Anyone had problems extracting American Eagle 158 grain .357 shells?

Hapworth

Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
5,930
Reaction score
6,123
Just put a box through a Model 19 and 13, and the shells stuck like crazy in both guns when trying to extract. I had to push the extractor repeatedly and with ridiculous force -- enough that I was worried about bending it -- before the shells came out.

Both guns were cleaned and oiled before shooting.

Put several boxes of the other manufacturer's .38 and .357 through the same two guns the same day, with no issues.

What gives?
 
Register to hide this ad
I'm guessing but did you alternate the firing of 38 special and 357 magnum shells in your revolver?. Shooting 38's in a 357 chambered firearm can lead to problems due to the chamber being longer for the 357 mag. The powder fouling tends to collect in the long chamber and sometimes if enough 38's are fired it tends to leave a carbon ring in the chamber. So now you switch from the 38's and start 357mags. Didn't clean out the chambers prior to switching ammo's did you. The carbon fouling left behind is the source of your ejection problems. Frank
 
You say the guns were cleaned and oiled prior to firing. Did you run dry patches through the bore and chambers to get the oil out before shotting, or were they still oily on the inside? If there was oil on the chambers, it could have resulted in hydraulic lock from the heat and pressure, causing very difficult extraction. If the bore was oily, that could have increased pressure as well.
 
I'm guessing but did you alternate the firing of 38 special and 357 magnum shells in your revolver?. Shooting 38's in a 357 chambered firearm can lead to problems due to the chamber being longer for the 357 mag. The powder fouling tends to collect in the long chamber and sometimes if enough 38's are fired it tends to leave a carbon ring in the chamber. So now you switch from the 38's and start 357mags. Didn't clean out the chambers prior to switching ammo's did you. The carbon fouling left behind is the source of your ejection problems. Frank
Appreciate the thoughts -- I started with .357, though, and upon finishing the box of American Eagles (all of which stuck) switched to Remington and had no issues. Ditto the .38s that followed.
 
You say the guns were cleaned and oiled prior to firing. Did you run dry patches through the bore and chambers to get the oil out before shotting, or were they still oily on the inside? If there was oil on the chambers, it could have resulted in hydraulic lock from the heat and pressure, causing very difficult extraction. If the bore was oily, that could have increased pressure as well.
Afraid not -- cleaned, but only the action was oiled; barrel and charge holes were dry.
 
American eagle out of Flordia is junk ammo. There have been numerous compliants on this ammo. I couldn't get .38 sp ammo to fit in my speed reloader as it was oversized on the rim.I heard too many problems. I even wrote the factory without a responce.Hapworth, it is not your gun. Try different and your problem will go away.I'm asumming your gun was clean. Good luck Bob
 
Back
Top