I have a new Ruger SRH 44mag that shoots well, but my cast water quenched Wheel Weight bullets lead the gun I am using Star sizer with a heated base plate and hard lube.

I have problems with the cylinder rotating after 6 shots or more. The cylinder latch stuck down I put some oil on it to free it up. My friend shoots wheel weights and does not have this problem with his SRH and I am curious if anyone else has this happen.

I am going to take it apart to look for burs and see if anything else may be wrong.

I am also going to shoot it with jacketed bullets when it is first clean to see if it is just lead sensitive.

This is a new pistol and is disappointing to have this problem.


Any thoughts or suggestions how I can solve this problem will be appreciated.

Swede, I own many Rugers and have owned a lot more I sold off. I have never had a leading problem with any of them. You want to make sure you are using .430 or .431 boolits.
You can also power lap it or shoot a bunch of jacketed through it to smooth it up. I would shoot ten and clean ALL copper from the bore after every shot, then clean after every two shots for another ten. Use Sweet's. Make sure ALL copper is out before shooting any lead.
Get a can of STP oil treatment and put some in a squeeze bottle. Put some on the ratchet, front of the cylinder and on the pin. My SBH has 56,000 rounds through it with ZERO wear. I would not be without STP. Works like a charm in those cap and ball guns too. Never have one tighten up.

OOPS, get rid of the hard lube too. Make yourself some Felix lube, soft and sticky. Linebaugh says hard lube is only good for crayons and I agree 100%.

I took the SRH apart Saturday to look for Burs. It had several places in the Receiver that was not de-burred from the factory. I removed all of them that I could find. I am not talking about rounding sharp corners or polishing anything only removing burrs left from the manufacturing process. I flushed out the receiver and Trigger group with carburetor cleaner and used an air-hose to remove any residue and then oiled the trigger group and any pivot points, and reassembled the pistol. The SRH revolves and locks up easier also the trigger is smoother and lighter than it was.

Ruger makes some fine firearms like my SP101 and 10-22 that I have not had any problems with.

I don't understand why Ruger did not take the time while manufacturing the SRH to de-burr the inside of the action.

I plan on shooting a couple hundred jacketed reloads through it before trying anymore lead loads.

Stupid question.......but is your load to hot?

quote:

Originally posted by Snowwolfe:
Stupid question.......but is your load to hot?

No, they are only 1000fps according to the Hornady Reloading Manual I have.

You might be getting a bit of crud under the ejection star that will bind up the cylinder. I found this to be the cause of basically the same thing your getting. Clean under the star and blow it out and see if this helps. The hard lube isn't helping you loads in my opionion either!

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
Linebaugh says hard lube is only good for crayons and I agree 100%.

With all due respect to J.L., I used to agree until I actually tested hard lubes and found that some hard lubes like Rooster HVR outperformed most soft lubes.

It's a fact of life that some wheelguns lead no matter what you do, and that's where gas checks come in. Plain base bullets need to be sized to fit the throats. If throat-sized bullets are leading the easy solution is to switch to a gas check design. A properly sized PB bullet CANNOT be pushed through the cylinder easily.

If you really want to pursue the plain base bullets here's some things to check:

1) constriction where barrel screws into frame? if so, lap it out.

2) under or oversize throats? Ideally, the throats should be 0.0005" larger than the groove diameter. If the throats are smaller than the groove, send them to a cylindersmith to ream 'em out. If the throats are way bigger than the groove, like 0.433"+, you may or may not find success with throat-sized bullets.

3) if you are using a Lee factory crimp die, be aware that it may size bullets down to 0.430" whether you want it to or not.

4) cylinder/barrel misalignment can cause leading and there is no easy fix, except to use gas checks or trade off the gun.

Are you getting a buildup on the front of the cylinder? I've found this on a couple of occasions that prevent the cylinder from rotateing freely. When you take it out to shoot it and it gets hung up. Use a tooth brush with a bit of solvent to clean the front of the cylinder and see if this is the problem.

What load are you useing? Your powder may not be burning clean.

wheel weights work good for me.

I have shot mostly Javalina lube with good success. I do want to try some of the hard lubes to see how they work in pistols and rifles.

quote:

Originally posted by Lar45:
Are you getting a buildup on the front of the cylinder? I've found this on a couple of occasions that prevent the cylinder from rotateing freely. When you take it out to shoot it and it gets hung up. Use a tooth brush with a bit of solvent to clean the front of the cylinder and see if this is the problem.

What load are you useing? Your powder may not be burning clean.

wheel weights work good for me.

I have shot mostly Javalina lube with good success. I do want to try some of the hard lubes to see how they work in pistols and rifles.

I have been using a brush on the front of the cylinder and the back of the barrel. I have tried 8.2grs Win 231 and 7.4grs Win 231. I tried the 7.4 Sunday but the problem still exists. I shot it with H110 and 240gr Hornady hollow points at 1250fps with no problems other than one of the bullets pulled due to recoil. As far as I can tell there may not be enough cylinder gap when it gets a small amount of lead build up. It revolves perfectly when it is clean or I use jacketed bullets.

Most Rugers have too much cylinder gap so I don't think it is your problem. I am beginning to think you do not have enough case tension on your boolits and they are moving. I am not talking about crimp which has to be decent also. If your boolits are seating too easy and you are using mag primers you are going to have a problem. What brand of dies are you using?
If you have had boolits pull with the light loads you had better buy Hornady dies which will cure the problem.

I am using Dillon Precision Dies. I am using Winchester Mag Large Pistol Primers. I did have one of my Jacketed bullets pull and jamb when I rotated the cylinder. I am crimping with a RCBS die I don't like the accu-crimp that Dillon does.