Help with Alaskan .44

Hi Everyone...new guy to the forum here and I really could use your advice.
I've had this Alaskan for about a year and love it. So far, I have about 200 rounds through it of .44 magnum and special (various brands) without a hiccup. However at the NRA Range the other day, I had real trouble with the magnum rounds on SA...I could fire 2-3 rounds SA but then I could not pull the hammer back for the next round. I'd open the cylinder, close it again, and I'd get one or two more rounds of SA until it would lock up again...but I could fire it off every time in DA. This happened with each cylinder full of magnum but oddly, .44 special rounds had no issues on SA. The magnum ammo I was using...(made in Serbia/ prvi partizan SJFP 300gr). Faulty ammo issue?
I called CS at Ruger and spoke with a tech person who speculated there may have been dirt/powder under the star. Maybe, but why would it fire in SA whenever I used .44 special rounds?
Sorry for the long-winded post but I'd appreciate any feedback here before I bring it to a smith or send it back to Ruger.

Thanks, Steve

Thanks Hittman...but if there was grit under the star from the mag ammo, wouldn't the next cylinderful of .44 special ammo bind up too?

It could have been build up under the star and that your 44spcl ammo had a few thou thinner rim than your mag ammo. So when you're switching brands/lots of ammo, you can't always be sure that the problem will stay universal.

It also could be that your chambers are dirty and/or ringed in front of the special case mouths, such that the 44mags were thrusting, obturating, and snagging on the build up, whereas the specials would never do so. People often forget that cases have to rebound and slip back into the chamber after firing, lest they lock up the cylinder. This, of course, would explain why it didn't happen with specials but did with mags. Switching back and forth between specials and mags in the same session always leaves you open to that issue.

Dirty or rough chambers are also more apt to stick with mags than specials in general, as the mags operate at considerably higher pressure.

Did you notice any difference in resistance to extraction? It doesn't have to be hard stuck to lock up the cylinder, just a light hang is enough. If your specials were falling out free and you had to eject the mags, that might be another indicator of that problem.

Many thanks guys...I'll clean her well and take it step by step to eliminate the causes. Btw, I just picked up a new GP 100 yesterday in SS 4" .357 Sure am looking forward to shooting it.

It does sound like a pressure/setback issue to me. The Magnum ammo may be too hot or for some reason the brass is ending up setting back hard into the breech face and then not rebounding slightly like it should. One or two rounds... not as much pressure. But each round adds to the total friction when you are trying to cock it. Could be the ammo pressure, could be the brass is funky somehow, could even have something to do with how much oil you are leaving in the cylinder before you fire it. The lower pressure Special rounds don't do it.

I think that the fact that it works fine in DA mode but not in SA mode rules out problems with the ammo and/or dirt under the extractor. That leaves the innards of this particular Alaskan as being the bug in the device.

I have a GP100 that developed a similar problem so I sent in for service and they said that they replaced the hammer? That is the last thing I would have expected to be the problem.

Unless one is fairly well versed in the mechanics involved, the best shot :lol: is to send it back to Ruger. 8)

Well, problem solved...it was an ammo issue. Cleaned it well last night and back on line at the NRA today with a different brand of magnum rounds...Fiocchi. The gun ran fine SA for 50 rounds and I even shot off a couple of Buffalo Bore magnum +P+ with no problem.
However, when I loaded a cylinder of the previous Serbian ammo...Partizan, one round fired in SA and then it locked up again. Glad it wasn't a gun problem.
Thanks for your help guys.

Steve

I suppose it's possible that one round SA could be the sole problem if it was dirty enough but that all in of itself seems rather unlikely.

What if you have an underlying mechanical problem that rears it's ugly head upon a little dirt?

After all, they weren't made for parading around Manahattan?

You'll know soon enough.

Best of luck

Three 44s

Seen this a couple times on other brands in the shop.

Your chambers more than likely have a ring in them from shooting specials.

The chambers need to be properly cleaned when switching from specials to magnums.

That's the 2 cents from the gunsmith shop

Kerby said:

Well, problem solved...it was an ammo issue. Cleaned it well last night and back on line at the NRA today with a different brand of magnum rounds...Fiocchi. The gun ran fine SA for 50 rounds and I even shot off a couple of Buffalo Bore magnum +P+ with no problem.
However, when I loaded a cylinder of the previous Serbian ammo...Partizan, one round fired in SA and then it locked up again. Glad it wasn't a gun problem.
Thanks for your help guys.

Steve

Click to expand...

If it the Serbian ammo that is the problem why did it function fine in double action? I would say there is more to this problem than the ammo.

I have no idea why the DA worked over the SA...a friend who is an avid shootist speculated that the mechanics of DA input more "leverage" into firing the next round than a simple pull back on the hammer in SA.

Here's another angle:
When the action is cocked in "single action" the safety transfer bar is not raised by the act of cocking, whereas when fired in "double action" the trigger begins moving the transfer bar immediately. Perhaps your issue is related to a transfer bar snag, plunger spring or some such thing? More than once I have heard of the spring/plunger being inadvertently reversed during reassembly after cleaning or service. Check to see if holding the gun in a "muzzle up" vs. "muzzle down" attitude has any bearing on your hick-up. Just food for thought. I'm mostly a single action guy so just throwing some things out there.
Justice B. Swift

I definitely plan to put the Alaskan through more testing before I am totally convinced it was an ammo issue...but I sure felt better running 50 rounds of another brand through it w/o a problem but then having it reappear using the Serbian stuff.
Thanks everyone for your input on this.