Snub Nose Problem

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ewetho

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I have a Taurus 605 and a 4" Taurus 66. The 605 has I believe powder fouled with both the max load of H110 and more mid-range load 8.9gr of Unique behind 125gr XTP bullets. The result is very hard extraction.

The one load I have working OK is 11.9 or Major Pistol from Shooter's World. Just don't like to have to order powder as it is not available locally.

Both problem loads are absolutely no problem in the 66 but the H110 left burn marks all the way up the side of one of the pieces of brass in the Snubby, and today with new Starline Nickel brass the Unique loads left fouling in all Chambers while the Major Pistol worked fine.

I chose Unique and H110 for my new at the same time as the snubby, model 629 Smith & Wesson 4".

What do you guys think? Suggestions?
 
Just measured the Cylinder to Barrel gap and at 0.006", so that does not appear to be a problem.
 
I sincerely doubt the powder has anything to do with the sticky extraction. More likely is the chamber finish, or alignment between the cylinder and bore. My Ruger DA's don't have any problem with H110, and they all have tight chambers.
 
My H110 loads were max loads from Hodgdon and heavy crimp. And shoot wonderfully from my 4" 66.

Kept investigating and Inow suspect my chambers are out of round and uneven. So not necessatily one shared high spot down the length of a chamber. And thus it locks up.

Gonna call Taurus Next day or two.
 
I’ve been through this with my 38s and .32 H&Rs. Slow burning powders are not real efficient in short barrels, and they tend to be dirty if not enough pressure builds up to expand the case quickly enough to seal the cylinder. H110 is really a magnum powder, and really needs to be loaded hot with a heavy bullet, a heavy crimp, and a magnum primer. If you couple soot with a tight cylinder, you’ll get stuck cases. I only use slow powders with hot 357 magnums or heavy 38 from a rifle.
 
I am wanting to load the 125 xtp for my wife's 2 inch s&w .38spl. Was looking at using titegroup. Any suggestions? Other powder options I have are unique, CFE pistol, H110, or Longshot.
 
I haven’t used all the other powders you list, but I typically use Titegroup for 125 gr XTPs. They perform good from my Taurus model 85.

Longshot and H-110 might be a little slow for short barrels. The others should do pretty good.
 
I haven’t used all the other powders you list, but I typically use Titegroup for 125 gr XTPs. They perform good from my Taurus model 85.

Longshot and H-110 might be a little slow for short barrels. The others should do pretty good.
Thanks for the response
 
I have a similar arsenal, the wife has a .357 Snubby Taurus, and I have a 6" M66. I get the same problem with full house H110 loads in the snubby with 125 grain XTPs. This is in addition to severe muzzle flash and blast indicating poor burn of the powder. I get better results with 158 grain Noslers.

I'm surprised you had the problem with unique also. Max loads in .357 in a short barrel should be it's happy place. I run HS-6 in the wife's gun for .357 "mid" loads and it performs very well.

As for your .38 loads, unique or CFE pistol should be the best of the options you list. If you want to minimize fouling, try HP-38, Titegroup or HS-6.
 
What charge of H110 are you using with a 125gr XTP bullet? What primer too?

I hope it's not the 11.9gr charge you mentioned in your OP is for H110 you are severely below the minimum recommend by Hodgdon.
 
For 125 gr bullets in the .357 mag I find a powder between Unique on the fast side and 2400 on the slow side to work best. Over the years I have generally used Blue Dot but powders like AA7 works well too with as good a velocity from 4" to 6" revolver barrels as you can get from H110/W296 but using 20% less powder.
 
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I have the Lee Pro Auto Disk dispenser and here's my 38 spcl snubby loads with corresponding disk size:

Titegroup AD 30 3.4 grains
A#5 AD 37 3.7 grains
Bullseye AD 37 3.4 grains
HP38 AD 37 3.8 grains

Bullets: Xtreme plated RNFP 158 grains or ACME coated SWC 158's. On the Xtremes I crimp on the cannelure and with the ACMEs on the crimp groove. I don't crimp with the bullet seating die just use the FCD to crimp.
My snubs are: Taurus M85, Charter Undercover Lite, SW M60, and Miroku Liberty Chief.
 
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