Newbie Stuck Case Help

I

Idashot1k

Inactive
I recently purchased a taurus 444 ultralite (44 magnum) and have been having trouble with stuck cases. I have reloaded 240gr and 300gr bullets in old brass, and both have begun sticking below the book's max load. The same old brass has been loaded before with insanely high pressures and shot out of an old S&W just fine.

I have shot some hornady 240gr factory ammo and its recoil was immensley stronger-yet that ammo didnt stick in my cylinders, it did, however, stick in my sizing die.

From what i have read, i might need to either polish my cylinders (they still show machining), accept my gun only likes soft loads (which is not acceptable for a backpacking gun), or buy a S&W (not gonna spend 1k:)).

*Could my brass have finally kicked the bucket?-- Is the hornady brass stiffer, aka can it handle higher loads?

Im a newbie when it comes to revolvers, and any insight will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
First I suggest rethinking so much reloading of the same brass and the "insanely high pressures." Even if that is not the cause of stuck cases, why subject any gun to excess pressures?

Polishing the chambers might be a good idea but removing too much metal could make things worse by allowing the cases to swell further, so go easy.

Then break the bank and buy some new ammo or cases and stick to reasonable (factory level) loads.

Jim
 
Thanks for the reply. The insanely high pressures were safely worked up many years ago when speed was king by a friend of mine. In truth i dont know what constitutes a "high pressure," i only know we were clocking 180 grainers at 1850 fps out of that smith.

Do you (or anyone) have any suggestions on how to properly polish a cylinder? From what i read it involves JB polish and slow turning patch-wrapped brushes in a drill...
 
Ultralight means less metal. If you're sticking cases, it's pressure, period. You didn't mention the loads you were using. A little more info would be more than helpful, like Brand, weight, powder charge, primer, and case.
 
Have you checked the overall length of your cases? If they have stretched they will start showing signs of stiff extraction.

Your cases just may need trimming.

Bob Wright
 
Your brass is fine until it starts splitting. With a revolver it is better supported than any semi auto and you get your strength from the cylinder, not the brass. I would polish the chamber.

Are you cleaning your brass when you reload it? Are your chambers clean? Do freshly sized case go in easy? I would think that if they were too long they would be hard to fully insert into the chamber.
 
The first load was with a 240gr HP berry's bullet and 16.5gr of 2400.

The second was with 300gr sierra SP with 18gr of H110

Both loads were with the same FC and PMC brass.

These are the loads that didnt stick. Anything hotter than this and they started sticking.

The brass are tumbled and the cylinders cleaned after every session(to my specs, but im still new to this). I measured them and they're all the trim-to length. Sized brass slips right in.
 
I am leaning on the gun, those are not hot loads. Try to fire one chamber at a time and see if you can narrow it down. if you have a micrometer you could mike the chambers.
 
Nanuk wrote: Do freshly sized case go in easy? I would think that if they were too long they would be hard to fully insert into the chamber.
Click to expand...

A loaded round will chamber easily because of the crimp. You are probably right about an empty case, however, I do not routinely chamber cases just resized.

Bob Wright
 
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