Backstory:
I own a stainless S&W 66-2 with a 3" bbl. My step father has almost the exact gun, but blued and a 4" bbl.

Here's my question:
He's asking me to find him some nickel plated .357 hollow points because when he shoots brass in it, they somehow seem to jam it shut. It rotates the cylinder as I understand it, but he has to literally knock the hell out of it to get the cylinder to actually open.:confused:

Can anyone here explain why this would be? Even if the brass swelled, wouldn't it just make them a pain to remove from the cylinder, but not hinder the cylinder from opening?

Just wondering if anyone else has seen something like this. It's new to me and I can't put my hands on the gun for some time. If it's an actual problem, I'd love to fix it for him as he loves this gun, and I'd like to reload some for him and make it even more accurate.

BTW I can't hit shit with my 66-2, but he is dead nuts with his. Pisses me off. :laughing: I'm just revolver stupid. :laughing:

Tell him to take it to a gunsmith. I don't know exactly what the problem is, but it sounds serious enough that he needs a 'smith to look at it.

I'll take a stab here. He may have too much of a gap between the cylinder and the back plate that the firing pin passes through. I don't know why brass would act any different, other than the nickel cases do seem to be a little stiffer, and may not deform as much.

He really should have that revolver checked out.

look at the primers of the sticking cases. Sometimes they can be lifted from firing pressure and cause the cylinder to hang up.
Try different brand of ammunition first, see if it does it with one brand or all brands.

Then return it to S&W before you pay someone to look at it.

I had one a few weeks back that refused to close for the lady. It had a ton of fouling under the extractor ring on the cylinder itself and had it pushed back. Of course the timer is part of that and was jammed into the frame so they beat the thing open. :laughing: 5 minutes of cleaning under the ring and it was good as new.

X2 on checking to make sure it is clean, I had a similar issue on my Trooper.

Will it shoot 38 special and eject the brass?
If so, I am guessing that someone has shot a bunch of the 38's through the pistol and there is a lead and fouling ring in the cylinders at the length of a 38 brass. It will hang the longer 357 brass.

I have done this before with 357 and 22 LR (shooting 22 shorts). Use a solvent and brush to remove fouling in all 6 cylinder chambers. If may take several times of soaking and cleaning if it is that bad.

Then return it to S&W before you pay someone to look at it.

Call them first and chances are that they will send a pre-paid label.

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&content=17301&sectionId=10504





EDIT:
Now that Ive read the rest of the thread... ;)


What SilverZuk said is spot on. Nickel plated brass being easier to eject being a dead giveaway, make sure the chambers are clean.

Soak the chambers with solvent for a while and get them cleaned out. Id almost put money on that being the issue.


k.

Thanks guys, I'll be sure to take a solid look at it this weekend. I really hope it's that simple. I know he'd love to be able to shoot the gun with ammo that I already have for it, versus my trying to find some nickel plated stuff. :D

If your ammo won't work - something is wrong.
You may need dental picks to clean the chambers. I've had to use them before because the solvent wasn't cutting it.

I know he'd love to be able to shoot the gun with ammo that I already have for it, versus my trying to find some nickel plated stuff. :D

Nickel is about all I can find in my range scrounging. Some people actually don't like to load with it. I don't think my revolver knows the difference.:smokin:

Like I said, I've never seen the gun do it, and to be honest I don't know if it won't actually open the cylinder with the brass, (doesn't make too much sense) or won't let the casings slide out with brass. Either way I'll see him this weekend coming up and will get a chance to ask more indepth.

I thank ya'll for your answers so far. :D

Tell your friend to thoroughly clean two chambers and then fire off a few cylinders of rounds. If those two chambers don't malfunction...then you've found your problem.

Called him up and went and looked at the gun just a little bit ago. Turns out it isn't that it won't turn the brass loose, but that when he fires 6 brass rounds, the tumbler won't rotate out. Said he can shoot 100 nickel plated, and no issues, but just one full cylinder of brass casings and it won't open. He has to litterally beat the cylinder with a rubber mallet or the palm of his hand to open it. :confused:

Hopefully this weekend we'll go shoot it so I can actually see it do this. The gun is meticulously clean. I looked at everything. Even a nice light coat of oil on moving parts. Confuses the shit out of me right now. A couple of smiths have looked at it and told him where the hammer came through the reciever, small circular part, was the issue. They took a little metal off and said it was good. He said it never changed the issue.

Said he bought the gun back in 80's, traded it to his cousin after a decade or two of shooting it, and just got it back last week. All the while, it still has the same quirk.

I do a bit of work on my own guns, learn a lot from the OSR, and would love to try and get this issue fixed for him. I however don't know any smiths here in Panama I trust well enough. This gun, even though it's had probably thousand of rounds through it over the last 30 years, still fires dead accurate. I don't want to mess that up. :(

Sometimes they are hard opening because the ejector rod has loosened a little bit and won't allow the locking mechanism for the front of the ejector rod to be pushed fully forward. Worth looking into at least.

You may also look for a slight burr in one chamber. Load the cylinder and make sure all the case heads are close to the same distance from the timing cog, one case head may be touching the cog causing a bind when ejecting (had this problem on a Taurus.) Also you might try to find/load up some 38 spl power ammo in 357 brass and see if that causes a change. Try it with a few different brass head stamps. Try to test as many variables as possible.