642 Practice yesterday Revolver malfunction

[Master Blaster]

I wanted to share my experience at the range with my 642 .

Yesterday I went to my club for some practice, since there were no bullseye shooters there, I decided to get in a little practice drawing and firing from my pocket holster with my 642.

I practice at 5 feet, 10 feet, 15 feet, and 10 yards, likely distances for self defense scenarios. I can point shoot to 15 feet and hit inside the 2.5" 8 ring of a 50 ft bullseye target with the first shot in most cases due to a great deal of practice doing this. I like my 642, its very accurate and has a nice smooth trigger. The load I was using for practice is a 135 gr speer gold dot over 5.2 grains of Unique. This is my attempt to duplicate the factory 135 gr +p speer FBI load. I fired 50 rounds drawing and firing single shots and double taps at two targets.

So I was doing my draw and fire from about 15 feet away, and I finished a cylinder and went to reload and the cylinder would not close. I dumped the rounds and looked under the extractor star and sure enough stuck to the back of it was a flake of unburned Unique powder.

Brushed it off with my finger and reloaded no problem.

This is a rare event and I cant remember the last time it happened, but its something to be aware of. Revolvers can malfunction.

 

[Six-Gun]

Man, that must've been one big chunk of powder. I've never had that kind of malfunction, but I will never forget my first revolver malfunction...and it wasn't even the gun.

It was the ammo. I was using an old DAO S&W revolver (the model of which I don't remember anymore.) I fired a cylinder of reloads bought from the seedy firing range that I took my gun to to try it out. This stuff was the worst crap ammo I've fired to this very day. It expanded tightly into the cylinder and required considerable force to remove. I had never owned a gun before this, and truly didn't know if this was normal or not. I went shooting with some cheap, but decent factory loads later on that week (American Eagle if I remember correctly) and saw that this should've never happened.

Nonetheless, like you said, any gun can malfunction.

 

[Lone Star]

Tip the muzzle up when you extract fired cases, and unburned powder flakes will often fall free and not gum up the works.

I've had this happen a time or two, and adopted the above method, which solved the problem, although it was rare.

Lone Star

 

[Master Blaster]

Man, that must've been one big chunk of powder

No it was one single flake of unburned unique which is quite flat. Its really eyeopening with regard to how tight the tollerance is between the ratchet and the recoil sheild which is what hung up and prevented the revolver from closing.

And BTW I alway eject the empties with the muzzle up and yesterday was no exception.

 

[HankB]

I had a similar thing happen to me with my M29 and some .44 Special loads I'd put together with 2400 powder.

The load was right out of one of the major manuals, but I learned then that unless you're loading hot - or at least warm - ammo, 2400 doesn't burn completely.

I remember someone proposed taking 0.005" off the back of the extractor star, just to provide for this sort of thing, though I don't remember anyone actually having it done.

As for your Unique load . . . I always found that powder to be dirty and sooty. I much prefer SR4756 for similar loads. (Note that data between the two powders is NOT interchangeable, and early references - like the Speer #8 manual - included loads which, IMHO, are TOO hot. Use modern data.)

 

[hoek48]

The same happened with me in my former 625. I was using my brothers reloads and some powder got under the extractor. The one and only time it has ever happened. It was an eye opener for me also. It just shows that nothing is beyound malfunctions. You just have to know how to correct them.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Tip the muzzle up when you extract fired cases, and unburned powder flakes will often fall free and not gum up the works.

Yep, and muzzle-up is faster and more efficient, anyway, especially in emergencies.

 

[sgt127]

Big Hint Coming......

Make sure there is no oil between the extractor star and the cylinder, it will draw powder flakes like a magnet...I've seen guns that actually had pooled oil in there...

Thank you, that is my sole contribution...

 

[dgludwig]

In 30 years of qualifying for my LE job, the only malfunction I ever experienced that tied my gun up (I carried a S&W 6906 the last few years) was, of all things, a sweet S&W Model 13. The revolver cycled slower and slower on double taps until the cylinder refused to cycle anymore. I kept looking for the problem until forced off the line for a thorough inspection. The culprit turned out to be exactly what the original poster described: a single flake of powder under the extractor. By the way, it's much easier to detect powder flakes on s/s guns than blued ones.

Although the Model 6906 NEVER let me down, I'm still of the opinion that, everything else being equal, a good revolver is still the sidearm to beat when it comes to ultimate reliability (just keep that extractor area free from oil as sgt 127 advised).

 

[Coronach]

I'll note that as much as I hate the ergonomics of the S&W auto lineup, they are stone reliable. I think the sun is more likely to be late arriving tomorrow than my 4506 is to jam.

And thanks for the info about unburned powder. That is an eye opener.

Mike

 

[c_yeager]

Ive had this happen myself, it takes VERY LITTLE to keep the star high enough to disallow the gun from closing.

I solved this by always emptying the gun with the tip barrel at an upwards angle, always giving the rod a firm hit, and keeping the underside of the star *bone dry*. Hasnt happened since.

 

[Trebor]

Thanks for the info. More proof taht anything mechanical can fail.

 

[geekWithA.45]

After a long range session with my 642, I found the cylinder wouldn't close because the extractor had slowly come unscrewed. Make sure I give it a good twist before closing the crane's now part of my routine. It seems to turn about 1/8 every 50 rounds or so.

 

[rudolf]

What I've seen quite often at shooting matches is primers sticking into the firing pin hole an binding the cylinder. What I've also seen is the cylynder axle going loose on a Dan Wesson and bidning the cylinder, though this was one or two times only.
Compared to auto's, if a revolver malfuntions there's no quick recovery, you could only try throwing it