Took my Tracker out today. It is the stainless steel version with 4 inch barrel in .41 mag. After shooting a couple rounds I noticed the action was locking up.
I was useing reloads that were well under the 1300 fps that Taurus recomends for the gun. I shot loads with Bullseye and loads with Accurate Arms number 5.
I noticed both loads were much dirtier than the factory shells I had shot before. The ones loaded with 9.9 grains of accurate behind 210 gran Hornady xtp bullets shot very well but like I said the action was getting tight and it was hard to cock the hammer back.
Recoil was very light and I don't feel that was the problem. HELP!!! I would hate to have to get rid of this gun.

I have more than 600 rounds through my Tracker now without a problem. Your load of #5 certainly is not max. What was the Bullseye load? Is it tight unloaded as well? Perhaps it needs a good cleaning? Other than that I can not think of anything else.

BTW, the 1300fps listed by Taurus is the velocity of the factory ammo. Taurus uses the same booklet for all their models so the "limits" apply to the Raging Bulls. Actually, I believe most manufacturers are going to tell you to stay within SAAMI specs and some will say do not use reloads. They are lawsuit shy.

Terry,
The Bullseye was 6.5 grains I think. I would have to go downstairs and look. Whatever it was it was the lowest load recomended for Bullseye and that bullet. I think about 1100 fps. Again I would have to look it up. The lock up was even empty. It loosened up after I worked it a bit. I HOPE it was from the fouling. I really like this gun and would hate to think of the beating I would take trading it in.

Jacobite

FWIW; I've been intrigued by the Trackers for some time but have been leery of buying one due to reports similar to yours. While some users report zero problems with Taurus guns, others have all sorts of miseries.

I'd suggest that you troll some of the handgun related forums such as shooters talk and do a search on Taurus in general. I think you'll find some sugesstions and possible solutions to your problem.

Good luck, maybe it's just dirty, but.........

JimF

I am guessing it was dirty but I sure would watch it. Ruger makes the Balckhawk in 41mag as well. You might like that if your Tracker is not satisfactory and you want to stay with the 41.

JimL, I do like mine, it is Titanium and is real light (28oz). Heavy loads are sharp but certainly bearable. The thing to remember is that is a compact frame and it not up to Ruger and Raging Bull type loads. Factory loads are not a problem. Your comments seem to be a reoccuring themem about Tauruses, some have problems and some do not. I understand Taurus is good about taking care of problems if they occur. They seem to be trying to get the quality up to par. I have heard their early models were lacking.

[ 07-07-2002, 00:26: Message edited by: twillis ]

My Tracker in 357 Mag did not have any problems but one of my Raging Bulls was having a similar problem like your Tracker. I sent it back to Taurus but eventually sold it. Sorry I don't know have a good suggestion other than taking it apart to clean it or sending it back to the factory to have it fixed. Good luck. Cheers! Ming

I haven't brought a tracker yet because of storys like your and I pick up a brand new one at the gun store a while back and the thing lock up on me there. Good luck let us know what the cause was.

Two most common reasons that revolvers bind up from my experience are:

1. Unburned powder and fouling under the extractor star. It prevents the star from seating fully, causing a bind. This happens frequently doing "combat reloads" with revolvers. Any unburned powder in the empty case ends up under the extractor star when the revolver is rotated muzzle up and the ejector rod is slammed down vigorously.

2. The ejector rod comes unscrewed a little bit and causes a bind as it creates pressure against the locking lug in the front of the ejector rod housing. This is easily remedied by tightening the ejector rod. Usually finger tightening is all that is required.

If neither of these is the culprit the timing may be off. Try very slowly thumbing back the hammer(unloaded) while looking closely to see if the locking lug in the lower frame is disengaging from the locking lug recess in the cylinder. If the lug is not lowering out of battery soon enough, it will bind against the side of the locking recess in the cylinder as the cylinder is trying to rotate with the lug in the "up" or "locked" position. If timimng is the problem, you will need to send it back to taurus for warranty repair.

Back in the 90s I trained Marines at Quantico in combat use of DA revolvers (S&W Model 19). This was the standard sidearm for Marine Security Guards (Embassy Guards)at the time. After training thousands of Marines I can assure you that the Revolver is not as utterly reliable as many believe. Broken Hammer Nose (firing pin) on the S&W is common also and renders the piece useless until an armorer can replace it.

Good Luck. MM

[ 07-07-2002, 16:13: Message edited by: MontanaMarine ]

Well I tried 12.5 grains of Blue Dot today with 210 grain cast semi wad cutters. Great results
The gun never got tight and the loads were clean. I did get some leading but I expected that.
The groups were not as good as the AA#5 and xtp bullets but they were not bad. Lets face it I am a beginner and practice will tighten the groups up. Any thoughts on bullets for me to try next? I got the 210 grain swc because they were cheap. The xtp's are expensive but I don't mind the price if they are the best to hunt with. The lead bullets seam to penatrate well though. And from what I read many of you folks prefer them. As always I look forward to your replies.

Hey there Jacobite! I've had the same problem that you've described, with my Model 617, S&W. It is a .22LR, built on a medium frame. It used to shoot fine with the factory 4 inch barrel on it. An "old" gunsmith friend of mine (age 80's) put a new 6 inch barrel on it to get it out of the "prohibited class" in Canada. When I first re-aquired it from him it the action would bind as well. The ol' fella had mentionned to me that he installed the new barrel with even tighter tolerances to the cylinder than S&W suggested. The problem however was that it was TOO CLOSE to the cylinder. The cylinder had a spot on it that was about 1 thousanths of an inch closer to the barrel than the rest of the cylinder. After firing 15 - 25 rounds or so, powder residue on the face of the cylinder would build up slightly and the cylinder would rub against the barrel when that one particular spot (chamber) was rotated past it. I had the gun completely apart looking for burrs, etc, and polished all the moving parts. Took it back to the range and had the same problem. Finally while on the verge of shooting myself for not being able to figure this out, and looking down the barrel, I noticed that there was a shiny scratched spot on the face of the cylinder while the rest was black with powder residue.(Just kidding about the shooting myself part by the way..hehe) I pulled out some Hoppes, cleaned the face of the cylinder, and it shot fine for another 20 rounds or so. I ended up carefully filing away a tiny bit of metal to make it uniform with the rest, and haven't had the problem since. Try your problem loads again and look for signs of cylinder / barrel contact.
CDW