Revolver beginner: For autoloaders problem #1 is jamming, What about revolvers??

[MrBorland]

Did anybody mention the S&W extractor rod unscrewing itself yet?

I noted no one had brought this up yet, and was waiting it, lol. This has happened to me, but I'll be the first to admit that, knowing that it can unscrew, I should've put some loctite on the threads before re-assembly (or not taken it apart in the 1st place). Although one could make a case that it does happen, even though it shouldn't, one could also argue that without loctite, the gun was re-assembled improperly.

 

[hoptob]

Hawk: I decided to burn a pile of "primer only" cases in .41 mag to get rid of some dubious primers. Locked up the cylinder after every "shot".

Hawk, this is supposed to happen with empty rounds. During normal burn cycle primer is believed to unseat first for the amount of available headspace. When powder ignites and bullet starts moving, case recoils back and re-seats the primer. This does not happen with sealed primers. You are correct that very light loads combined with very tight headspace can cause same malfunction; I actually had seen it happen with friend's .38spl. The remedy was to have headspace increased by few thousands.

Mike

 

[Hawk]

Although one could make a case that it does happen, even though it shouldn't, one could also argue that without loctite, the gun was re-assembled improperly.

Blue thread locker and I have a long history - just wasn't with guns.

In a previous life, I owned a Security Six which was largely bereft of screws. One wonders if Ruger hasn't, at least to some extent, taken care of some of my wheelgun issues.

Those screws have plagued me even on new guns, some of which weren't cheap. An extractor rod housing went downrange on me on an Uberti and a spankin'-new Turnbull USFA had the trigger pivot about 2/3 backed out before I noticed.

I suppose one could make a case that I should have been paying more attention or I could make a case that such attention shouldn't really be needed.

Right now, I'm mildly jealous of Mr. Borland. I didn't get on Grant's waiting list before he closed it. Do let us know when you get yours back. Where's the green "envy" smiley?

 

[Hawk]

Hawk, this is supposed to happen with empty rounds.

Good to know.

I remain new enough with these reciprocating-challenged sidearms that I could be easily convinced it was simply my sorry karma. Nice to know it's not terribly uncommon.

 

[MrBorland]

Right now, I'm mildly jealous of Mr. Borland. I didn't get on Grant's waiting list before he closed it. Do let us know when you get yours back.

Thanks, Hawk. I will, though nothing new to report yet.

 

[Joe the Redneck]

Teh only thing i will say is that you don't want to run a steady diet of full power loads through a Model 29.

The Smith N frame is a classic design, but it is from the BP era. It will wear faster than a Ruger Red or Black hawk with full power loads.

Keep your load moderate for most of your shooting.

Thanks

Joe

 

[Cosmoline]

I've had some wheelguns lock up on me, but it's rare. One was a brand new Taurus with their notorious bad cylinder gap. Trip to the factory sorted that out. The other was a very badly abused Ruger Sec. Six with an old style hammer mounted pin that pierced primers. Again a trip to the factory cured that. I locked a Nagant 1895 up a few times while in the process of troubleshooting 7.62 Nag. handloads. I worked that out too by lowering the charge and coming up with a better mouth crimp.

Those are the only instances of lockup I can remember, out of countless thousands upon thousands of rounds through wheelguns. In comparison I've fired far fewer semis but I've had a lot more jams with them.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

The #1 cause of "jams" in a revolver is probably short-stroking the trigger, especially when trying to shoot rapidly.

Amen.

When you cruise these forums, you will find about as many revolver complaints as automatics. In addition many revolver jams leave the gun completely tied up -- unlike automatics which can usually be cleared with tap-rack-bang.

 

[HOME DEPOT GEORGE]

Someone said a few posts back that smith makes the highest quality revolvers right now but for reliability the new ruger redhawk 4" barrel will run circles around the mod 29. For some reason ruger decided that this model was gonna be the one that they did everything right on including the trigger. I like smiths but the price doesnt justify the quality you get these days IMHO.

 

[Cosmoline]

Rugers are indeed very hard to tie up. I've never encountered this "short stroking" problem mentioned above. I've had way too much experience with handguns to believe that semis and wheelguns tie up with the same frequency. Even my Glock would jam up from time to time, albeit with just a stovepipe. A good Ruger isn't going to jam up absent some major defect.

I can count my revolver tie ups on one hand, and did so above. My semi jams number in the thousands. Some semis would jam like clockwork with every single magazine. Others would jam every few rounds with certain ammo. They're simply not as resistant to the problem because they have a lot more that can go wrong. Even my best semis, the P225 and the Glock G23, would jam if handled wrong or given substandard ammo like that Wolf.

 

[Blueduck]

While it's really an "Operator" not mechanical issue what I've seen with a lot of new shooters with revolvers is the "Case stuck under star" from improper reloading technique.

Barrel needs to be pointed up when the extractor rod is pushed.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

That's one of the reasons a lot of time needs to be spent on training for the reload with revolvers. And one of the most serious problems with using break-action revolvers in combat or for self-defense.