The reason I asked the way I did, was because I wanted to get true unbiased opinions.
Now for the rest of the story.
I stared reloading right after I bought my first Redhawk back in about 1980 (when they first came out) and figured out this was the only way to be able to afford to feed it. Being new and green, of course I was extra cautious and careful. I very rarely will push the max loads and usually just go around the middle of what the books say for min-max loads. I shot a lot pre wife and kids, then took 10-12 years off from loading---hey life gets busy. :lol: So now that my son is a strapping your guy and loves to shoot, I have gotten back into it starting about 4-5 years ago. I have also gone from housing 1 Redhawk to 5 of them---all in 44 mag and different barrel lengths.
In the past year I have been shooting some stuff that I loaded back in the late 90's and stuff I have loaded recently. I started to see this problem about a year ago but since it was sporadic and just a few, I never gave it a second thought---just tossed them in the trash. While I never could feel or hear any difference in the rounds, I could tell when the brass did not eject easily that I had a problem.
Once I figured out that I was having the same issue more than just a few times, I went looking for a reason. I knocked out a few different loads that I suspected and found nothing out of place as far as powder weights or splits. I also dumped out several boxes of loaded ammo and inspected them for cracks and found nothing---even with the glasses on and using a magnifying glass.
Then I noticed that it was occurring with different loads, different bullet weights and different powders. So now I am thinking that I may have a chamber in one of the cylinders that could be out of spec. I had six different boxes of ammo, all with different loads that had all had the same issue---plus they were being fired from 4 different revolvers.
The next time out I numbered all the chambers on each of the cylinders with a sharpie and started shooting. It wasn't long before I had ruled out the chamber problem. Then I noticed the one thing they all had in common. These all are Winchester brass. I should point out that I am more of a volume loader than a precision loader. I usually don't measure case lengths and don't often clean primer pockets. Just a visual once over as it comes out of the tumbler, and it is good to go again.
I have loaded tons of 44 mag and have seen as many as 8 to 10 different brands of brass come through my press, but have never had an issue besides a split mouth here and there. I have acquired all of my brass from either shooting factory ammo, or from buying new factory brass. While I don't keep track of the number of loads, I find it hard to dispute that the brass is the problem since this is the only brand it has happened with. Sure I guess these could have as many as 6 or 7 loads in them, but I am confident that none of it has over 10. The fact remains that of all sorts of brands of brass I have loaded, this is the only common brass that I have ever had this problem with.
Here are the different loads that these have happened with. If you look these up you will find them right in the middle of the road for book loads.
240gr JHP over 12.5gr of 3N37
240gr JHP over 15.5gr of 3N37
240gr JHP over 11.2gr of N340
240gr JHP over 20.5gr of 2400
240gr LWC over 6.5gr of Unique
240gr LRN over 6.7gr of Unique
So after you have a looked at the photos, I would be happy to respond to questions and welcome any input. If you would like to see the photos full size so you can have a closer look, just PM me an e-mail and I'll send them your way. I believe that those with the red around the primer was from a batch of 500 I bought factory pre-primed.
I am happy to report that I have since started to transition to using only Star-Line brass and have not seen this issue occur again.
