Well, here is proof that, even though I feel that revolvers are inherently more reliable than autos, they, too, can have malfunctions. I know it happens, I've read about it happening but I've never seen it and, up till now, it's never happened to me.
I made it to the range for a while today and put some of my reloads through both my GP100 and SP101. The range I use is on a friend's private property and is in an old stripper cut. The ground is grass covered dirt with some ruts, which always seem to be mud holes.
I was shooting at the time from 75'. Coincidentally, there is a large, muddy rut at 75', so, instead of dumping the empties on the ground and reloading with a speed loader like I normally do, I ejected these cases into my hand to try and keep the mud out of them.
After reloading, I attempted to close the cylinder. Imagine my surprise when the cylinder would not close at all. I swung it back out and attempted to close it again, with the same results. The cylinder was dragging so bad that the ratchet on the ejector would just barely start to enter the frame window, then stopped cold.
After looking in disbelief for a second, I knew what had happened. I dumped the ammo in the cylinder and held the ejector star out and slowly turned the cylinder. Sure enough, a large, unburned powder flake was under the ejector star, keeping it from retracting into the cylinder far enough for the cylinder to close. Simply wiping it out with my fingertip restored reliable function to the SP.
When thinking about it, I knew exactly what I had done. Normally, when reloading, I tip the muzzle straight up in the air and punch the ejector rod. This time, because I had dumped the empties into my hand, I didn't tip the muzzle up all the way. When the empties fell out into my hand, instead of the junk falling out with the cases, it fell out onto the ejector star.
This points out the biggest problem with revolvers. Normally, as I said above, I feel that they are more reliable than autos. There is less to go wrong and everything is mechanical, without relying on the ammo to cycle it. If a round fails to fire, you just pull the trigger again. However, if you DO have a malf in a revolver, clearing it is often much harder and time consuming than clearing a malf in an auto. In an auto, all you do is "tap, rack, bang". In a revolver, you have to diagnose what happened and remedy it, which often involves tools or needing a rag or something similar. Even though I prefer revolvers for SD, I understand completely why most go with autos.
This just reinforces why proper reloading techniques are necessary with SD revolvers. The procedure I use (that was taught to me in Police Academy by guys that used to carry wheelguns) is this;
1. When reload is necessary, switch gun to right hand, if you don't shoot right hand:
2. Wrap left hand up under frame, so that your left hand is similar to this. Hit cylinder release with your right thumb:
3. With left middle and ring fingers, push cylinder out of the frame. Keep your middle and ring fingers on the cylinder through the frame window. This allows you to control the cylinder and not let it rotate. Your thumb goes on the tip of the ejector rod to punch out the empties, like so:
4. Tip the muzzle straight up and punch out the empties. This allows all the unburned powder, carbon, soot and junk to fall out either still in the case or out onto the ground and not into the gun. I always hit the ejector rod two or three times to make sure the empties get punched out completely. It may be necessary to slightly rotate the cylinder with your middle and ring fingers to get the empty closest to the frame out if it catches on the stocks (which they do for me occasionally):
5. While dumping the empties with your left hand, the right hand goes for the speed loader/speed strip. With the empties punched out, tip the muzzle down and bring the speed loader to the cylinder. Hold the outside of the speed loader, NOT the knob. Rotate the speed loader to align the bullets with the charge holes, let the front of the bullets enter the cylinder and turn the knob to release the rounds. They should drop into the cylinder; occasionally, some jiggling of the speed loader may be necessary to get the rounds to release completely and drop into the cylinder. Drop the speed loader; it has served it's purpose and, if necessary, you can pick it up later:
6. Remember how your left thumb punched the ejector rod? Now, bring it back to the outside of the cylinder and push the cylinder back into the frame after you pull your fingers out. After the cylinder is locked into the frame, you can turn it with your left thumb to index it properly:
7. You're ready too go!
It takes a LOT longer to describe it than to actually do it. I also see where some recommend to tip up the muzzle and punch the ejector rod with the palm of your right hand:
This works but, provided you can do two things at one time (punch the ejector rod with your left thumb while getting a speed loader with your right hand), I find that using your left thumb is a lot quicker. It's just up to you. This works well for left-handers, too. You just switch the gun to your right hand and go from there. In fact, from talking to left-handers that do this, it's actually quicker and easier for them because they are more dexterous with their left hands.
Well, that's it, I suppose. I apologize for the long post. I wasn't going to go through the whole reload process, but the firearms instructor in me decided to do it, just to demonstrate the procedure. Also, many thanks to my lovely wife for taking the pics. Also, no live ammo was used, except for the shot with the speed loader; I don't have any dummy rounds for .38. However, the gun was pointed in a safe direction (I might have killed some canned goods in the pantry, but that's it) and the ammo never left the speed loader.
Bub
I made it to the range for a while today and put some of my reloads through both my GP100 and SP101. The range I use is on a friend's private property and is in an old stripper cut. The ground is grass covered dirt with some ruts, which always seem to be mud holes.
I was shooting at the time from 75'. Coincidentally, there is a large, muddy rut at 75', so, instead of dumping the empties on the ground and reloading with a speed loader like I normally do, I ejected these cases into my hand to try and keep the mud out of them.
After reloading, I attempted to close the cylinder. Imagine my surprise when the cylinder would not close at all. I swung it back out and attempted to close it again, with the same results. The cylinder was dragging so bad that the ratchet on the ejector would just barely start to enter the frame window, then stopped cold.
After looking in disbelief for a second, I knew what had happened. I dumped the ammo in the cylinder and held the ejector star out and slowly turned the cylinder. Sure enough, a large, unburned powder flake was under the ejector star, keeping it from retracting into the cylinder far enough for the cylinder to close. Simply wiping it out with my fingertip restored reliable function to the SP.
When thinking about it, I knew exactly what I had done. Normally, when reloading, I tip the muzzle straight up in the air and punch the ejector rod. This time, because I had dumped the empties into my hand, I didn't tip the muzzle up all the way. When the empties fell out into my hand, instead of the junk falling out with the cases, it fell out onto the ejector star.
This points out the biggest problem with revolvers. Normally, as I said above, I feel that they are more reliable than autos. There is less to go wrong and everything is mechanical, without relying on the ammo to cycle it. If a round fails to fire, you just pull the trigger again. However, if you DO have a malf in a revolver, clearing it is often much harder and time consuming than clearing a malf in an auto. In an auto, all you do is "tap, rack, bang". In a revolver, you have to diagnose what happened and remedy it, which often involves tools or needing a rag or something similar. Even though I prefer revolvers for SD, I understand completely why most go with autos.
This just reinforces why proper reloading techniques are necessary with SD revolvers. The procedure I use (that was taught to me in Police Academy by guys that used to carry wheelguns) is this;
1. When reload is necessary, switch gun to right hand, if you don't shoot right hand:
2. Wrap left hand up under frame, so that your left hand is similar to this. Hit cylinder release with your right thumb:
3. With left middle and ring fingers, push cylinder out of the frame. Keep your middle and ring fingers on the cylinder through the frame window. This allows you to control the cylinder and not let it rotate. Your thumb goes on the tip of the ejector rod to punch out the empties, like so:
4. Tip the muzzle straight up and punch out the empties. This allows all the unburned powder, carbon, soot and junk to fall out either still in the case or out onto the ground and not into the gun. I always hit the ejector rod two or three times to make sure the empties get punched out completely. It may be necessary to slightly rotate the cylinder with your middle and ring fingers to get the empty closest to the frame out if it catches on the stocks (which they do for me occasionally):
5. While dumping the empties with your left hand, the right hand goes for the speed loader/speed strip. With the empties punched out, tip the muzzle down and bring the speed loader to the cylinder. Hold the outside of the speed loader, NOT the knob. Rotate the speed loader to align the bullets with the charge holes, let the front of the bullets enter the cylinder and turn the knob to release the rounds. They should drop into the cylinder; occasionally, some jiggling of the speed loader may be necessary to get the rounds to release completely and drop into the cylinder. Drop the speed loader; it has served it's purpose and, if necessary, you can pick it up later:
6. Remember how your left thumb punched the ejector rod? Now, bring it back to the outside of the cylinder and push the cylinder back into the frame after you pull your fingers out. After the cylinder is locked into the frame, you can turn it with your left thumb to index it properly:
7. You're ready too go!
It takes a LOT longer to describe it than to actually do it. I also see where some recommend to tip up the muzzle and punch the ejector rod with the palm of your right hand:
This works but, provided you can do two things at one time (punch the ejector rod with your left thumb while getting a speed loader with your right hand), I find that using your left thumb is a lot quicker. It's just up to you. This works well for left-handers, too. You just switch the gun to your right hand and go from there. In fact, from talking to left-handers that do this, it's actually quicker and easier for them because they are more dexterous with their left hands.
Well, that's it, I suppose. I apologize for the long post. I wasn't going to go through the whole reload process, but the firearms instructor in me decided to do it, just to demonstrate the procedure. Also, many thanks to my lovely wife for taking the pics. Also, no live ammo was used, except for the shot with the speed loader; I don't have any dummy rounds for .38. However, the gun was pointed in a safe direction (I might have killed some canned goods in the pantry, but that's it) and the ammo never left the speed loader.
Bub
