Please forgive the length of this post, but I feel it's very unusual, and I've never run across a similar experience. I've been reloading since 1962...so here's the story and a few pics to document the incident.
My son, his daughter & I, were shooting several .22revolvers on New Year's Eve midday, and having a fair bit of fun with a .22 “only” steel swinger. At 20 yds its 3” lower plate is a challenge in DA fire, while the upper, at 1-1/2” is tough for us all, DA or SA.
I had also brought along one of my .32 H&R, Ruger Single-Sixes with some of my handloads. My favorite uses a Hornady 85 gr XTP with 4.0 grains of Win 231 for about 1100+ fps. It's a bit noisy out of the Ruger's 4-5/8” bbl but recoil is still just a bit heavier than Hi Speed .22's and brother, it sure makes that swinger twirl.
I was finishing up the afternoon with one last cylinder of the .32's, when the gun tied up after the first shot. I was unable to rotate the cylinder to remove the empty, nor was I able to roll the cylinder out after removing the base pin.
Here's the Ruger with my 85 gr XTP loads.
Looking from the side with a strong flashlight, I was able to see some brass in the cylinder/forcing cone gap (~0.004”) and my initial thought was that a piece of the case mouth/crimp had broken loose and lodged in the gap. I used a brass cleaning rod and ran it down the bbl., and after a couple of pokes, it dislodged the blockage and I was able to roll the cylinder out and unload the gun.
The .32 case exterior initially appeared normal with no damage to the mouth/crimp, but as I held it up to look at the primer, a spent .22 case dropped out and into my hand.
We all discussed how this got into the.32 case, in the first place, then noticed the hole in the .22 case head. Our theory at this point, is that a spent .22 case had lodged inside the .32 case prior to reloading, and we noted the hole in the .22 case head matched the decaping pin in my Dillon .32 H&R dies.
The powder load, (4.0 gr of Win 231 is close to a max load), had dropped in and around the .22 case unnoticed, and I seated the bullet with no unusual feel through the press handle. In the pic below, for comparison, the two cases on the left were loaded at the same session, while the .22 and the case on the right were the the ones that tied up the gun.
The shot, in question, felt & sounded normal and the case exterior, once I removed it, appeared normal with its primer appearance identical to the rest of the loads fired. The spent .22 case, which had dropped case mouth up inside the.32 case, was blown out & cracked at the instant of firing, but the bullet oddly enough, grouped in with the previous shots. Pressure must have been way up there, with the decreased internal volume, but the .32 case looked normal and my Ruger shows no ill effects.
So here's our guess on how the .22 case got into the .32 H&R's during the loading cycle. Usually, when we shoot on our home range, we have a number of different guns & calibers, and most always have a .22 or two. We throw the empty reloadable brass back into a plastic bucket and the the .22's go in a separate pail that ends up in the brass recycle bin.
We figure that one of the .22 autos ejected into the reloadable brass bucket, and by sheer chance, the case never fell out during normal handling. Too, a .22 case is just small/large enough to allow the .32's primer decapping pin to center up and punch through. No doubt a one and a million chance of all these things coinciding to result in the incident, but that's how accidents happen.
Lastly, when looking down into the blackened interior of the .32 case mouth, with the .22 lodged inside, the little case is not readily apparent, even under good lighting, let alone while being cycled through my Dillon 550B.
So.......be careful out there, fellow reloaders....Stuff happens! No harm done this time but it could have resulted in a blown cylinder and injuries. Best regards Rod
My son, his daughter & I, were shooting several .22revolvers on New Year's Eve midday, and having a fair bit of fun with a .22 “only” steel swinger. At 20 yds its 3” lower plate is a challenge in DA fire, while the upper, at 1-1/2” is tough for us all, DA or SA.
I had also brought along one of my .32 H&R, Ruger Single-Sixes with some of my handloads. My favorite uses a Hornady 85 gr XTP with 4.0 grains of Win 231 for about 1100+ fps. It's a bit noisy out of the Ruger's 4-5/8” bbl but recoil is still just a bit heavier than Hi Speed .22's and brother, it sure makes that swinger twirl.
I was finishing up the afternoon with one last cylinder of the .32's, when the gun tied up after the first shot. I was unable to rotate the cylinder to remove the empty, nor was I able to roll the cylinder out after removing the base pin.
Here's the Ruger with my 85 gr XTP loads.

Looking from the side with a strong flashlight, I was able to see some brass in the cylinder/forcing cone gap (~0.004”) and my initial thought was that a piece of the case mouth/crimp had broken loose and lodged in the gap. I used a brass cleaning rod and ran it down the bbl., and after a couple of pokes, it dislodged the blockage and I was able to roll the cylinder out and unload the gun.
The .32 case exterior initially appeared normal with no damage to the mouth/crimp, but as I held it up to look at the primer, a spent .22 case dropped out and into my hand.
We all discussed how this got into the.32 case, in the first place, then noticed the hole in the .22 case head. Our theory at this point, is that a spent .22 case had lodged inside the .32 case prior to reloading, and we noted the hole in the .22 case head matched the decaping pin in my Dillon .32 H&R dies.
The powder load, (4.0 gr of Win 231 is close to a max load), had dropped in and around the .22 case unnoticed, and I seated the bullet with no unusual feel through the press handle. In the pic below, for comparison, the two cases on the left were loaded at the same session, while the .22 and the case on the right were the the ones that tied up the gun.
The shot, in question, felt & sounded normal and the case exterior, once I removed it, appeared normal with its primer appearance identical to the rest of the loads fired. The spent .22 case, which had dropped case mouth up inside the.32 case, was blown out & cracked at the instant of firing, but the bullet oddly enough, grouped in with the previous shots. Pressure must have been way up there, with the decreased internal volume, but the .32 case looked normal and my Ruger shows no ill effects.
So here's our guess on how the .22 case got into the .32 H&R's during the loading cycle. Usually, when we shoot on our home range, we have a number of different guns & calibers, and most always have a .22 or two. We throw the empty reloadable brass back into a plastic bucket and the the .22's go in a separate pail that ends up in the brass recycle bin.
We figure that one of the .22 autos ejected into the reloadable brass bucket, and by sheer chance, the case never fell out during normal handling. Too, a .22 case is just small/large enough to allow the .32's primer decapping pin to center up and punch through. No doubt a one and a million chance of all these things coinciding to result in the incident, but that's how accidents happen.
Lastly, when looking down into the blackened interior of the .32 case mouth, with the .22 lodged inside, the little case is not readily apparent, even under good lighting, let alone while being cycled through my Dillon 550B.
So.......be careful out there, fellow reloaders....Stuff happens! No harm done this time but it could have resulted in a blown cylinder and injuries. Best regards Rod
Last edited: