the revolver.

I was taught like Shawn explains it, push the ejector just enough to get the fired cases to stick up but not enough to let unfired cases slip past the ejector. NOT easy to do, even when sitting at home practicing.

I was taught to do a partial reload by raising the ejector about 1/4" inch, then allowing it to return to base. Generally, the fired rounds will remain in the raised position while the live rounds will follow the ejector to base. This is done while holding the revolver with the barrel pointing toward the ground in an almost vertical position. The raised fired rounds (which have expanded from firing and thereby remain in the raised position) can then be plucked out while the fired rounds are safely in place. If a fired round is pushed back into the base postition, no harm is done since it nor any of the live rounds can "escape" underneath the ejector.

When performing a complete reload of all cartridges, live or fired, the revolver should also be held as vertically as possible, but with the barrel pointing upward toward the sky/ceiling. The ejector rod should be pressed or bumped smartly to it's full travel and held in place there (I do this as taught, with the thumb of my left hand, with the two center fingers of my left hand through the frame and with the tips in contact with the cylinder in position to slightly rotate the cylinder to help all rounds clear the frame and fall downward to the ground, never into my right hand! Catching the rounds with the right hand will quickly become a habit and will be done subconsciously under stress of reloading quickly.

Let the rounds fall, and once the revolver cylinder is open after using the thumb of the right hand to press the thumb piece for that purpose, the right hand should be on it's way to pluck two rounds from the loop loader on the belt or the speed loader normally in the same position, possibly in a pocket. If rounds are loose in a pocket, in a loop loader, or in a speedloader pouch, the right hand should be retrieving them while your eyes remain on the revolver to make certain all rounds have cleared the cylinder and are cleanly out of the way for a reload. When that happens, the left hand rotates to point the barrel toward the ground where new rounds are added to the cylinder in an appropriate manner after moving the left thumb to capture the cylinder with the two middle fingers through the frame and thereby being able to rotate and control the cylinder to allow insertion of the fresh rounds. This also allows you to keep the cylinder from partially returning into the frame and fouling the reloading process. Two at a time from the loops, a speed loader full if available, perhaps two at a time from a speed strip, or just do the best you can with the loose rounds as quickly as you can get a round oriented correctly to drop into a chamber of the cylinder. Maintain the barrel down postion of the revolver until the loaded or partially loaded cylinder is returned to it's position locked in the frame. Failure to do so will allow unfired rounds to fall out!!

Getting a round underneath the ejector is not difficult, but in my experience, given a revolver in good condition, it always happens when ejecting rounds without the revolver being held with the barrel pointing toward the sky. Gravity is your friend when ejecting rounds from the cylinder of your revolver!! And again, they should be ejected with alacrity, as opposed to a simple gentle push. Hopefully, this info is beneficial to you. It is the result of reloading revolvers many thousands of times since the mid sixties, and observing hundreds of others doing so while being trained, instructed, or qualified (mostly with the PPC targets and 60 round course of fire). If this is of no value, you already know where to file it!! Good shooting, all ...

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So long ... Ken

Thanks to all who took the time to respond. I now have a pretty good understanding as to what occurred and how to prevent it in the future.

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Metro Man