Need some serious Revolver Jamming help.

[Whiteymin]

I purchased a Taurus model 85 in 38 special a few days ago. Ive shot about 100 rounds through it without a single problem. Till today. The revolver kept jamming on me or more or less the cylinder would just not cycle. It was as if the thing locked up. After some wiggle here and there I could get it to shoot again at least about another 3 rounds and it repeated. Can someone please tell me what is going wrong here. Thank you

 

[thunder173]

Did you thoroughly clean the revolver before firing? Does the cylinder lock and unlock freely? 100 rounds of dirty burning ammo could be building up some residue on the cylinder face, between it and the forcing cone, restricting the cylinder. Try cleaning it up with a good brush and some solvent,..re lube,..and see if that cures your problem. My Taurus .357 Tracker get's gritty to the point of being slow to advance after a lengthy shooting session as well, but it's never "locked up" on me.....I keep a brush in my range bag just for that,...but if it's any solace,..my S&W 36 does the same thing if you shoot it a lot with dirty burning ammo. If that doesn't correct your issue,..I'll defer to anybody with a better idea.

 

[MCgunner]

Check and see if the firing pin spring is working or if the firing pin is free floating. Could be a real easy fix. I've heard of 'em not installing the firing pin spring properly, before. The firing pin will tie up the cylinder.

 

[average_shooter]

What ammo were you shooting?

I ask because I had a GP-100 lock up on me due to an out-of-spec case head. Also, you said "After some wiggle here and there I could get it to shoot again..." which sounds to me like it could be a similar problem.

In my instance everything was normal until the faulty round was being rotated into firing position at which point it would drag and bind up the action. With some wiggling I could swing the cylinder out and everything worked fine with no ammo chambered.

I would say unload (and verify, and recheck, etc. etc.) and dry fire it to see if the problem occurs without any ammo in the gun. If it works without ammo, but binds with ammo, that might narrow things down a bit. Or, if it does bind when empty, may provide other clues.

 

[SDC]

One thing you might want to check is to see if your ejector-rod is unscrewing; in most designs, this will have the effect you describe, as the cylinder gets "pinched" between the rear support point and the front of the rod.

 

[rcmodel]

Unburned powder flakes & gunk under the ejector star can cause this problem.

Get an old toothbrush and give it a good cleaning with the ejector rod held back.

rc

 

[Vern Humphrey]

But revolvers never have stoppages!! They are waaaay more reliable than automatics.

 

[Old Fuff]

Sure... That's why we see so many more threads and posts concerning revolver malfunctions then pistols.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I've seen enough accounts of revolvers packing it in -- and seen them do it -- to know that the vaunted superior reliability of revolvers is a myth.

 

[cyclopsshooter]

Revolvers need to be kept clean just like autos- look at the cylnder shaft off the crane- those get dirty easy and jam up quick- most people never take the cylinder out when cleaning...

 

[Old Fuff]

... to know that the vaunted superior reliability of revolvers is a myth.

Well nothing or no one is perfect except for the Old Fuff and some do have serious doubts...

But from what I read they're more complaints about pistol malfunctions then revolvers. I suspect that current day quality control (or lack of it) is a factor in both cases. From my personal experience with both, pistol malfunctions happen more often, largely because they are more ammunition dependent.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

It's been my experience that a quality automatic with quality ammunition may well have the edge over a quality revolver with quality ammunition. And stoppages in automatics are usually quickly cleared. Not so with most revolver stoppages.

 

[MCgunner]

Wow, 12 posts so far. I've been watching this thread to see how long it'd take to turn into Taurus bashing. Much to my surprise it turns into a REVOLVER bash! WOW, didn't expect THAT, and on the revolver board, too. ROFLMAO!

Yeah, man, 1911s, they NEVER jam! BWAAAAA, ha, ha, ha, that was a good'n!

Oh, dear 1911, how do I love thee? Let me count the jams.....wait a minute, I need a calculator for THIS one.

 

[hardluk1]

I have a 85 thats around 14 years old and the couple times i have had trouble it was my fault. During cleaning i lossend the ejection rod just enought that it worked loss and stopped the gun from wanting to rotate. Tighten rod and all is fine.

 

[tipoc]

... stoppages in automatics are usually quickly cleared. Not so with most revolver stoppages.

Vern is right on this one. My experience is it's about even on malfunctions with a nod to the semi for ease of clearance. Given, of course quality ammo and decent guns. Wheelguns are more forgiving of poor ammo.

tipoc

 

[Oldtrader3]

I have not had a history of stoppages with revolvers if they are kept clean dry and oiled properly. Let grease or grease with solids build up on the rear of the cylinder and you have problems. Autos are much more fussy about cleaning, clips, ammo, running wet or dry etc. Just because you know one don't dis the other.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I know both -- in fact, I carried a revolver, my Colt M357 my first tour in Viet Nam. And it is not "dissing" to say that good revolvers are no more reliable than good automatics.

 

[Clifford]

Oldtrader, auto's don't have clips. They have magazines Mauser's have clips.

 

[esq_stu]

I had this problem with three different Tauri.

There's a spring-loaded pin that goes down the center of the ejector and pokes out at a button in the breechface. If the pin gets stuck in after a round is fired in the course of recoil, it won't press in that button. Remove the rod and polish the pin and the channel the pin rides in. Find a stiffer spring if you can.

One reason I don't buy Taurus any more. They're not made well and that's one of the more common problems.

 

[RedAlert]

I wonder if you had a round or batch of rounds that had bad crimps on the slug. Recoil can cause the slug to pull out of the crimp and rubs on the end of the barrel as the cylinder tries to rotate the next round into battery.

Ralph

 

[Jim K]

I can only say that I have had many more failures with autoloaders than with revolvers. Auto pistols are much more sensitive to ammo and magazines. Revolvers don't care much about power and bullet shape and, of course, have no magazines.

That being said, I have experienced more totally and completely disabling breakages (two) with revolvers than with auto pistols. One involved an S&W Chiefs Special (pre Model 36) which broke its hammer pin. The other was a Colt PP in which the whole top of the hammer broke completely off. Both were easily enough fixed, but no "immediate action" was going to correct either problem.

(FWIW, the S&W was being fired, the Colt was being dry fired.)

Jim

 

[MCgunner]

I've had tons of jams with a 1911, some with .22s. If you find what the gun likes to feed, though, it will live happy. Most any auto will feed ball if nothing else. I clean my guns as matter of routine, carries even if they haven't been fired, once a week for those. I've had a few parts break like the return spring for the mag release in my Ruger P90. I might could have kept fighting with that one, but it would have made things real difficult.

I've had two stoppages of a revolver. One was a hammer mounted firing pin that snapped on a Rossi and one was a forcing cone that split on a K frame. The firing pin was fatal for the moment. I MIGHT could have fired a few more rounds in that K frame. I realized I had a problem as the cylinder began to tie up from the forcing cone binding it where it split at the flat at the bottom. That's a traditional weak spot, problem with K frames that is pretty much specific to them. And, this was a model 10 firing .38 wadcutter, too, not some super get down 125 grain .357 load in a 19. I think it was lead build up at the forcing cone that did it. I'm a little more diligent about cleaning the forcing cone on that gun now. I had to have it rebarreled.

 

[george29]

Taurus revolvers jam. I have yet to have owned one that didn't. Vern is also right, a revolver usually stops working altogether when it malfunctions as opposed to most semi auto's that jam more frquently but are cleared faster and are combat ready much faster. A good revolver is less prone to jam due to bullet configuration, this is the revolvers main strength. I carry a 642, a M10 and a NAA revolver as my SD guns, but I would feel just as good with a Glock 19, BHP or 1911. I always carry a BUG because all man made mechanical devices fail, especially in the worst conditions. I will NOT carry a Taurus for SD.
My bet with the Taurus is the ejector rod.

 

[lbmii]

Like others have typed: Check to see if the cylinder is screwed in tight. Reverse threads on that. Also the center pin in the cylinder might be binding binding. Work it back and forth a bunch of times and oil it.

 

[easyg]

Sounds like your ejector-rod might be loose.
But if you find that it's tight, then I recommend you take it to a gunsmith.

As for the old "revolver vs auto reliability" argument....
Revolvers are more reliable than autoloaders.
It's a fact.

Every organization that teaches folks how to shoot autoloaders also teaches the shooter how to clear a stoppage and how to get the gun working again.
And every good book about shooting autoloaders will certainly have a chapter on clearing a stoppage as well.
This is because it is a well known fact that autoloaders sometimes experience stoppages....even well maintained and otherwise reliable autoloaders.

A revolver simply cannot have a failure-to-feed, or a failure-to-eject, or a limp-wristing issue.