Stuck 357 cases

[retired/lasd]

I recently loaded some 125gr. JHP 357 cases using the minimum called for 7.6 grains of Bullseye powder in brand new cases. When I went shooting last week on a fishing trip I noticed that after the first 6 rounds I had trouble ejecting the cases from my 6 inch model 28. 1 or 2 cases would eject, but the others would not, some of the rounds came out about 1/2 inch and I would have to pull them out by hand. The weapon was well cleaned prior to shooting. I was wondering if the case lube I used when reloading the new cases could have caused this..I shoot well over 10k rounds a year and this is the first time this has happened... any ideas as to what went wrong.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Welcome to the forum.

Your load was well within the load range for Bullseye with that weight bullet. The lube should be cleaned from the cases before loading for a couple of reasons. The first is the lube will attract and collect debris, and the second is the job of the case is to swell and form a gas seal against the walls of the chambers. With lube on the case, it can't grip the chamber walls.

Try cleaning off the lube and shooting some of the same rounds, after cleaning the chambers. If this cures the problem, then you'll know what caused it.

Hope this helps.

Fred

Retired/KCSD

 

[Linear Thinker]

Bullseye would not be my choice in 357 with any weight bullet, the burning rate is too fast IMHO.
But, as Fred mentions, there's data out there, and your load is within safe limits. I think the pressure is very high though.
357 cases should be easy to eject after firing, even with hot loads.

I assume you are using the older steel dies that require the brass to be lubricated. Lubing the cases is a time consuming step, both to lube and to remove.

Carbide dies do not need lubrication, a set of Lee dies will cost ~$20.
When the carbide dies became affordable 25 or so years ago I switched all my pistol dies to carbide. A big time saver, and no more scratched cases either.

LT

 

[rcmodel]

Brand of cases?

Weighed, or thrown, or dipped powder charges?

Magnum or Standard primers?

Were the fired primers excessivly flattened?

Normally the only thing that will cause sticky extraction in a S&W is over-pressure loads.


rcmodel

 

[retired/lasd]

I use a Dillon SDB, I only use Winchester non magnum primers, I shot about 500 rounds of 38 2 weeks ago out of the same gun with no problems.. The bullets I reloaded were loaded 2 days before shooting and I did not clean off any case lube residue after loading. I only reload 9mm, 38, and 357 and bullseye is the only powder I have ever used when I started reloading about 10 years ago. The cases were brand new Remington.

 

[rcmodel]

Thats mighty strange!

If you have, or can get access to a powder scale, I would dump some charges and weigh them all, just to be on the safe side. (really loading 7.6 grains?)

You can get in a lot of trouble, real fast, with Bullseye powder.

BTW: I doubt case lube has anything to do with it unless it was really a heavy build-up. Enough to gum up the chambers?

Case-lube possibly allows the cases to slip back in the cylinder while under high pressure, and might increase gun battering to some degree, but it wouldn't make the cases swell up and stick in the chambers.

The other thing that just occurred to me.
You said you just shot 500 rounds of .38 Spl. in the gun a couple of weeks ago.

Did you clean the chambers very throughly afterward?
Like with Nitro Powder Solvent and an oversize bronze bore brush spun in an electric drill?

If not, hard fouling is probably built up in the front of the mag chambers from the shorter .38 Spl. loads.
Then when you fire .357 in the gun, the fouling prevents the mag case mouths & crimps from opening up and releasing the bullets.
That & Bullseye powder = High Pressure loads!


rcmodel

 

[Koos Custodiet]

Hang on, you couldn't get them out with the star extractor, but you could get them out by hand? Relatively easily, or by wiggling, or by driving a dowel in from the other end?

Sounds to me like your ejector rod might be bent or something and jamming?

 

[Taurus 617 CCW]

I would thoroughly clean out each cylinder with a copper bore brush, solvent and jags if you have them. When you have removed all the fouling from the cylinders take a look inside with a borelight. My suspiction is that they have incurred what is called chamber frosting. It happens when chambers are not polished to the proper grit/dirty cases loaded and shot. The chamber becomes rough and your cases come out with a "frosty" look where they expanded inside the cylinder. They will be difficult to remove unless the problem is corrected. If this is the case, take it to a gunsmith and have them polish it up to a 600 grit for you. I have attached a picture of a cylinder I did in school when it was half done for comparison.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I think the problem is hard fouling from firing .38 Special cases in this revolver. What's happening is the case mouth extends over the ring of fouling and when the case expands on firing, the fouling grips it tight. You might even be able to see evidence of that if you look at the case just below the mouth.

The solution is thorough cleaning.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Sounds like .38 spl. fouling, now that we've heard the rest of the story. The buildup from the shorter .38 cases is probably holding the longer .357 cases in the chambers. Just clean the chambers and get the fouling out. That should take care of the problem.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[retired/lasd]

As far as powder weight, I am compulsive about hot loads, I check every 5 rounds as to powder weight and it has always been right on.. As far as gun cleaning I clean my weapons throughly after every use. I should add I also shot rounds out of another 357 that had also shot .38's a few ago and did not have the problem with stuck cases.

 

[joneb]

The .38 spls seem to be a likely culprit but;

some of the rounds came out about 1/2 inch and I would have to pull them out by hand. The weapon was well cleaned prior to shooting.

I wonder if there was any difficulty chambering the rounds ? My experience with stuck cases from a over charge is they are stuck from the start, if the .38 spl rnds. where under loaded perhaps some fouling occurred behind the case mouth in the chamber ?