Finally got to the range and had problems. I just cleaned the revolver at home but did not try to load it until I got to the range. The cylinder did not want to close with just moderate pressure and I did not want to push anything as I kept thinking I was missing something. I had some handloads and factory ammo, none of which would load. I looked for the obvious stuff: cylinder rod loose, extractor has something under it keeping it from seating, high primer, case not seating all the way in the cylinder but everything checked out. I wanted to be sure it was not the ammo and I also had the Dan Wesson with me and it loaded and shot everything without any issue. It was the revolver, not an ammo issue.
After I got home I cleaned the revolver, cleaned the extractor and even checked it with a caliper to make certain the extractor was completely seated, it was. I used some fired brass to check each chamber to see if one had a burr or something but it hung up from every chamber when you tried to rotate it. If the round is not on the top of the cylinder but on the bottom ones, it will close fine but will then hang up when you cycle the action and try to bring it into battery before it lines up with the barrel. I tried at lease 20 difference fired cases, all were seated completely and only 2 closed and rotated okay. Those two had a rim thickness of under 0.054" where the rest that would not close were in the 0.055"+ range. I think the SAAMI spec for 357 Mag/38 Special clearance is 0.060" minimum for the rim side. I checked the clearance in the front and back of the cylinder; the front was a very tight 0.002" and the back (where the rim is) was a snug 0.056". I wanted to measure another 357 to compare it. The Dan Wesson cylinder is recessed so that is sort of apples and oranges but we also have a Ruger Blackhawk in 357 mag. The Blackhawk was 0.002" in the front (muzzle end) and 0.060" in the back. All of the fired brass went in the Blackhawk and it rotated without resistance.
It looks almost like the clearance is undersized on the rim side of the revolver. Just wanted to see if any of you had something similar happen. Thanks.