Rotation stoppages in wheel guns

G

Grandpa Shooter

New member
My son has a Taurus snubbie in .38 sp. It lives with me for the time being. The gun, not the son! We were out shooting the other day and he again complained about it "locking up" while pulling the trigger. I pooh poohed it figuring he was just whining again cause he can't hit a barn from the inside. That is until it locked up on me. (Yeah double standard I know)

Took it apart last night and checked the action for burrs or shavings but did not find any. Checked the rotation of the cylinder with no obvious problems. My GF noticed that the space between the cylinder and the frame seemed to change between bottom (trigger area) and the top (barrel area). Took out the trusty calipers and Doggone, she was right. (Gotta love that little lady). At the bottom the gap, as best I can measure it is 1.676, while at the top it is 1.665. What that amounts to is that the bullets are rotating into an increasingly narrower gap between the head of the case and the frame of the gun. I thought ok that's nice , but what does it mean to the function of the revolver?

I got out some empty brass and nickel casings and discovered that RP is thicker in the rim than Winchester, Speer, or the other misc, especially in the nickel cases he likes to shoot cuz "they are shinier". I am guessing until I have the chance to go out and shoot (right now we are getting leftover Kalifornia weather again) that when one of the RP brass or nickel rounds with the thicker rim gets to the top of the frame, it binds enough to stop the rotation.

Does any of this make sense to any of you old wheel gunners?
 
There is no way the distance from the cylinder to the frame could be 1.6 inch (!!!), so I assume you mean the cylinder window in the frame is not perfectly rectangular. (That condition is not unknown with guns of higher quality than Taurus, but normally gives no problem.) You might be right that the headspace is too tight at the back of the cylinder, or perhaps the barrel-cylinder gap (should be about .006") is too small at the front.

A gunsmith should be able to correct either condition. I hesitate to suggest a DIY approach unless you have some experience in close work.

BTW, make sure the cylinder is even all around.

Jim
 
Jim,

You are correct. The sizes I gave are for the openning the cylinder goes into. The cylinder appears to be tilted in the openning in the frame, but your understanding is correct. The space between the cylinder and the rear of the openning in the frame is less than the space at the bottom of the frame. As stated I won't know if my theory is correct until I go out and it happens to me.
 
You can check the headspace with feeler gauges if you want. For the .38 Special, it should be .060" min and .065" max. That is from the rear of the cylinder at the chamber aligned with the barrel to the breech face where the firing pin hole is. Be sure there are no burrs or other obstructions in or on the breech face and that the firing pin does not protrude with the hammer at rest.

Jim
 
Thanks for that info. Tomorrow when it is light out I will dig through my tools in the front shed and find my automotive gauges. Fascinates me that the difference is so clear to the eye and yet doesn't seem like that would cause the hangups.

I'll let you know what I find out.
 
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