[spideysenses]

I thought revolvers were put on earth by God not to jam. It is a Taurus .357 Magnum 5-shot. Anyways, I was at the range, loaded it with some cheap Sellier & Bellot ammo, fired one shot, tried to pull the trigger the second time, and the cylinder wouldn't rotate. I tried opening the cylinder and it wouldn't budge. I imagine the brass was stuck to the face of the frame. Anyone experience this?

I've tried Magtech .357s and they work fine, along with a few brands of .38 and .38+P which I didn't have problems with.

I kind of feel like I was asking for it with this cheap ammo that I've never heard of. I imagine that's the cause. Have any of you guys heard of this ammo?

 

[allmons]

Hopefully that's all it is...

Revolvers can "jump time". If ANYTHING in the process - cylinder, springs, pawl - malfunctions, you get cylinder "freeze".

Obviously, do NOT try to fire it and call a local gunsmith right away. You CANNOT ship a loaded revolver anywhere!

 

[robocop10mm]

jammed

check the ejector rod. Its the pin that protrudes from the front of the cylinder. It helps in lock up by interfacing with a spring loaded plunger under the barrel. It can unscrew preventing rotation and opening. If your revolver is made in the last 40 or so years it has left handed threads. Turn it as though you are unscrewing it (left handed threads) and it should tighten up. Once it is finger tight the cylinder should open. Once open you should put two or more empty cases in the charge holes in the cylinder and tighten it down all the way. The preferred method is to lock the rod in a vise and turn the cylinder by hand til tight. In a pinch, I have wrapped the rod in masking tape (to protect the finish) and tightened the rod with a pair of pliers.

 

[Harley_Guy]

Never heard of the ammo, but when I was doing my own loading, I added a few more grains of 2400 than called for in my 44 mag, and went to the range to test the rounds. First round was fine, second round was fine but when I tried to pull the hammer back for the third, it was jammed. Found out that the bullets in the other 4 rounds were being forced out of the shells because of the recoil. Went back to factory load. Might be the problem with your cheap ammo.

 

[Mark F]

I thought revolvers were put on earth by God not to jam. It is a Taurus .357 Magnum 5-shot. Anyways, I was at the range, loaded it with some cheap Sellier & Bellot ammo, fired one shot, tried to pull the trigger the second time, and the cylinder wouldn't rotate. I tried opening the cylinder and it wouldn't budge. I imagine the brass was stuck to the face of the frame. Anyone experience this?

I've tried Magtech .357s and they work fine, along with a few brands of .38 and .38+P which I didn't have problems with.

I kind of feel like I was asking for it with this cheap ammo that I've never heard of. I imagine that's the cause. Have any of you guys heard of this ammo?

I have never had any problems with Sellier & Bellot ammo. and I shoot it a LOT!

http://www.sb-usa.com/pistol.htm

 

[hillbilly68]

I've shot S & B, it went bang each time but threw a shotgun pattern instead of a group but functioned well. Prolly the gun IMO, I have read more than a few accounts of timing and cylinder bind on them being an issue. I know they have a decent warranty, don't wait on getting it checked out though. Good luck, I hope you get it straightened out. Not many things as frustrating as a gun that isn't acting right.

 

[spekaldpez]

My taurus recently did the same thing which is how I came across this message board. We thought it could of just been the ammo jolting the other shells back causing it to jam but it did it with several different .357s and with different quality .38's so off to taurus it goes.

 

[stalkingbear]

Robocop got it right. The ammo has VERY little to do with jamming things up UNLESS the roll crimp is not enough to keep bullets from jumping forward. Usually that happens to light revolvers such as S&W 329 with heavy cast bullet ammo.

 

[Scrapper]

I consider myself to be the unofficial Taurus ambassador to the world. The guns are great values.

I currently have two Taurus revolvers, a 605 5-shot .357, and a M66 7-shot .357.

With the 605, when I shot old (20 years or more) .357 I had the same problem. Specifically, some 20-40 year-old 158-grain steel cased stuff from my buddy's 90yo dad. For whatever reason, the cylinder would lock up completely after every shot. You'd have to force it open and tap the extractor with something heavy to eject the case. Regular, new, store bough ammo worked perfectly, and the little bastard remains my favorite "every day, never leave home without it, god I love this gun" gun. The solution was not shooting crappy ammo from the Nixon administration.

My M66 would not rotate right out of the box. A quick trip to Taurus and the culprit was found. Tolerances between the cylinder and frame were too tight, which is a Taurus staple, apparently. 3 weeks later I have the gun back and it drives tacks.

If you have no problems with regular, high-quality ammo, then don't sweat it.

 

[BILLYBOB44]

" A Few More Grains of 2400"

Never heard of the ammo, but when I was doing my own loading, I added a few more grains of 2400 than called for in my 44 mag, and went to the range to test the rounds. First round was fine, second round was fine but when I tried to pull the hammer back for the third, it was jammed. Found out that the bullets in the other 4 rounds were being forced out of the shells because of the recoil. Went back to factory load. Might be the problem with your cheap ammo.

"A Few More Grains than called for" can cause a lot more than just cyl. rotation problems. Any Novice Reloaders that read this, remember to load "A Few Less Grains" from most any Hi Cap. (Volume Wise) .44Mag. load.(Other than WW-296/A-A #9 Powders) On these two powers do not load UNDER Min. spec. listed in load manual! It's poss. that S&B loads did not have a heavy enough roll crimp. Any factory load/warm reload should employ a FIRM roll crimp, or the loads in the cyl. can "Jump" forward, and lock up cyl. Plus1+ for Robo, on extractor rod backing off also. A little LockTite will solve this condition. BTW, I've had good luck with S&B 9MM 115FMJ in my CZ P-01. No problem, for me with that load. NEVER/EVER load "A Few MORE Grains than called for"!!

 

[greenjeans]

I've shot a lot of S&B .357 mag. with no problems in my Ruger GP100s. I don't think it's an ammo problem.