HELP - S&W Revolver problem

[TheDuke]

I went to the range this morning and was working up some loads for my S&W 629 (44 mag) when I encountered a problem. I put 6 rounds in the cylinder and closed the cylinder. When I tried to work the action it was locked up tight. I tried the Cylinder release and could not remove the cylinder. The cartidges were not jammed in the cylinder, hitting the frame and moved freely. There were no primers that were "high". I could not rotate or open the cylinder at all.
I eventually removed the side plate and looked for anything out of the ordinary and saw nothing.
I tried to move the lug that keeps the cylinder locked in place and from rotating and was unsuccessful at getting the cylinder to move.

There were alo no obstructions between the cylinder and barrell to keep it from moving.

I am convinced that the reloads are not the root cause of this problem. All rounds are checked VERY carefully. Does anyone have any experience with S&W revolvers that might shed some light on the problem? I have 6 live rounds stuck in my gun!

[TheDuke]

Well,
I was soooooo convinced the reloads were not the cause of the problem. I was dead wrong. It turns out that there was no powder in this particular round. I had been shooting all morning and had no problems. Dimensionally everything was correct. Somehow in the process the powder was missed, and the primer forced the round into the forcing cone and between the cylinder and barrel. The round was pushed back into the case slightly to allow the gate to be opened.

Literally thousands and thousands of rounds reloaded in the past and never a problem. I'm just glad it did not make it futher into the barrel and the action worked for the next round. That would have been a complete disaster.

Sorry..... this one should have gone into the reloading forum.

[Jim Watson]

I have seen this to happen. Just be glad the primer didn't move it down into the barrel and let you blow it out with the next round.

[VN350X10]

I had a similar experience, sort of.
The first time I used my new Dillon RL 450 (not a typo, I've had it a looooong time) I checked a powder charge & forgot to put it back in the case! Loading for a Ruger SBH, I always crimp VERY hard to prevent bullet movement under recoil. "pop" misfire. pulled bullet, primer ash on bottom of bullet. The owner of the range, who was one of the gents that taught me about reloading, scraped the bottom of the bullet & showed me the hard ash & said "you screwed up....no powder in here"
When I got home, I checked the scale pan & there was 24.5 gr of IMR4227 in it . OOOOOPPPS !!!!!!!

Moral of story - Crimp tight enough that the primer being used won't push the bullet into the cone.

I'll bet you don't do it again !

shoot safe
uncle albert