.32-20 re-visited

[PuertoRican]

Forgive me guys, I had an idea that I gotta throw out there. If y'all remember from my earlier .32-20 post, I had a jacketed hollow point stuck in the barrel of my 1899 Smith 32-20. The consensus was that I shouldn't use that particular type of ammo but should stick to lead only. Here's something I left out of the original post. In single action the cylinder and barrel don't always line up exactly. I am sure when I shot the hollow point, I fired single action. So, is it possible, that the bullet hit the edge of the barrel then got stuck in it?

 

[DWalt]

Very unlikely if not impossible. The primer cannot be contacted by the firing pin if the chamber is more than a few hundredths of an inch out of alignment with the barrel.

The cause of a bullet getting stuck in the barrel is almost always an inadequate amount of (or no) propellant. It is also possible that if the ammunition is very old, the propellant may have degraded. Another possibility is a grossly excessive gap between the cylinder and the barrel, but I do not know how that could happen.

 

[daddio202]

Did you get the bullet out?? I don't know why you would insist on using jacketed ammo that is usually loaded "hotter" than lead round nose? I stick with lrn ammo in my guns earlier than 1950 just to be on the safe side. A gun over 100 years old no way would I try any unknown, old, or suspicious ammo in any way. If you want to shoot different ammo just get a revolver that is a numbered model made 1960 and later. You can shoot every different ammo configurations you can find in them.

 

[weatherby]

I don't know why you would insist on using jacketed ammo
Just to clarify that and no disrespect
He's not..........nor will he in the future.
He had a prior thread where this happened and he knows not to now.

As DWalt said it was either just a primer and bullet or way undercharged

 

[DWalt]

There is considerably more friction between the bullet and the barrel with jacketed bullets. A lightly-loaded cartridge with a lead bullet may be OK, but the exact same load behind a jacketed bullet of the same weight could result in a stuck bullet.

There was an interesting article in the 2017 Gun Digest in which a comparison test was performed of MVs of near-identical 9mm loads using lead bullets with different synthetic coatings, uncoated (with just the normal lube groove), plated bullets, and jacketed bullets. Normal cast bullets gave an average MV of nearly 1180 ft/sec. On the other end, copper-plated bullets of the same weight produced a MV of 1115 -1125 ft/sec while conventional FMJ bullets produced MVs between 1110 and 1130 ft/sec. The various synthetic coated lead bullets produced MVs in the range of 1145 to 1175 ft/sec. What this shows is that plated or jacketed bullets have considerably greater bore friction than ordinary bare lead bullets and would be expected to have a higher propensity of sticking in the bore at low velocities.

 

[PuertoRican]

Clarification - the bullet was not intact. It was deformed with the jacket on wide side expanded. With respect - I do not believe insufficient powder could have caused this. I fired same ammo in 110 year old 1892 Winchester flawless.

 

[glowe]

I think I had mentioned this in your earlier thread, but lead will actually act as a lubricant in a barrel, lowering the friction. Lead melts at just over 600 degrees F, but copper does not melt until almost 2000 degrees F. Copper at revolver velocities will never achieve temperatures allowing it to melt, so friction will remain very high. I still think that may well be the major reason for your issue.

 

[steelslaver]

Any kind of jacket separation or bullet failure would not cause the bullet to remain in the barrel. Only possible exception is a hollow base wad cutter that got the center blown through it. Once a bullet enters the bore with a normal amount of power behind it, its going to pass through if it seals the bore. Yea, the gap leaks off some pressure, but not enough to let the bullet stop with any kind of normal load if the bullet seals the bore. Even if you shoot a hollow based wad cutter up side down it won't stop in the bore, that a huge hollow point of soft lead, unless of course you completeness blew the center of it out. Even an over bore bullet that would still chamber in a revolver would swage down and pass with sufficient powder. An undersized one would "rattle" down the bore and pass to fly off inaccurately and under speed with any normal amount of powder.

About the only way I see to get a bullet stuck in the barrel is no powder, very insufficient amount of powder or powder that doesn't light off correctly. Of course a plugged barrel would cause this also.

 

[weatherby]

I remember your other thread very well.
You had a factory squib round.
You noticed the sound difference and stopped shooting......very good thing BTW.
Irregardless of what the rest of the box did that "one" was bad.

 

[Muley Gil]

Clarification - the bullet was not intact. It was deformed with the jacket on wide side expanded. With respect - I do not believe insufficient powder could have caused this. I fired same ammo in 110 year old 1892 Winchester flawless.

Was this factory ammo or handloads? Even factory ammo can have insufficient powder. A fellow police officer bought a new M29 .44 Magnum and a box of S&W ammo (this was in the 1970s). He had several low powder rounds and one with no powder at all. Some of the others from the same box of ammo fired just fine.