Brand new S&W 460 already has problems

It's hard to believe all five chambers are so rough as to make extraction that difficult. I suppose the extractor star could be misaligned and make extraction difficult, but that should be apparent.

It sounds like a residue problem or an ammo issue. As mentioned, the 460 operates at pressures far higher than most other revolver cartridges and therefore can have some additional issues. Before calling S&W I would clean the cylinder thoroughly and try some different 460 factory ammo (preferably a different brand). If the difficult extraction persists, I would take it up with S&W.
 
By shooting both 460 and 45 Colt you may be causing your own problems.
Stick with just the 46good stat0 shells, then if the problem comes up you have a
good starting point.
Using two different shells just makes solving your issues all the more difficult.
 
Sorry you have frustration with a new gun. It’s supposed to be fun, not frustrating.

There are presently three possible culprits:
1. The gun
2. The ammunition
3. Firing a combination of long case after firing shorter case

1a. Gun- as said above, get a 3/8 diameter wooden dowel from the hardware store and cut yourself a handy length. Support your cylinder well with a couple of soft 2x4 scraps and gently pound out stuck brass.

2a. Check the primers of your 460 brass to see if they have backed out above flush with the pocket. Maybe you are dragging primers which could stop cylinder rotation.

2b. Hopefully your 460 brass isn’t mangled from extraction. Check the fired brass for marks on the case or bulges, then measure overall case length to check fot stretch (calipers).

2c. Resize one piece of 460 brass. Check length but don’t trim. If it’s really stretched after one shot there is a problem with the brass or the chambers.

3. Use your resized brass (or an unfired round) to carefully “feel” your chambers for roughness or sticky spots.

Right now, no one can say where the problem is. I hope it’s a bad batch of ammunition, we just can’t tell.

Get another box of factory ammo of a different manufacturer.

Scrub your cylinders really really well. Super scrubbing.
Go to the range and shoot the new 460 ammunition.
If that sticks, it’s the gun. If no sticking then
Shoot the old ammunition. If no sticking, it’s a dirty cylinder.
If the old factory ammo sticks, it’s that ammo.

Having an ammunition go-no go gauge would be handy to have around and they are cheap, although if the ammunition is very undersized it can stick hard. My Dad once fired a cylinder of .44 magnum in one of his Ruger Blackhawks by mistake. They were stuck tight. (Talk about “ruger only” loads...)

Here’s something I’ve been known to do on new revolvers that are a little rough or new-to-me revolvers: take a bit of once fired brass that will slip in the cylinder. You might need a piece of resized brass. Hot glue an unsharpened pencil in to the case. Now you have a “honing” tool to use with some flitz metal polish to gently clean badly gunked cylinders. Obviously don’t overdo this! Just a few plunges and twists to clean carbon, not polish metal.

If it turns out to be the gun, give S&W a chance to make it right.
 
I just gotta point out that if this was a Taurus 513 instead of a S&W 460, almost every single one of you would have told the OP to send it back immediately. Based on what the OP described, it's a lemon.
 
Had the same problem with my Governor today. I shot 45 Colt then .410 handgun. after the .410 I could not close the cylinder. I cleaned the gun and it was fine. It does make me reconsider having this as my sole nightstand gun. I think I'll load it with the .410 and keep my Glock 45 as my backup.

I believe it has a lot to do with the tight clearance between the cylinder and barrel. I checked my Governor and its .003 which is the same as the Performance Center guns.

After I cleaned it, I shot 15 rounds of 45 Colt and 18 rounds of .45 ACP without issue.
 
Here are a couple photos of the spent casings. You can see where it gets stuck. This happens in each cylinder, and there is no carbon ring or anything inside the chambers.


Plus, aside from the difficult extraction, I shot 10 rds of 460 and 3 times during that I pulled the trigger and it didn’t go bang.....WAAYY bigger issue.

4d38e298a57c73ca64accb6000cc8088.jpg
 
What I see from the photo is expansion in front of the ''WEB''. The "web" is the thicker part of the case wall that is right in front of the rim/base. Shoot enough .460, and this is where you will see case head separation from fatigued brass. Hornady Brass is more susceptible than some others. That said, Hornady's factory 200 grainers are not that hot and have never shown sticky extraction in my gun, even when dirty. New chambers should be smooth, so even when extraction is sticky you shouldn't get those scratches. Again, a chamber that rough to leave those kind of scratches should easily be seen by eye. I'd call S&W, they will make it right if the chambers are that rough.

Again if the action is smooth with the chamber empty and before firing any rounds, I'm gonna stick with my first guess and say the sticky cases are rubbing against the recoil shield after firing and making the action hard/rough. I'm saying this from experience. I've found with my .460 that any excess oil in the chamber or excess polish on the cases will give the same appearance on the case walls(not the scratches)after firing as your picture shows. The heat produced tends to burn it off and this too can add to sticky extraction. How does your forcing cone look?
 
Now that I see the cases, you definitely have a messed up gun. I'd send it back with your pictures and ask them to replace it. I didn't shoot mine today but when I shot the Governor and had problems I thought for sure I'd found your problem. That's definitely not the case.
 
Lots of ideas how to fix the issue here, but I'm with Onward Illusion. If this were a Taurus many of us (myself included) would be railing about Taurus quality. Different ammo shouldn't be needed to test. That thing should digest whatever came off a shelf.

I'd send it back to S&W, describe what is happening and tell them not to send it back until all issues are fixed, if they aren't you want a refund.

That is not a cheap gun, I'd expect it to function without issue out of the box as well. What is the hell are gun manufacturers dumping on us anymore? Maybe Millenials think this is how its supposed to be but we shouldn't accept it.
 
DirtyHarold said:
I JUST got this gun back on Friday from S&W after sending it in the first time because the barrel finish quality was terrible. They sent it back with a new barrel, I was happy, came to our property to shoot it today and I only put 10 rounds of 460 through it and 5 rounds of 45 LC and it had problems.

First, I had to remove the spent casings 1 by 1 with pliers, and you could see where the casings were really scratched up from getting caught in the cylinder. It was difficult even using pliers. No way you could do it with fingers.

Second, the action would feel really stiff sometimes after each shot and on both full cylinders I shot, at one point the cylinder wouldn’t rotate when I cycled the action. I had to open the cylinder and close it tight again and then it would cycle. I couldn’t repeat this by dry firing, only when using 460 ammo. No issues with 45 LC.

It’s a Performance Center model so I thought the action was supposed to be top quality and here it is not working.

I’m really not happy. Going to call customer service on Monday.....again.
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Don't make a habit of firing 45LC through your 460. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. It's common for full house 460 loads to cause sticky casing extraction. The factory Hornady 200 FTX ammo will consistently do this. By shooting 45LC you're jumping the bullet over .500" into the forcing cone, adding unnecessary errosion on your precision cylinder casing bores. This embedds carbon on the interior of the cylinder causing the subsequent 460 casings to become jammed. Combustion debris also gets forced into the cylinder shaft causing it to become gritty and not rotate freely. The 460's throw out a NASTY fireball blast, and they inherantly get very dirty quickly. Keep your 460 clean and well lubed with synthetic oil, only shoot 460 length casings and she should run fine. I have the 12" 460XVR and experienced all the problems you have. After some understanding I have not had any further issues. I handload for my 460 and I have some very accurate 200 FTX loads that are actually less velocity than the factory Hornady, more accuracy, about 200 fps less velocity , and my casings extract perfectly. If I have to shoot the full house Hornady 200FTX ammo I bring a 3/8" wood dowel and tap out the stubborn spent casings.
 
Road_Clam said:
Don't make a habit of firing 45LC through your 460. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. It's common for full house 460 loads to cause sticky casing extraction. The factory Hornady 200 FTX ammo will consistently do this. By shooting 45LC you're jumping the bullet over .500" into the forcing cone, adding unnecessary errosion on your precision cylinder casing bores. This embedds carbon on the interior of the cylinder causing the subsequent 460 casings to become jammed. Combustion debris also gets forced into the cylinder shaft causing it to become gritty and not rotate freely. The 460's throw out a NASTY fireball blast, and they inherantly get very dirty quickly. Keep your 460 clean and well lubed with synthetic oil, only shoot 460 length casings and she should run fine. I have the 12" 460XVR and experienced all the problems you have. After some understanding I have not had any further issues. I handload for my 460 and I have some very accurate 200 FTX loads that are actually less velocity than the factory Hornady, more accuracy, about 200 fps less velocity , and my casings extract perfectly. If I have to shoot the full house Hornady 200FTX ammo I bring a 3/8" wood dowel and tap out the stubborn spent casings.
Click to expand...



Shooting 45LC had nothing to do with this issue. There’s plenty of other people saying they have no issues from using 45LC, so if I got a gun that can’t do it then something is wrong with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
That’s some messed up looking brass!
It almost looks like there is a little bulging just below the web (as Buck mentioned) but considering the base of the cartridge is pound-it-out tight, the evidence of gas escaping back about 20% of the cartridge from the mouth is weird.

By the way... Can you maybe lay a .45 lc next to the 460; are the little rings at about 80% of the way to the mouth about where the LC ends? Post a picture of the primers?

Obviously the bass isn’t stuck in deep... so the brass isn’t “sticking” on soot. It’s also not straightforward to guess that a little soot ring is causing an overpressure situation.

If it’s not a bad batch of ammunition (and bad ammo does happen at the factory!) I would guess the cylinder is slightly oversize and the hot brass is stretched beyond its elastic limit.

This is a chance for Smith Customer Service to show how good they can treat you.

If it was a Taurus, I would not send it back because your bass boat will keep drifting without it. :)
 
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Even if the cases were falling out by themselves there is still the issue of the cylinder binding and the hammer working. If the hammer is cocked will it fall if the trigger is pulled?

Send it back to S&W letting them know of both issues and insist on a replacement gun.

This is beyond unacceptable.
 
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