Ruger Blackhawk 30 Carbine probs

[Lone_Gunman]

I was firing a NIB Blackhawk in 30 carbine over the weekend, and had 2 problems.

I was shooting mainly Sellier and Bellot ammo, and also some Georgia Arms 30 carbine. Both of these rounds have never been a problem in M1 Carbines.

About 5 out of 50 of the S&B rounds failed to fire. The firing pin marks on the primer looked a little light, but the hammer seemed to be falling with the same force each time. When I reloaded these rounds, they failed to fire a second time. The firing pin didnt seem to be sticking. This did not happen with the Georgia Arms ammo. Do you think the primers on the S&B rounds were just too hard? or is this a gun problem?

Also, with mainly the Georgia Arms ammo, the spent cases were really sticking in the cylinder. So bad that they could not be punched out with the ejector rod. I had to take the cylinder out of the gun and tap the spent cases out with a dowel. This happened with about 1/3 of the Georgia Arms ammo.

Anybody else had these problems?

 

[mec]

30 rugers are sensitive to headspace. What you are getting with the s&b sounds like what happens with roll crimped reloads. If the crimp is at all pronounced the headspace increases and puts the primer too far from the firing pin. could be headspace. could be something else.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Your Blackhawk sounds fine to me.

S&B primers can be a bit hard but I'd bet it's a headspace issue. If you have a vernier caliper or micrometer, measure the case length of an unfired S&B and compare that to the GA. I'm guessing that the GA is longer.

You should be OK if you reload - just use a taper crimp.

As far as the sticking cases go... I had the same problem with American Eagle, except it was more like 3/4 of them were stuck. YMMV, but the best ammo I've found for my .30 Carbine Blackhawk is Magtech; and it's cheap too.

Have fun with your deafening flamethrower.

 

[Tom C.]

S&B seems to work fine in mine. You could have chambers that are a little long. Longer firing pins are available to compensate somewhat for the short overall length or long chamber.
Sticking cases are usually a sign of a rough chamber. The chambers of mine were rough. I used a rotary hone I got from Brownell's to smooth them. Now extraction/ejection is fine.

 

[Ala Dan]

Sticking cases in the Ruger .30 carbine revolver is a common problem~!

 

[Gordon]

Never had a case stick in my Old Model .30 carb. Well some of those Hirtenberg ones needed a whack with a small piece of wood, but they chronographed 2100 fps in my Inland. I think the big ole Ruger SA hammer gives a pretty good wollup to primers, prolly as good as an m-1.