revolver spits in my face

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edfardos

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I've noticed my SuperRedhawk 44mag spits at my face from time to time, maybe 1 of every 3 shots. It stings a tiny bit, but today it actually drew a tiny amount of blood out of my left cheek (firing right handed). I vaguely recall other revolvers doing the same thing over the years and I never gave it much thought and chalked it up to the total big-revolver experience.

I'm assuming it's unburned powder? My wife was behind me and she noticed a spec or two hit her in the arm (she was on my right rear flank, back 6 feet).

cyl gap is within spec (.008" if i recall correctly).

I reload, would this possibly cause spitting:

Xtreme 240grain plated bullet
23.5 grains of H110
CCI 450 large pistol magnum primer
1436fps

My buddy reloads plated 9mm rounds and I actually pulled a copper fragment (ok, speck) out of my face at one point. So I can say he shot me in the face -- makes for good campfire stories.


Anyhow, I just wanted to get your collective experience and see if your revolver spits in your face too .

--edfardos
 
sounds like a timing problem.

try cleaning out the bolt notches in the cylinder. they fill up with crud and may be affecting the timing. a toothpick is good for chipping out the hard packed powder residue.

if that doesn't help, check the timing. instructions are in a sticky at the top of the revolver site.

murf
 
Try recovering some of your bullets to see if the barrel is cutting off some of the plating. I sell x-tremes and I have shot them at about 1500 fps from my .357s but I know there are a couple of guys whos guns just won't shoot plated bullets at all without tearing off the plating.

All that being said, I have shot tons of revolvers and whether I am shooting jacketed, plated, or lead, I often feel bits and pieces of powder hit my arms from time to time. Especially when shooting .22lr
 
could be the timing,alignment of the cyl with the barrel throat is off causing the bullet to shave off particles of lead or copper from the bullet. Call factory report to them it will be a free fix.
 
Could also be a badly jacket or lead fouled forcing cone.

Give the forcing cone a through cleaning down to bare metal and see if it helps.

rc
 
Check the gap between the cylinder and the forcing cone. I had a S&W 686 that spit back in to my face. They replaced the cylinder because it was polished so much. They told never polish the face of the cylinder with any anything abrasive every time you do it takes metal off. So I learned my lesson, and it cost me almost 200 bucks.
 
I'm a big fan of H110 / 296 for the magnum cartridges and my experience has been pretty much the same as yours and I shoot jacketed bullets. It actually feels like the pressures are slapping you in the face. I've felt some stinging impacts as well, and my wheel guns lock up tight and in perfect time. It's just the nature of using the biggest dog made for magnum loads, good ol H110 / 296.
GS
 
thanks for all the hints guys, I went over the revolver with feeler gauges and calipers, it's incredibly in-spec, Ruger makes a fine .44. The one thing I haven't done is do a deep cleaning of the forcing cone (do you get a special brush for that?). It sure looks clean, but I'll figure out how to scrub it. The cyl face changed colors (no longer shiny stainless) but it's free of debris. I saw on another thread that spitting can be caused by carbon buildup breaking off, so I'll see if spitting is more common when it's dirty.

gamestalker - once you use H110, you never go back. I can deal with spitting if it means I don't have to change powders. For self-defense loads, I'll use factory rounds, since I wont have time to put my goggles on as the bear is charging.

not pulling the mask off the lone ranger,
-edfardos
 
Anyhow, I just wanted to get your collective experience and see if your revolver spits in your face too .

The only one that does is my 686-3 with scope...

When I take the scope off, and use the same ammo, I apparently am farther away, as it does not hit me in the face...

BTW...My cylinder gap is .06mm (.00236")...
 
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i also have super red hawk 7.5 gap on it is .oo4 at the biggest it was made last year has about 800 rnds in it. .oo8 is getting on the large side but i agree with rc the forcing cone and beginning of the barrel is a hard part to keep clean. i thought my security six was clean until i got a split case and found build up in the beginning of the barrel its hard to see. only fired jacketed bullets but now i use a bright light and clean till i see tooling marks. that gun has had 2 thousand rounds in it and gap is .006 so no more lighting the weeds on fire with that one. the only time ive had powder spray was 125gr or lighter bullets pushing max. always measure and weight the bullets your using.
 
I'm using H110 as well and can't say I've had mine spit back at me. And I've shot a variety of lead and jacketed.

Are you standing and shooting freestyle with arms extended or from a bench in some manner?
 
My '40s Model 10's forcing cone has seen things we can only dream of. It's sent shrapnel to the side viciously enough to make blood run from The old man's hand when observing.

There's a very good reason to always wear shooting glasses, if not for shrapnel bouncing back from the Berm, for those little bits of effluvia sprayed to the side at times by most wheelguns.
 
I would send it to the people that made it and have them check it out!! Before you are some one else gets hurt!!
 
I have a M686 that does that but only when I'm loading with W296/H110. When using 2400 it's not nearly as bad and I get none at all with HS-6 or Longshot.
 
My SP101 was doing that. I sent it to Ruger for repair. They said it was unrepairable and are sending me a new gun.
 
On closer inspection, i found a big glob of copper in the forcing cone, it was right before the rifling. You can't see it if you shine a light down the muzzle and look into the cone (on account of the angle of the cone), but shining a light on the cone itself, and there was a big chunk of copper.

It took me hours to get the copper out, brushes, choreboy, Shooters Choice lead remover, and Shooters Choice copper remover. It was really welded to the cone. I even scrubbed it with the end of an aluminum clenaing rod (which left aluminum in the area). Eventually I resorted to a dental pick which eventually got all of it, but it did scratch the cone a bit. It looks *tons* better than before. I'll test fire it today.

westsideslim -- did they say what caused it? cyl gap or allignment? It'd be nice to know so we can measure things before we contact Ruger.

thanks!
-edfardos
 
so during my test firing, i was actually getting sheets of plating in the forcing cone! some were half way around the cone, about 4mm wide in the worst case. nearly half the rounds shed plating. The unique facts about these particular loads:

new lot of xtreme 240
new lot of H110

Luckily I only made 50 and they're now gone. I also chrony'd a few of the loads at 1430fps.

So I'm leaning towards a bad lot of xtremes, but I can't discount the new jar of H110 or that my revolver might suddenly be out of spec. The last lot of 500 xtremes shot just fine through the same revolver, I still have some of those, so that'll be the real test.

anyhow, maybe the moderator can move this back to handloading-and-reloading since that was the primary subject if this thread. no worries either way tho, thanks for all the help guys!

--edfardos
 
get a lewis lead remover from brownells. quick way to clean the forcing cone.

murf
 
Sounds more like a bad batch of bullets in light of this new info.

It's not as uncommon as it may seem. Locally a couple of shooting buddies found a batch of 9mm bullets were shedding their jackets. Pieces were found on the floor of the indoor range. And some tended to stick in the chamber and prevent the next round chambering. The bullets were the cause. The supplier took back the unused portions of the orders and supplied a different brand. It sounds like you're getting something similar.
 
Friends,
A piece of brass jacket from a half-jacketed bullet sheared off in the forcing cone of my S&W M57 .41 Magnum.
It penetrated my left cheek, lodging in my left maxillary sinus.
My shooting glasses saved my left eye.
I had sinus surgery to get the metal out.
100% my fault!
Too little experience; too much 2400.
MQP
 
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