I have a 625-3 and I shoot me lad reloads in it. After about three min clips they get difficult to eject. I do the same thing with my 325 with no issue. I have not tried the same process with factory ammo, I need to. I sent it back to SAW and they ran it with factory ammo with no issue. Any ideas? Bill
625-3 difficulty ejecting
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Brownells sells special SS brushes for CYLINDERS ONLY that will likely cure your issue. These are soft SS and are NOT for use in the bore.
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What do you do to reset the problem?
If you let it cool down does the problem go away?
Or does cleaning them help?
If you let it cool down does the problem go away?
Or does cleaning them help?
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I’m thinking if heat is causing it, the holes must be undersized?
I’d let it cool down, then try it without cleaning.
Sometimes rough or dirty chambers grab the brass. But it would probably do it from the start. My .454 Alaskan was like that. It took a lot of cleaning and polishing the chambers to make it better.
Maybe try without moon clips to see which chambers are sticking.
I’m thinking some polishing is your next step.
I’d let it cool down, then try it without cleaning.
Sometimes rough or dirty chambers grab the brass. But it would probably do it from the start. My .454 Alaskan was like that. It took a lot of cleaning and polishing the chambers to make it better.
Maybe try without moon clips to see which chambers are sticking.
I’m thinking some polishing is your next step.
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My 610 did that. I got rid of it.
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The original run of 625's did have extremely tight cylinder charge holes, especially in the reduced diameter area next to the forcing cone. Many of them would only function with pristine factory ammo. Many of these were slightly polished, or in some cases reamed, to solve issues. The softer, slightly OS, SS brush trick I mentioned otherwise in this thread works great on J, K, L, and N frame cylinder charge holes that are gunked up. Lead bullets, especially soft ones, WILL cause the gunk. The OS SS brush, of the appropriate diameter per caliber, WILL get the charge holes spanking clean. Brownell's sells these slightly OS SS brushes.
stansdds
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If factory ammo does not cause any problems with the firing of or ejection of cases, but your reloads do, then I'd say it is something about your reloads. Possibly the use of lead bullets leaving lead deposits or the lubricant on those bullets leaving residue that causes some binding of the cases to the chamber walls when the cylinder is hot.
Light loads can also make for sooty brass that will exacerbate the problem.
stansdds
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This is true as the lower pressure does not expand the brass case enough to fully seal against the chamber walls.
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Suggest looking at the rear of the chambers as powder residue buildup from a handload that is a little light will build up there and often times is not noticed.
Here is what I did.
My last new H&R 999 pistol a .22 had rough cylinders and the cases were sticking so here is what I did.
Now here is the caveat if it is indeed a caveat. With the last one I bought it was unfired and one of the last ones made before H&R quit making pistols. It was a .22 model 999 and after shooting one cylinder full the next cylinder full would not eject to the point where I broke the stamped sheet metal ejector arm off. I got another part but decided to fix the damn gun first so it would eject. I could see how rough the interior was of each of the 9 chambers. were.
Here is what I did:
I got a blue Iosso plasticky brush. I was told by a guy who makes custom barrels these brushes are so stiff they will "ruin" a match barrel. I took the plasticky blue brush and coated it with J.B. Bore scrubber and they screwed the brush in to a very short section of cleaning rod, very short. I then put the cleaning rod in a drill motor set a low rpm and then ran the brush in and out of each of the 9 chambers 8 times and stopped and checked each cylinder. Gone was the roughness although two cyclinders had one deep reaming mark left and I was not about to do any more polishing as the cylinder would have become egg shapped.
Next the testing:
I used 7 different brands of .22 rim fire long rifle ammo and only one brand RWS bottom of the barrel lowest price target ammo would not eject, all of the other brands, like CCI, Winchester, Federal, Eley, Lapua, SK, worked and ejected.
Accuracy? No change in accuracy it shot just as good as before. I had to go this route as H&R does not make these revolvers anymore so I could not send it back to the original company. And I have had so many hammer and chisel gunsmiths ruin my firearms in the past I never what to see another gunsmith.
One other note:
You said you were using handloads. Handloading dies can vary in size tremendously not only between makers but even between sets of dies by the same maker. So much for quality control but what else is new. Many times the sizing die when it is oversize will not size your cases down far enough.
Also case thickness varies tremendously between brands. When Loading for the .45 acp "decades" ago I had to stick with one brand of case ,I think it was Remington over Winchester because Remington cases were thicker and the jacketed bullets seated were then tight enough to prevent bullet set back.
Also when seating bullets especially cast bullets which are sticky compared to jacketed ones the bullet will expand the case while it is being seated. Then when it is fired it sticks in the cylinder.
I have had to send dies back to even prestigious companies like RCBS that were made too small a diameter or to large a diameter to have them replaced.
If the gun is still under warranty and it fails with factory ammo send the gun back and if the Morons in the repair department send it back and it still does not work then send it back again with a doubly nasty note.
My recently deceased friend bought both a Smith brand new and a Colt brand new and both turkey's would not eject. The Smith being unuseable. He sent the Smith back and Smith replaced the cylinder. The Colt he did not send back and decided to live with it because it did eject but roughly.
I have never understood why firearms companies make the chambers of semi-auto pistols and rifles often very smooth and then make their revolver cylinders rougher that a corncob.
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I have been handloading since 1968 and most of my loads were low pressure practice loads which resulted in sooty brass. Never had that problem with any of my revolvers or automatics. When there was a problem it was either from an undersize chamber or a rough chamber, not the ammo unless the ammo was oversize handloads that were beyond the diameter of factory spec.
With cast bullet shooting in rifles where the velocity was so low it was in the 1,700 fps range (normal velocity being around 2,500 fps with jacketed bullets) the cases did not expand enough to even fill the chamber resulting in gas blowby that hit me in the face yet the cases actually fell out of the chamber.
In auto pistols when shooting very low velocity loads the fired cases did not even push the slide back far enough for ejection but did eject when hand cycling the slide.
In revolvers (recently by the way) I was shooting very low velocity .41 magnum hand loads, so low I did not even get a complete power burn and the cases were covered in soot but all fell out of the chamber after firing.
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For both revolvers and semi-auto's to work correctly in the firing cycle, the chambers need to be reasonably smooth. There has to be enough space for the brass at the cartridge mouth to open slightly as the bullet is expelled by the powder burn. There has to enough room for the brass to expand slightly to grip the cylinder or barrel walls after the case is pushed forward a fraction of an inch by the firing pin.
I've final chambered more than a few handgun barrels. Checking QC falls back on the hands doing the work and those inspecting the work afterwards.
Ultra reduced loads or those of a powder choice that does not produce sufficient gas volume can mess up the metric. Sometimes in extreme cases, there will be unburned powder flakes lingering. In other cases, one can find a black smudge on the brass exterior at what would be the 12 o'clock position when the cartridge fired. Sometimes problems can be caused by a poor powder choice for the exposed base of the bullet, assuming its lead and not jacket material. This choice will cause excessive lead and burn products to be distributed much of the length of the barrel.
Handloading is both an art and a science. The mechanics of a proper reloading recipe, hopefully from a reliable source, need to be followed exactly.
I've final chambered more than a few handgun barrels. Checking QC falls back on the hands doing the work and those inspecting the work afterwards.
Ultra reduced loads or those of a powder choice that does not produce sufficient gas volume can mess up the metric. Sometimes in extreme cases, there will be unburned powder flakes lingering. In other cases, one can find a black smudge on the brass exterior at what would be the 12 o'clock position when the cartridge fired. Sometimes problems can be caused by a poor powder choice for the exposed base of the bullet, assuming its lead and not jacket material. This choice will cause excessive lead and burn products to be distributed much of the length of the barrel.
Handloading is both an art and a science. The mechanics of a proper reloading recipe, hopefully from a reliable source, need to be followed exactly.
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StrawHat
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I am having trouble comprehending a few things, please help me.
What are “…me lad reloads”? What does “…three min clips…” mean?
Every time tight chambers get mentioned there are always a bunch of ways suggested that can easily ruin a chamber. Cylinder hones, abrasives on patches on brushes, power tools, etc. can easily and quickly distort the chambers. If S&W does not remedy the problem, consider having a finish reamer used in each charge hole. Using a finish reamer insure uniformity and proper dimensions. Anything else is guess work.
For your reloads to work in one revolver and not the other indicates a revolver problem, not a reload problem.
Kevin
I read that as "my lead reloads" and "three moon clips"... ??
quote-------------- Sometimes problems can be caused by a poor powder choice for the exposed base of the bullet, assuming its lead and not jacket material--------quote
You are 50% right.
In my experiments with the .44 magnum I was using a bullet only 1 thousandths oversize coupled with using too fast a burning rate of powder aka Bullseye and Unique so I tried using a gas check bullet with the same powders. Zero difference with the bore still coated with lead.
Next I went to slower burning powders such as 2400 and 4227 which resulted in zero leading. Also the pressure/velocity had to be higher to expand the bullet that was only about 1 thousandth oversize, usually not enough to prevent leading because the "majority" of leading comes from an undersize bullet not the base of the bullet. I have found 2 to 3 thousandths oversize to be sufficient to prevent leading coupled with the right powder and pressure.
Few people know that there is no such thing as a uniform bore diameter. Simply by pushing a very tight patch through the bore on a really cheap barrel you can even feel the loose and tight spots in it so the age old Gun Writer bullcrap about getting your best accuracy with lead bullets by going 1 thousandths oversize simply is not true. The lead bullet generally has to be larger than 1 thousandths oversize to seal off the bore to prevent excess leading.
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Several months I sent my cylinder off to a forum member(maybe here, can’t remember handle but they have a stellar rep) to have the cylinders reaped and chamfered a bit. There was no noticeable change. I think I will clean the cylinder chambers thoroughly and shooting some without moon clips to see if I can narrow down the problem chambers. Thank you all for your input. Bill
Running 40 S&W or 10mm?
