Ruger SP101 .357 Snub locking up- cant figure out why

[bsctov]

I cannot figure out why my revolver keeps locking up when I shoot my cast reloads. It will go fine for a few reloads, but then the rounds stop dropping in freely and have to be pushed in, and then the cylinder won't rotate and seems to get stuck on something.

I have to take a cleaning kit with me to the range if i plan on getting through 20 rounds of the stuff.

It's the short barrel model, and my loads are .38 special LSWC with 5 grains CFE Pistol, Win SP primers.

The rounds are not over pressure, and are the proper size.. at a total loss.

 

[Dan-O]

Call Ruger. They'll take care of you. Sounds to me like the chambers are out of spec.

 

[plateshooter]

My SP101 does the same thing. The barrel/cylinder gap is very tight and after a few rounds of lead bullets, it starts to give me trouble. I clean off the front of the cylinder, and it works fine for a while. No problems with jacketed bullets, and powder coated bullets seem to work well. I have a pretty good collection of 38/357 revolvers that I shoot on a regular basis and have no problems with my lead reloads in any of them other than the SP101. I may have to send mine back.

 

[Desertrat357]

I am not sure as to why the ammunition becomes difficult to chamber, but as to the cylinder not wanting to rotate, it is possible that you are getting some unburned powder, or general gunk built up underneath the ejector star.

 

[M-Cameron]

yup, i have the same problem on my GP100....the cylinder gap is very tight, and with fouling, it can jam up the cylinder.

you can either try shooting jacketed ammo.

you can buy a forcing cone reamer and open up the gap a bit.

or you can contact Ruger and see what theyll do for you.


if you are shooting .38 out of a .357, the bullet sits recessed in the chamber......so when you go to fire it, it creates a ring of carbon in the chamber, which can make it difficult to seat subsequent rounds.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Tight barrel cylinder gap and leading is what comes to mind for me as well as far as the binding goes.


As far as chambering goes, I had a 22lr model and while the chambers were reamed to the proper size, they were under polished. I had to polish them myself using mother's mag polish and a bore mop, as extraction was dang near impossible after shooting one cylinder. Chambering rounds was difficult after only a few cylinders full. The under polished chambers held on to fouling a little too readily.

 

[eldon519]

Have you tried using .357 magnum cases? Could be building up a ring of crud in the chambers which might be why they aren't seating fully into the cylinder. Also might be exacerbated by lower pressure rounds if the cases aren't expanding to seal well.

 

[RustyHammer]

Have you tried using .357 magnum cases? Could be building up a ring of crud in the chambers which might be why they aren't seating fully into the cylinder. Also might be exacerbated by lower pressure rounds if the cases aren't expanding to seal well.

I've experienced this issue in my Ruger GP 100 with "dirty" ammo. Once cleaned, it's happy again.

 

[Shaq]

How does it shoot with factory ammo? I had a similar issue years ago when I started handloading & thought "A bullet is a bullet." I loaded some soft lead bullets & after a few rounds the lead would accumulate in the flash gap & sorta "glue" the front of the cylinder to the back of the barrel. Are you using swaged or soft lead bullets or hard cast?

Some cast bullets use a sticky bullet lube that quickly builds up in the chambers, especially if they're not polished to a smooth surface.