Soft primer and my frozen cylinder

V

Vinnie Harold

New member
Well guys, you were correct. My SAA clone from USFA was working perfectly..the ammo was faulty.

However, my re-loader said that it was not really the ammo because he put the "bullet" together and it was fine, but the primer was soft and expanded outward, so the primer was faulty, but that was not his fault.

He then went on to blame the firearm for allowing the primer to expand in that way. It seems that there is too much "daylight", space between the cylinder and the frame, in my revolver, and because there is so much space, the primer expands into it and freezes the cylinder.

It would seem to me that if there was less space, the primer would expand into that also, as things expand when heated, so I'm not sure what he was talking about.

The long and the short of it is that my 6 shooter is healthy, and he gave me a refund on the 990 rounds of soft primer ammo that I still had not shot.

Once again, you gentlemen on the forum hit the nail on the head, and stilled my panic.

Thanks
 
If I recall, the cylinder was fine empty and it was suggested to check for high primers in loaded cartridges or flow back from too light of charges when the gun was fired.

His "too soft" explanation is bull twaddle. Assuming he was using standard U.S. made primers, the reputed softest is from Federal but considering the thousands upon thousands of those primers I've fired as well as countless others in revolvers, his story doesn't hold up.

He just doesn't want to admit he loaded too lightly or was sloppy in his loading.
You'd have to know what powder he was using, how much he was using and the weight of the bullet.

Being suspicious in nature, I believe he was just dumping on you some crappy reloads he knew about but wanted to sweeten the deal for you and get the things out of his house.

Again, if I remember, you mentioned loading six rounds; better to only load five at all times---load one, skip a chamber, load four, then pull hammer back from half cock to full cock and ease hammer down on the empty chamber. And never drop a hammer from half cock as that is sure to start scoring (ringing) your cylinder.

In the 19th Century, primers were very hard and shooters could often get away with having a hammer down on a loaded round or at quarter cock,
which Colt used to refer to as the safety notch. I said used to; not any more.

Glad things are working out for you.

Still, be very careful with those remaining rounds as you're bound to continue to have trouble and you might very well get a bullet stuck in the barrel from too light a charge.
 
^^^ yup...

if the charges were very light, the case won't push back the pushed out primer... ( this happens to an extent every time a gun is fired ) & for example, I have an old ( was ) unfired American Bulldog revolver... handloading is a bit "out of the box" my super light loads did just as you described, pushed the primers out, & didn't have the pressure needed to push the case back against the recoil shield, & my cylinder bound up... a lil more powder fixed everything...

sounds like your reloader may be talking like he's more knowledgeable than he really is... you should start doing it yourself, or find another loader
 
Correct. With very light loads, the internal pressure from the primer itself will push the primer back out of the pocket, but there is not enough pressure from the main powder charge to break the tension between the case wall and the cylinder wall and move the case back over the primer.

Another thing that can cause a problem is too light a hammer blow (rarely a problem with SA's unless someone has really reduced mainspring tension). When that happens, the primer is unsupported and internal pressure forces the primer back, forcing the firing pin back, and primer metal extrudes into the firing pin hole, tying up the gun (and creating a "pierced" primer which many folks think is caused by too heavy a firing pin blow rather than too light a one).

Jim
 
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