I recently purchased a RG 38 special revolver. Mechanically, it seems to be in good working order. I have now shot off around 25 rounds ... and after a bit am hitting well on target. Only thing I have experienced is that after firing off about 15 rounds, on the 6th round the hammer would catch, and I did not have the pull strength to squeeze off the round. I'm not a week female, so this didn't seem to be "right" to me. After cleaning, it worked fine. This is my first "owned" pistol, and after reading the attacks on the RG22 ... was wondering if you guys had anything good to say about this one. It was purchased for home protection seeing as I am a single mother of 7 kids living just outside one of the third most deadliest cities in the US.
RG 38 special
- Thread starter m0mof7
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RKRCPA
Member
I had an RG .38 Spl years ago. It was the medium size frame model. It was a piece of crap that I got rid of ASAP.
oldfool
Member
hate to say it ma'm, but RG is famous for making handguns universally regarded as poorly made (to the point of being unsafe to shoot).. possibly the ONE and ONLY thing 99%+ people on gun forums agree on...
money real hard to come by these days, but please consider looking for a good, affordable deal on something else
money real hard to come by these days, but please consider looking for a good, affordable deal on something else
jimmyraythomason
Member
Well,I'm that 1% who thinks that for your purposes the RG-38 will probably work just fine. I have an RG-22 that has seen many years of (occassional)use on the trapline and it has held up well. Keep you loads to mid power(no +P) don't shoot hundreds of rounds just enough to stay in practice. If it starts to shave lead(out of time) or misfire THEN I would seriously consider getting something else.
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The rounds I have fired where at 2 rates ... slow for target, and a little faster to see what I could do. With that the rounds being fired are simple lead reloads. All pin stricks are almost completely centered. The only thing I haven't been happy with are that a few of the rounds are hot load. That's what I get for picking them up at a gun show.
oldfool
Member
sorry about that jimmyray
no woobie war implied, strictly honorable intentions
(so.. make that 98%)
no woobie war implied, strictly honorable intentions
(so.. make that 98%)
jimmyraythomason
Member
No problem oldfool. Sometimes we can't be real choosy and have to make do with what we have. As I said for occassional use with mid-range loads an RG works as well as most any other handgun. The trouble starts if it gets out of time as it would with a Colt or S&W.
theotherwaldo
Member
I'm a firm believer in enjoying a good, working RG (or any other junky gun) at the range. I've got four RGs right now, three of which I enjoy firing. The fourth is a worn out RG38, much like the one that m0mof7 describes. It cycles well, everything works, but the alloy frame is stretched and the barrel actually wobbles! I have used it for dog training, firing primers in drilled-out brass to try to acclimate my watch dogs to the sound and smell of guns.
I don't think that I would even use it for that purpose now, as it is just too rickety.
I don't think that I would even use it for that purpose now, as it is just too rickety.
NCsmitty
Member
I had one many years ago, and although I had no problems with it, in reality it was a rather chintzy made handgun. I gave it to my brother-in-law when I bought a 357 mag Blackhawk.
NCsmitty
NCsmitty
jad0110
Member
Hmm, the action starts to bind on the same chamber each time around? Hopefully, that could simply be a bent ejector rod. Swing out the cylinder and set the gun down on a background that gives you a clear view of the ejector rod. Now, turn the cylinder and look for a wobble in the rod. If there is a wobble, you could try holding the crane/cylinder assembly steady with the fingers of one hand, while applying pressure to the rod ONLY with the other hand to bend it back straight. What you are trying to do is bend the rod ONLY by applying counter force to the crane area so that you don't bend that part.
This happened to me once. While removing the ejector rod on a S&W, I slipped and torqued the ejector rod a bit. The result was a harder/stiffer trigger pull every sixth shot. This technique straightened the ejector rod enough that the problem has been solved.
The best way to do it is to remove the ejector rod, lay it on a flat hard surface, find the high/bent spot and tap it with a brass or very small hammer (with a piece of scrap leather in between if you don't want to marr the surface) until it is straightened out.
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bikerdoc
Moderator In Memoriam
m0mo7,
Foe the time being, you got your first gun and it works. good for you. step up when and if you can. There are bargains out there.
Foe the time being, you got your first gun and it works. good for you. step up when and if you can. There are bargains out there.
First gun I ever bought was a chromed RG38 when I was in college back in the '70s. I put a few hundred rounds through it with no problems at all. It was reasonably accurate too. I sold it to a friend a few years later who wanted it to shoot snakes with shot shells (probably still working if that's all he ever used it for). If you're on a strict budget, it's a hell of a lot better than nothing!! Just keep to lower-power loads and you should be OK.
w_houle
Member
What I would do is place empty shall casing into the gun and dry fire with them in place. If it should happen again: Remove your finger from the trigger and pull the hammer back as far as it will go then attempt to fire it again. I had a problem similar to this with my RG-63, and it smoothed out after a bit of use. Does it happen when you shoot it double action?
Edit: Try what jad0110 suggested.
Oh, and a gratuitous pic
Edit: Try what jad0110 suggested.
Oh, and a gratuitous pic
oldfool
Member
no fool like an old fool...
(make that 9 point 8 percent)
(make that 9 point 8 percent)
jimmyraythomason
Member
That is a silly assumption. RGs can be repaired just as any other firearm.
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David E
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- Aug 3, 2008
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- 7,459
Of course it's the same cylinder! There is only one, after all.
This is why proper nomenclature is important. The CYLINDER is the round thing that has CHAMBERS bored into it that hold the cartridges. If the gun binds as the same CHAMBER is aligning with the hammer, that would be helpful in determing the problem. Number the CHAMBERS (on the outside of the CYLINDER) with a Sharpie to see.
The fact that it works for 15 rds and THEN has a problem indicates that something runs afoul in those 15 rds. It might be powder under the extractor. Then again, the loads mentioned do not sound very consistent, so it might be a poor ammo problem. Buy some factory and see if it does the same thing.
Not necessarily. Some states have laws that do not even allow spare parts to be kept in stock for this gun, as it's considered a "Saturday Night Special" as defined by certain melting temps. Let's hope the problem is caused by poor reload quality.
jimmyraythomason
Member
She has already fixed the problem as stated in the first post.
There are many more states that don't have silly "Saturday night special" laws than there are that do.
joe_security
Member
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- 490
Maybe consider saving up for a used S&W or Ruger, some time in the future ?
jad0110
Member
Good catch on the terminology David, don't know how I did that.
Corrected.
Corrected.
jfh
Member.
first of all--welcome to the forum m0mof7!
You've come to the right place for help--THR is a forum where, most of the time you can get good advice on a shooting issue. As you can see, sometimes it's hard to sort out the advice from the opiniontary, or from the too-much-advice, or the too-detailed-advice, or whatever. Do the sorting out, and you ought to find your answer.
Here, you figured out the answer yourself. Keep the gun clean. Here is a link to a revolver-cleaning video. (A bit too talky, but someone else may have a better link)
Now, get some more of the light loads--that would be a target load, with a "148DEWC" bullet in them. Those will be fine for self-defense, and will be not too hard on your gun.
As finances permit, consider upgrading. There are used Smith and Wesson revolvers, traded in by cop shops--at prices well under $300.00. J&G sales is a good source for them, and there are others.
Finally, feel free to ask any other questions you have--the members of this forum will give an answer.
Jim H.
You've come to the right place for help--THR is a forum where, most of the time you can get good advice on a shooting issue. As you can see, sometimes it's hard to sort out the advice from the opiniontary, or from the too-much-advice, or the too-detailed-advice, or whatever. Do the sorting out, and you ought to find your answer.
Here, you figured out the answer yourself. Keep the gun clean. Here is a link to a revolver-cleaning video. (A bit too talky, but someone else may have a better link)
Now, get some more of the light loads--that would be a target load, with a "148DEWC" bullet in them. Those will be fine for self-defense, and will be not too hard on your gun.
As finances permit, consider upgrading. There are used Smith and Wesson revolvers, traded in by cop shops--at prices well under $300.00. J&G sales is a good source for them, and there are others.
Finally, feel free to ask any other questions you have--the members of this forum will give an answer.
Jim H.
jimmyraythomason
Member
David E,No I do not agree with that statement. Many parts can be made if necessary. Repairs dont always require replacement of parts as the OP proved by cleaning her revolver. It may COST more to repair one than to replace it but that is another question.
jad0110
Member
Burnt powder under the extractor? Possible, though that usually causes binding for every chamber, not just one.
It could well be that the cylinder face is way out of spec, which would result in it being "out of square" with the forcing cone. If it is out of spec enough, it could be that on one chamber the B/C gap is only .001" or so, so after firing a few rounds and heating the metal a bit (and laying down a thin layer of lead on the cylinder face/forcing cone area), causing the metals to expand and rub that single chamber on the forcing cone. This problem would be aggravated more if the gun is a little out of time and shaving lead, possibly creating more lead build up in the B/C gap.
Just conjecture on my part, but it could be another possibility.
Of course, one would need to be careful about making parts in a state with laws prohibiting the sale of parts for saturday night specials. It would be wise to assume that those states probably also prohibit the manufacture of parts, until confirmed otherwise.
jimmyraythomason
Member
That would be a safe assumption. Not being able to repair any thing because of a law is a problem with the law not the firearm.
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