LCRx .38 Special 3""

[1SG Ret]

I recently bought an LCRx .38 Special 3" and shot it for the first time yesterday. I was using PMC ammo and got stung in the face several times from either shaved lead or powder residue. Will this problem go away after more rounds or is it a timing issue that needs corrected? The revolver looked great and functioned fine otherwise. Maybe try a different brand of ammo? I also have a GP-100, SP-101, Blackhawk, Bearcat, and .22/45, all flawless.
Thanks

 

[contender]

Hard to say. Try this; Take an old towel, drape it over your hand & the cylinder gap & fire one round. Check the towel for residue. Be careful, it may also catch fire.
Or, try a better method. Take a two ft square piece of cardboard. Cut a hole in the center, just big enough for you to put you hand through. (The smaller the better.) Put your hand through the hole, up to the wrist, get behind it & shoot a few rounds. Then inspect the cardboard to see if it's powder or lead.

I would also try a few different types of ammo to see what happens.

 

[OldePhart]

If you were using jacketed bullets it's very unlikely that it was bullet shavings (not impossible, though, if the chambers were cut improperly). It sounds like the BC gap could be pretty wide. My old S&W model 19 has opened up to about .009 or .010 over the last 25+ years and I won't shoot it with full power ammo anymore, at least not at your typical indoor range, because unburned (or, more accurately, burning) powder residue bounces off the lane divider and back into my cheek.

Check for concentricity of the cylinder chambers and barrel, and then the BC gap. If the chambers are concentric with the barrel it's unlikely that it is shaving bullets, even if the BC gap is on the wide side. If the chambers are not concentric with the barrel or the BC gap is very wide then it needs to go back to Ruger. I don't know what Ruger considers "in spec" for the BC gap on a new gun. My new SP101 was very good as was my model 19 when it was new. I've been told that S&W now considers anything up to .012 "in spec" on a new revolver. If true, that's a sad state of affairs.

Neither chamber alignment nor BC gap get better with use, so if it's not right there is no reason to delay sending it back for repair.

John