357 jam up,

W

workin_ike

New member
I have the .357 S&W 340PD, I shoot 38's most of the time but I use magnums once in a while, so the problem is-I shot remington mag's out it and the spent shell is snug comming out, yesterday I used WWB-winclean 125 gr. after I would shoot those (gun hot and cooled) the shell wouldnt come out easy. I have to take out the loose ones one at a time and then force out 2-3 shells out after fired. 38's are not a problem. Is this a defect, common or uncommon? would I need to get some smith work done or get it warrantied?
 
The first thing I would do is thoroughly clean the chambers. Use of .38 cases in a .357 chamber can leave a fouling ring in the chamber where the shorter .38 case mouth is. This fouling can be enough to cause difficult extraction of .357 cases. I have found that a good cleaning will usually correct the problem. I use a .40 caliber bronze brush to clean the chambers. Being this has happened with more than one brand of ammo, I don't think it is ammo related. Try a good cleaning, and let us know how things work out.
Y.D.
 
There is lots of discussion on shooting specials in a magnum chambered gun.

If you actually have a ring of build up it will tend to make it harder for the bullet to leave the case, and this can spike pressures. This is my main concern about a ring of build up. The pressure spike will be in the 357 magnum rounds since you are putting the bullet and casing into the buildup from the 38 special cases.

This pressure spike could be the cause of the hard extractions as well.

Run some searches on it to see the best way to clean it out if you need to. I generally don't have any trouble cleaning out my stainless 357s when I have been shooting a lot of 38 special in them, but I also don't let the build up get to built up.
 
It only had about 20-50 rounds of 38's through it before i fired a magnum through it and I clean it every time after shooting my guns very thorough with solent and bristled brush, and in the 340PD is only 100 rd's of WWB, Would that 20 rd's be enough to have build up in this shooting session? and too, wouldnt the magnum be tight when i load? they drop right in, the problem only happens after fired......?
 
Upon firing, the cases expand to the chamber walls, and then contract a bit, but not back to unfired size. So, an unfired round is measurably narrower than a fired one. What can happen, is that the fired .357 case will hang up on the ring of fouling, and cause difficult extraction. This is not to say that fouling is surely causing your problem. But, I would certainly go out of my way to make sure the piece is truly clean, before taking it to a 'smith. I had the same problem with a Smith 28, and a good cleaning solved it. In my case the fouling was hard enough that I had to chuck a .40 cal bronze brush into an electric drill to get the gunk out. This was after over 1000 .38s. I don't imagine that you will have to go that far, but I would still check those chambers carefully. I wish you the best of luck.
Y.D.
 
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