Ruger redhawk locking up

[SquarePizza]

*Disclaimer*
Not my gun, or my reloads. I'm not a ruger guy..

I had a buddy come over with his new (to him) ruger redhawk in 41 magnum, and a box of reloads that his friend (not me) made up for him.

This is his first time shooting both the pistol and the load, and during the day it would lock up maybe 40-50% of the time.

By lock up I mean that he would either pull the trigger for a DA shot, or try to cock the hammer manually, and either the cylinder was binding or something internally was not working right because the hammer would come back half way, and would not travel any further backwards. The hammer would return to uncocked just fine, but would not fully cock.

The cylinder would swing out normal, and upon closing it again it would fire a few times then try to lock again.

Dry firing is 100% functional.

We tried some of my powder-puff 41 special loads, these were 100% functional.

His reloads... it would keep hiccuping, and never on the first shot.

His loads were 215 grain LSWC, over 8.1 grains CFE, which according to hodgden, the max is 8.2 but it is not a max pressure load. Primers were nice and round and had no side scuffing (making sure they were fully seated). Extraction was clean and easy. There was no signs at all of it being too hot... but it was clearly these reloads that seemed to be causing issue.

Having never encountered this, I was wondering what you guys might think about the situation.

 

[josywales]

I bought a custom Ruger SA revolver from a world famous SA gun smith. EVERYONE here would know him. When I received the revolver, I couldn't get a full cylinder through without it binding up. He was indignant about it, so I sent it back for a full refund.

Looking at what was done to the gun, which wasn't really much, I believe it was the custom ejector rod, which was probably ill-fitted. My other guess is that this famous smith doesn't work on every gun that leaves his shop. I can understand that, but he should be checking everyone gun, because are paying at least for that. Anyway, regarding your friend's gun:

Your friend's ejector rod isn't new, but could there perhaps be an issue with that rod? Is it possible that the heavier recoil is torquing the rod a bit?

 

[Ngtdog]

Do you know if he used a roll crimp or taper crimp?
I have seen reloads with too light a crimp and after firing the first one or two bullets, the remaining bullets work forward and jam the gun up so the cylinder won't rotate.
This is one possibility.
I use a roll crimp on my magnums. Ron

 

[427mach1]

What Ngtdog said.... Check and make sure the crimp is sufficient and that the bullets aren't moving under recoil. I locked up a Blackhawk 41 mag bad enough that I had to take it home and drive the bullet back into the cartridge with a dowel.