357 Brass sticking in cylinder

Prowler53 · Mar 25, 2019

I have a question for the revolver experts. I purchased a used 1980's era Taurus model 66 357 Mag.
Bought it from the local gun shop, and the owner of the shop told me that he knew someone who had passed away, and his wife was selling his guns and reloading gear to him. He told me this because I had inquired about a used .357 revolver. A couple days later he calls me and said he got a couple pistols and a bunch of 357 brass from this guys wife. I ended up buying the 357 revolver, a bunch of brass and he threw in 100 rounds of reloaded 357's, as well as some 158 grain Laser Cast RNFP bullets.
So this past week I loaded up some 357's and took the gun out yesterday to shoot it for the first time.
I started out shooting 18 rounds of some of the loaded bullets that I got with the gun, everything went well without any issues. Then I loaded up the rounds that I had reloaded and they actually grouped much better. The issue I had was when I tried to eject the cases, one of them were hanging up a little, and the ejector would not push the cases out all the way. I had to pull them out with my fingers.
I loaded up another 6 and fired them off with the same problem, only this time 2 of the cases were sticking. I was able to grab them and give them a good pull and they popped out, so it's not as if they were jammed tight. I decided to try the reloads I got with the gun again, and had no problems. Cases slid right out. So I'm guessing it's something to do with my reloads. Here's what I can tell you to see if you might have an answer:
Bullets for the rounds I received and my reloads were the same 158gr laser cast rnfp.
OAL was the same: 1.570 I used 14.1 gr H110 but I have no idea what powder he used for his reloads. I used a heavy crimp. CCI 550 Magnum Primers
Laser cast has load data posted for this bullet with H110.
Starting Load 13.8gr 1225 fps oal 1.570 Max 14.5 gr 1296 fps oal 1.570

By the way....The primers did not show any sign of high pressure.

Sorry such a long post, but I needed to explain the details the best I could

2bfree · Mar 25, 2019

Sounds like you are over loading your rounds a bit or more, be careful.

dgod · Mar 25, 2019

The reloads are solid, don't think that is the issue. It sounds to me like there may have been some 38/357 Specials shot thru it, causing the cylinder to crud up. Try cleaning the cylinder with a brass rod, lube well and try again. Just my opinion, or $0.02

dg

Ks5shooter · Mar 25, 2019

THIS^^^^^^ you get a crud ring with 38's,just scrub the cylinders.

alfsauve · Mar 25, 2019

Prowler53 said:
... but I have no idea what powder he used for his reloads.

I never, ever shoot somebody else's reloads. And I will not give my reloads to anybody else to shoot.

So many factors to consider in your reloads. Brand, age, # of reloads, type of previous loads and cleanliness of your brass. Cleanliness of the chambers. Is it the same chambers each time?

Prowler53 · Mar 25, 2019

I ran a brass brush through each cylinder with some solvent and finished with a little oil. I guess I'll give them another go this weekend. I just find it odd that the reloads from the original owner extracted fine on the first and final set I fired.

Prowler53 · Mar 25, 2019

alfsauve said:
I never, ever shoot somebody else's reloads. And I will not give my reloads to anybody else to shoot.

So many factors to consider in your reloads. Brand, age, # of reloads, type of previous loads and cleanliness of your brass. Cleanliness of the chambers. Is it the same chambers each time?

I honestly don't know if it was the same chambers. I guess if it happens again I will take note of that......Thanks!

Walkalong · Mar 25, 2019

His reloads eject fine, and yours don't is the way I read it. That tells me yours are too hot.

Clean it real good and try yours again, if they are still sticky getting out, try some of his, and if they still eject fine, well............

joneb · Mar 26, 2019

I use a nylon brush with strands of PURE COPPER Chore Boy wrapped around it, screw that to a length of cleaning rod and chuck it in a drill at low speed with your favorite solvent. I run this set up for ten seconds per chamber and patch, repeat if necessary. I use this set up in the barrel if needed without the drill.
If the chambers and barrel are clean and you have sticky shell extraction your loads are to hot and you are stretching the chambers,

9mmepiphany · Mar 26, 2019

dgod said:
It sounds to me like there may have been some 38/357 Specials shot thru it, causing the cylinder to crud up.

Ks5shooter said:
THIS^^^^^^ you get a crud ring with 38's,just scrub the cylinders.

The OP didn't shoot any .38Spl through the cylinder before the issue popped up. Also he didn't experience any sticking with other .357Mag rounds

dgod said:
Try cleaning the cylinder with a brass rod, lube well and try again. Just my opinion, or $0.02

Prowler53 said:
I ran a brass brush through each cylinder with some solvent and finished with a little oil.

I would highly recommend not putting ANY lube in the chambers before you shoot the gun. The oil/lube can cause shells to stick in the chambers.

Clean the chambers with solvent and brush, clean out with a patch, de-grease and dry for the most reliable function.

You can leave a light coating of oil in the chambers for storage, but be sure to remove it before loading

Obturation · Mar 26, 2019

Back your load down to minimum charge and see what happens. Or buy a box of full power factory ammo and see if anything sticks. Every gun is different, the previous owner likely knew how to make that one run best and loaded accordingly.

forrest r · Mar 26, 2019

Could simply be the revolver has tight/small throats in the cylinders. Several years ago I was testing .430" bullets vs .432" bullets for accuracy along with seeing if there was higher velocities for the same load. I was using a s&w 629 and a tc contender for the tests. I was using universal clays powder and a 245gr cast swc bullet. The load was 9.5gr of universal clays. Hodgdon's website stated:
240gr cast swc 6.5gr min 10.2gr max

That 9.5gr load was well under max. The .430" bullets shot well with that 9.5gr load and the cases fell out of both firearms. When I tested the .432" bullets (same bullet as the .430" bullet cast on the same day/same pot of alloy/just sized to .432") the cases stuck in the 629 & I had to poke them out with a pencil. The .432" bullets had no affect on the contender, the cases still fell out. The difference was that those .432" bullets filled the throat of the chambers in the cylinders of the 629 increasing the short start pressure. The contender bbl has a long 1/2" throat cut in the bbl. The .432" bullet wasn't seated out far enough to fill the leade of the long throat of the contender bbl.

FWIW:
When reloading for a firearm for the 1st time I tend to stay away from mag powders like 2400/aa#9/h110/296/etc. Bluedot would be my 1st choice either, powders like ww231/clays/unique/american select/universal clays would be what I'd grab 1st. Along with making cowboy action loads just to see how the firearm reacts to the reloads/dies/etc.

Prowler53 · Mar 26, 2019

All good advice! I'll give it another go this weekend to see what happens. I'll also take along some minimum loads with the same powder, and another batch with different powder. Right now I only have Titegroup and H110, but I was planning on picking up another type. Maybe something that would work well in both 9mm and 357 since they are the only 2 handguns I'm reloading. I'll give the cylinders another good cleaning as posted above and see what happens.

Mr_Flintstone · Mar 26, 2019

One other thing. If you still have some of the cases that were given to you, check to see if they are bulged in any way. Also, check them after they are resized to see if a ring is left near the web. I had some factory Federal .357 that did this when resized for reloading, and I had the exact same problem.

LRDGCO · Mar 26, 2019

Ejector rod on the short side? Is it difficult to pull cases out, ie is there resistance, or is it just that the ejector rod only pushes them most of the way out and then they need to be removed manually? Still suggests hot loads, dirty chambers, or perhaps tooling marks inside the chamber(s).

FROGO207 · Mar 26, 2019

It is also possible that the chamber walls are rough in that particular cylinder. Especially if it is the same one or two that do it. If so you could polish them all with 600 grit emery cloth and a dowel chucked into a drill to get them to smooth out and not catch the brass. I have done this with a revolver that I used for competition and wanted to have easy removal (fall out when tipped up) of brass. It is possible the previous owner made light loads to allow for the problem to go away.

murf · Mar 26, 2019

I would drop the charge down to minimum and work up. your bullets are probably bigger than the cylinder throats and causing what "forrest r" calls " short start pressure".

luck,

murf

Prowler53 · Mar 31, 2019

Went out again today and here's the results after giving the cylinders a good cleaning. First I fired off 6 rounds of my original reloads without any problems. I noticed when I was reloading another six rounds that one of the rounds in chamber 5 did not drop in all the way, I had to give it a little push to get it seated all the way down. So I took the round out and wiped it off and sent a cleaning patch through the cylinder and tried it again. This time the same round dropped right in. Fired those off and they all ejected nice. Fired off another 12 rounds with no issues and then I had another that did not drop all the way in. Cylinder 3 this time, so I did the same thing with a patch and it plopped in.
This happened about 6 times today in about 60 rounds or so. I only had 1 round that stuck a little when ejecting, so it was much better this time around. I didn't get a chance to load up any at minimum charge this week, so I'm going to try that next time I'm out. Going to try a different powder as well.

Skinnedknuckles · Mar 31, 2019

I have a similar vintage Taurus Model 65 and have had similar issues on occasion. The recommendations for cleaning can't be overstated, particularly given that many Taurus revolvers don't have the smoothest cylinder bores, and particularly if the revolver is also used with .38 Special ammo. I actually use a nylon .410 bore brush chucked in a cordless drill, spinning the brush in the cylinders with Hoppes No. 9, to get that carbon ring out of every cylinder. Your description of ammo not dropping into the cylinder makes this a likely part of the problem. You may even need to polish the cylinder bores to completely get rid of the issue.

Brass can also make a huge difference in sticking. I'm a woose and shoot mostly .38 Special but I found when loading some +P I found that loads that had no sticking with Federal or Winchester brass would stick in about half the cylinder bores with Magtech brass. You don't mention what brass you are using, and what was in the original reloads, but you may want to track headstamp as well to see if that is part of the problem.

Interestingly, my much newer Taurus Model 66 (7 shot) had not given me any problems. I haven't actually measured the bores in both guns, but I believe the Model 66 bores are a little smaller.

Skinnedknuckles · Mar 31, 2019

I have a similar vintage Taurus Model 65 and have had similar issues on occasion. The recommendations for cleaning can't be overstated, particularly given that many Taurus revolvers don't have the smoothest cylinder bores, and particularly if the revolver is also used with .38 Special ammo. I actually use a nylon .410 bore brush chucked in a cordless drill, spinning the brush in the cylinders with Hoppes No. 9, to get that carbon ring out of every cylinder. Initially, it may take a couple of cycles to get back to bare metal. Your description of ammo not dropping into the cylinder makes this a likely part of the problem. You may even need to polish the cylinder bores to completely get rid of the issue.

Brass can also make a huge difference in sticking. I'm a woose and shoot mostly (about 90%) .38 Special but even when loading some +P ammo I found that loads that had no sticking with Federal or Winchester brass would stick in about half the cylinder bores with Magtech brass and I had to back the load off a couple of tenths. You don't mention what brass you are using, and what was in the original reloads, but you may want to track headstamp as well to see if that is part of the problem.

Interestingly, my much newer Taurus Model 66 (7 shot) had not given me any sticking problems. I haven't actually measured the bores in both guns, but I believe the Model 66 bores are a little tighter - I know the throats are - and that may also add to the problem.

They are great guns and I've thoroughly enjoyed shooting mine.

Sorry, I have no idea how I managed to post twice.

357 Brass sticking in cylinder

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