Are you forcefully "smacking" the ejector with the palm of your hand? I've seen new revolver shooters (not implying you are new, just sayin), think that the extractor rod is a button and the cases will just fall out. Point the muzzle up, and smack the ejector with the palm of your hand. If the cases still don't fall out then you have an issue.
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Ejector issues after shooting 38sp...
- Thread starter Mikechandler
- Start date
Mikechandler: If firing 30 to 36 rounds causes an extraction failure there is something wrong. Your gun is made by Smith & Wesson to fire 357 and 38 Special. Forget the cylinder hones. Call or email Smith & Wesson and tell them what is happening, the gun is not functioning as designed.
If it's bad you can chuck a worn .45 bronze brush in a drill and really get after the chambers. I've resorted to this on a few revolvers I've bought used.
I've also had to do that when I shot a round that had shaved lead from the bullet on the outside. The lead ironed itself onto the chamber wall and wouldn't come off with regular brushing.
I've also had to do that when I shot a round that had shaved lead from the bullet on the outside. The lead ironed itself onto the chamber wall and wouldn't come off with regular brushing.
Some of that fouling takes a lot more work to get out than most people think. While working for a gunshop some of the trades that we took in would require soaking the chambers in a carbon cutting solvent over night and then using a chamber brush turned at slow speed in a drill to get it out. Some of them took repeated applications. Some gun makers also leave very rough finishes in their chambers (Ruger comes to mind) and polishing them will make a huge difference in buildup and effort required to remove it. I have a set of cylinder hones and they have made my revolvers much easier to extract. Magnum cases will fall out under their own weight after polishing. But those hones are not cheap. Another trick I learned was to clean (or at least soak) dirty chambers as soon as possible after shooting them. Just letting a dirty chamber set overnight will allow the carbon to become very hard and really stuck on the chamber walls. I always mopped some solvent into the chambers of my guns with a Q tip at the range immediately after shooting while they were still warm and by the time I got them home they were MUCH easier to clean. The longer you leave them dirty the harder they are to get clean again.
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riomedinamike
New member
Everyone so far has given you excellent advice, and from my experience, they all work. You probably have a rough chamber, or you haven't cleaned it "enough", or both. I've had a Colt that would not eject and would literally punch a hole in my hand with the ejector rod after only 12 rounds. I also have lots of S&W's that can shoot 500+ rds in one day and will eject everytime (When I was younger, I could shoot more, but "arthuritis" as my grandma used to say is the limiting factor now).
The cheapest alternative and first choice I would undertake is to buy a "chamber" brush for a 357, or a .40/10mm or .45 bore brush, and put them in a battery-powered hand drill and go slow with Hoppes or my choice which is "Ed's Red" (recipes everywhere). Hoppes does smell better.
Brownells and Midway sell the chamber polishing supplies, but unless you have experience I would shy away from that option.
If you have a nice local gunsmith, he should have a chamber polishing setup, watch him do it (when I was a kid my neighbor was a gunsmith and I spent lots of time with him in his hobby garage), and pay him the fee which shouldn't be too bad. You can later buy your own equipment.
I would go with this option if it is cheaper than shipping it to S&W - but I would insist S&W pay the postage both ways.
Good Luck.
The cheapest alternative and first choice I would undertake is to buy a "chamber" brush for a 357, or a .40/10mm or .45 bore brush, and put them in a battery-powered hand drill and go slow with Hoppes or my choice which is "Ed's Red" (recipes everywhere). Hoppes does smell better.
Brownells and Midway sell the chamber polishing supplies, but unless you have experience I would shy away from that option.
If you have a nice local gunsmith, he should have a chamber polishing setup, watch him do it (when I was a kid my neighbor was a gunsmith and I spent lots of time with him in his hobby garage), and pay him the fee which shouldn't be too bad. You can later buy your own equipment.
I would go with this option if it is cheaper than shipping it to S&W - but I would insist S&W pay the postage both ways.
Good Luck.
Mikechandler
Inactive
I am glad I looped back to this thread, and read the other advice. I'll pick up a chamber brush and give it the drill treatment. I can't see a ridge in there, but there must be one. My eyes are getting pretty old. Honing the chambers sounds like it would be good too, I'll look into it.
Thanks for all the advice!
Thanks for all the advice!
Another vote for the electric drill method. Works like a charm on my revolvers.
Also, for those of you with brand new guns -- you really have to clean your gun thoroughly before you use it. The greases and oils they ship guns with attract dirt like a moth to a flame. Do a good cleaning around the ejector, too. Once well cleaned only oil the gun where needed.
Also, for those of you with brand new guns -- you really have to clean your gun thoroughly before you use it. The greases and oils they ship guns with attract dirt like a moth to a flame. Do a good cleaning around the ejector, too. Once well cleaned only oil the gun where needed.
Mikechandler
Inactive
I purchased the honing brushes, 400 and 800 grit, from Midway and just completed honing the chambers. Now that they look like mirrors, I don't want to shoot it.
Tomorrow morning is the big test! No more .38 sp for this gun.
Tomorrow morning is the big test! No more .38 sp for this gun.
Hhmmm....The problem's pretty much endemic, to one degree or other, when firing .38sp's in a .357mag revolver. I am curious to know the make of the revolver (I don't want to read all the posts in this thread right now to determine if my query has already been answered.), but it's been my observation that some revolver makes have this problem worse than others. It's been my casual observation that S&W's aren't as bad as some other makes.--Patrice
I had a Security Six that had this problem. I took it to a gunsmith to have the chambers bored out and it still wouldn't eject without almost having to use a hammer on the ejector rod. I finally got rid of the gun. The Security Six I have now has never had a problem. Sometimes you just get a bad gun.
Mag tech .38 super auto +p
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I made the mistake of buying and using this ammo in my GP-100 and it is difficult to eject. I tried it it my SP-100 357 mag and its to tight in the cyl. so I'm done with it. Maybe ammo is a problem??
IN this case, your ammo is DEFINATELY a problem! Glad you're done with it.
The .38 Super is NOT the same as the .38 Special. .38 Super (and nowdays they are all marked .38 Super +p) was developed as a high pressure replacement for the older .38 ACP. after WWI and was a favored round by some law enforcement personel until the .357 Magnum became common.
While it may fit (and fire) in some revolvers, it is NOT the right ammo for them and should not be used.
There are several .38 caliber rounds on the market with similar names. Some date from the late 1800s, or early 1900s. Some may be used in guns chambered for other rounds, some should not be used in other guns, and some cannot be used in other guns. Do some research, please!
Sorry, but people who use the cheapest possible ammo or even the wrong ammo for the gun, just might bring trouble on themselves. Clean the gun properly, then get some good factory ammo of the right caliber and see what happens before ranting that S&W's (or what ever make) are no good.
Jim
Jim
Scharfschuetzer
New member
I tend to agree with those advising an issue with the chambers or perhaps lack of a thorough cleaning.
The reason I'm on their side of the fence is that I used to shoot on my department's pistol team for both action type shooting and the old PPC course. The issue training and match load was a 38 Special 148 grain SWC and most of the guys used that. It was "remanufactured" ammo and left a lot of lubricant and powder fouling.
On match days, we would not bother to clean our revolvers for the whole day of shooting in PPC and that included individual matches as well as team matches and leg matches. Well over 200 rounds could be fired in the day from 7 yards to 50 yards with time limits on each stage. In those events, using the issue remanufactured SWC or 38 Special HBWC or BBWCs (often in .357 revolvers), I don't remember any of my team mates or other competitors having ejection troubles and the compact time limits for stages up to 24 rounds would have caught us if we had experienced ejection issues.
I might also add that at the state police academy and at FLETC as well as the NRA Police Instructor's Course, I don't recall any issues like you describe and we shot litterly tons of lead down range and invariably we used the issue 38 Special issue SWC and WC loads in our mostly .357 revolvers for the training.
Like several posters above, I like using a larger brush, usually a .40 or .41 cal brush. I often use a 35 calibre rifle brush as it is long and gets a lot of crud out. Don't clean your barrel with a long rifle brush though as it is longer than the gap or recess for your cylinder and can get stuck in the barrel when you try and pull it out as the bristles on the back end of the brush will be oriented against the rifling when pulling backwards.
If that doesn't fix the problem, then a trip to S&W might be in order as you shouldn't have this problem with the limited number of rounds your are firing between cleaning.
Good luck with a fix. I can't think of much else that is as frustrating as a firearm that doesn't shoot well ... well perhaps a bird dog that doesn't hunt, but that's another thread entirely!
Kraigwy,
Thanks for that tip on using the expanded .357 case to scrape out that 38 residue ring in a .357 chamber. I might have to drill out a primer pocket on a .357 case and then thread it for a cleanig rod and thus make a tool for my range kit using the idea.
The reason I'm on their side of the fence is that I used to shoot on my department's pistol team for both action type shooting and the old PPC course. The issue training and match load was a 38 Special 148 grain SWC and most of the guys used that. It was "remanufactured" ammo and left a lot of lubricant and powder fouling.
On match days, we would not bother to clean our revolvers for the whole day of shooting in PPC and that included individual matches as well as team matches and leg matches. Well over 200 rounds could be fired in the day from 7 yards to 50 yards with time limits on each stage. In those events, using the issue remanufactured SWC or 38 Special HBWC or BBWCs (often in .357 revolvers), I don't remember any of my team mates or other competitors having ejection troubles and the compact time limits for stages up to 24 rounds would have caught us if we had experienced ejection issues.
I might also add that at the state police academy and at FLETC as well as the NRA Police Instructor's Course, I don't recall any issues like you describe and we shot litterly tons of lead down range and invariably we used the issue 38 Special issue SWC and WC loads in our mostly .357 revolvers for the training.
Like several posters above, I like using a larger brush, usually a .40 or .41 cal brush. I often use a 35 calibre rifle brush as it is long and gets a lot of crud out. Don't clean your barrel with a long rifle brush though as it is longer than the gap or recess for your cylinder and can get stuck in the barrel when you try and pull it out as the bristles on the back end of the brush will be oriented against the rifling when pulling backwards.
If that doesn't fix the problem, then a trip to S&W might be in order as you shouldn't have this problem with the limited number of rounds your are firing between cleaning.
Good luck with a fix. I can't think of much else that is as frustrating as a firearm that doesn't shoot well ... well perhaps a bird dog that doesn't hunt, but that's another thread entirely!
Kraigwy,
Thanks for that tip on using the expanded .357 case to scrape out that 38 residue ring in a .357 chamber. I might have to drill out a primer pocket on a .357 case and then thread it for a cleanig rod and thus make a tool for my range kit using the idea.
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Shadi Khalil
New member
Shadi,
I think you are addressing the op, but I probably could use help here as well, I used Hoppes and clp with a standard bore brush(.38, .357, .9mm) followed with a run through of patches.
OP, sorry, not trying to pilfer your thread.
Sounds like your using the right stuff. Are you having ejection problems as well?
Mikechandler
Inactive
Okay, I ordered the cylinder honing brushes and honing fluid from midwayusa. I honed the cylinders, following the instructions with the 400 grit and then 800 grit brushes.They now look like mirrors inside.
It appears to have fixed the problem!
However I sometimes do have to smack the ejector a couple times to lose a couple of the spent cartridges, which sometimes catch on the edge of the wood grip. They go all the way down, and stop there, with the rim sitting on the wood. It annoys me the grips weren't cut back far enough to completely clear 357 brass.
I haven't been terribly happy with the grips on it anyway, so I ordered some Ahrends k/l frame tactical finger groove grips, and hopefully that will take care of the last of this.
Thanks for all the advice!
It appears to have fixed the problem!
However I sometimes do have to smack the ejector a couple times to lose a couple of the spent cartridges, which sometimes catch on the edge of the wood grip. They go all the way down, and stop there, with the rim sitting on the wood. It annoys me the grips weren't cut back far enough to completely clear 357 brass.
I haven't been terribly happy with the grips on it anyway, so I ordered some Ahrends k/l frame tactical finger groove grips, and hopefully that will take care of the last of this.
Thanks for all the advice!
Scharfschuetzer
New member
Glad to hear you fixed the problem!
That issue with grips is not unusual. I often modified my stock-wood-service- revolver grips until the cases cleared.
That issue with grips is not unusual. I often modified my stock-wood-service- revolver grips until the cases cleared.