Stainless BlackHawk ejection issues

[Manxdriver]

All,

I bought a used .357 Stainless BlackHawk and really love the gun, but have an issue. Everything is flawless, except ejection is a major pain in the butt. I got to eject a spent round and it seems the rounds, that 'fell' into the cylinder, need to be jack-hammered out of the cylinder. It almost seems as if they are expanding and getting stuck. I know, i should mike a few unfired rounds, fire them and then remike them, but i live 40 miles from the range. Maybe at midnight some night soon I could let 6 go into the woodpile at midnight. Anyone have the same issue? Or, a fix?

 

[DGW1949]

Could be any one of several things;
Dirty chamber.
Out of spec chambers relative to size.
Rough machining of the chambers.
Ammo too hot.
Out of spec brass.
You didn't say where the "spent round" which you tried came from....but....empty brass which was fired/ejected from one gun may be hard to eject after being pushed into the chamber of another.

Personaly....I'd clean the gun real well, go shoot it with a known brand of factory ammo, and go from there. If it still needs fixed after that, I'd let Ruger handle it.

Hope this helped.

DGW

 

[Manxdriver]

I've tried a bunch of different factory ammo, no reloads. Can't recall all the ammo I've tried, but the boxes I still have on-hand include:
American Eagle 158 gr jacketed soft point
Herter's Select Grade .38spcl 158gr FMJ

Both of those are brass casings, and I have shot steel cases too. Seems to me, the steel cased ammo was the more difficult to push out of the cylinder. Thanks for the help, Bob

 

[Manxdriver]

I was not real clear on the 'spent' round. i meant to say that a spent round, having been fired in that cylinder, was difficult to eject. It was every hole in the cylinder too. Yes, I think i'll take the advice offered and we'll see how that works out. I'll let you know as soon as I get it figured out. Thanks for the help guys.
Happy New Year to all,
Bob

 

[rugerguy]

manxdriver, welcome to the Forum, .if the gun is new, stainless chambers can all too often be "rough" have ( show) tool marks, inside the chambers, need to be polished out, (honed) not to remove material but to smooth things out, do NOT want to distort or oversize the chamber, YES, steel cases can and will be hard to extract, always have.....short of taking "precise" measurements of each chamber and the rounds used in them, hard to tell, but we got this in the shop all the time, and simply polished the chambers out, and this works the vast majority of the time....
Good luck , and best to you in the coming New year

 

[srfocused]

Santa brought me a stainless 45 Colt/45 ACP convertible for Christmas. The Colt cylinder was fine but the ACP was tight with the rounds having to be pushed into it and serious extractor effort needed to remove. I was disappointed and ready to return the gun to Ruger. As a last gasp, I started stroking the cylinder with a 45 brass bore brush. Took a while but eventually I could get the ACPs to drop in and slide out. No disrespect to Ruger but I think a little attention to delivery QC would have been in order. Still devoted to SR!

 

[ken s]

I have a bullseye style ejecting rod on order for my single six. much easier to pop them out. I have them on all my Colt SAA's.
about$35 from Numerich.

I would polish the cylinders, use a rag on a brush, attached to an electric drill, go slow...put some valve grinding compound on the rag and
smooth them out. you can cut a small dowel, cut a notch lenghwise on top, and fit a piece of 400 emery and oil it. does the same thing.
That should cure the problem. I've even heard using toothpaste on the rag. it's a light abrasive too. never tried it but sounds logical.

Ken

 

[jgt]

Some prior owner might have been shooting 38 specials in the chambers. The area where the bullet leaves the end of the case may have some throat erosion. That would make the longer 357 rounds hard to eject. I don't think I would blame Ruger without further investigation.

 

[Hondo44]

Manxdriver,

Welcome to the forum.

I agree with the above, polish the chambers. I prefer Ken's 2nd method with dowel and 400 Grit paper, with or w/o oil.
The reason is, we want the chamber polishing to be even and parallel. Compund or toothpaste on a rag can be uneven and cause some 'wallows' in the chamber. When the brass expands into any wallows created, it's even harder to extract.

And as the drill is spinning the dowel in the chamber, move it in and out, again to polish the chamber walls straight and parrallel.