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I've only had 50 .357's and about 300 .38spl through it. I clean it after every use.
I will give it a good clean out tomorrow and report back.

The 38spl I've fired through it I reloaded. 158 grain rnfp , ppu brass 3.4 grain ramshot zip.
The only 357 was the shop bought box, this was my first attempt at reloading the 357. I loaded them with the same 158 grain rnfp GM lead bullet into ppu brass. But when I tried them into the cylinder of the Revolver only one would go all the way in flush, the other 5 sat out about 2mm.

Thanks everyone, I will try cleaning it again and report back tomorrow.

Hi Andy pity they closed the range we could have had a look at it there.
Did the factory rounds chamber OK. If they did I suspect it's the bullet it's the wrong size for the chambers in the revolver. I cast my own bullets and I size them to the gun. One size bullet does not fit all.
Do you crimp your ammo. Lee does a 38/357 crimp die that might help. If you want to borrow one to see if that helps pm your address.

Noob observation/question here but I thought .357 cases (and rounds) were a few millimeters longer so that if you had a .38 chambered gun you could not load .357 mag into it. But a .357 chambered gun will take 38 quite happily. In firing 300 .38 rounds through it the carbon ring mentioned above would be at the depth in the chamber of the 38 brass. That would give you the resistance in the last few millimeters that you describe when trying to insert a .357 round would it not?

Webley wrote:Noob observation/question here but I thought .357 cases (and rounds) were a few millimeters longer so that if you had a .38 chambered gun you could not load .357 mag into it. But a .357 chambered gun will take 38 quite happily. In firing 300 .38 rounds through it the carbon ring mentioned above would be at the depth in the chamber of the 38 brass. That would give you the resistance in the last few millimeters that you describe when trying to insert a .357 round would it not?

yeah, that looks to be the issue. the factory 357 may have been FMJ too, which would have had a different profile of bullet so may not have been affected by the ring

hi guys, yes its a .357 as well as .38spl. Also correct that the factory .357 was tc and not rnfp which im using now.

Hi guys, ive sorted the problem.

Short version,It was indeed a build up of crud from shooting .38spl.

Well done to the guys who guessed correctly, and thankyou very much to all the tried to help me.

For the long version, please continue to read.






Well after the advice on here, this morning i decided to strip it and investigate closer. I removed the cylinder from the revolver ( never done that before) to enable me to clean it easier.




This is the problem i had Sunday. Only 1 of the reloads would go into the chambers out of the 6.



ppu cases loaded with a gm 158grain bullet. I didn't put powder or a primer in, these were for testing purposes.



I don't have a brass / bronze brush just the crappy plastic bristled one that comes with the gun which is probably why this problem has come about. And the fact that you can't see into the chambers properly with it fitted to the frame. So i cleaned it the best i could. This is the end result. Not perfect but better than it was. The photo does make it look worse than it is.





And now they all go in !




Thanks again to all that replied. I am going to buy some better cleaning kit to clean this thing. Any recommendations please ?

thanks,
Andy

I've found this is the best bit of kit for properly cleaning revolvers. This makes easy work of lead and carbon. Check youtube for Lewis lead remover to see how it's used.

https://www.brownells.co.uk/LEWIS-LEAD- ... -516100038

Still looks like a lot of build up in the chambers and I guess the forcing cane and first inch of the barrel will be the same. A bristle brush won't begin to move it.
How are your bullets lubed and what velocity are you getting? Are they gas checked?

1066 wrote:I've found this is the best bit of kit for properly cleaning revolvers. This makes easy work of lead and carbon. Check youtube for Lewis lead remover to see how it's used.

https://www.brownells.co.uk/LEWIS-LEAD- ... -516100038

Thats great thanks, i will.

1066 wrote:Still looks like a lot of build up in the chambers and I guess the forcing cane and first inch of the barrel will be the same. A bristle brush won't begin to move it.
How are your bullets lubed and what velocity are you getting? Are they gas checked?

The bullets are shop bought gm lead, so pre lube'd, i don't use gas checks. I don't know the velocity, i just loaded lots of different powder loads from the min to max recommended and picked the most accurate loading for shooting at 25m. In my Rossi they run great and are super accurate. In the rhino not very accurate that's why I thought i'd try magnum length cases for less bullet jump. I'm yet to work up a load for the rhino, i was just about to start with the magnum cases when i realized they wouldn't go in the cylinder.