Today at the range I shot about 30 rounds of 38sp though my Taurus 357 revolver, then about another 20 of 357 though it. This was all in about 15 minutes or so, and with cheap, dirty ammo. The gun was hot to the touch. I decided to finish by trying some of the new Hornady Critical Defense 357 rounds. After the second round of this ammo, the cylinder 'locked up' and would rotate, which therefore didn't allow me to pull the trigger. I tried to open the cylinder from the frame, but had a heck of a time releasing it. I literally had to push very hard to get the cylinder to slide out so I could eject the remaining rounds. Once I did this, I let the gun sit for a few minutes (went back to my other gun), then decided to try the 38sp again. I fired five rounds quickly with no problems.
In retrospect I should have done some testing with the 357 ammo, but I didn't. My working theory is that because the gun was so hot perhaps there was just enough expansion of some metal to essentially pinch the 357 round to the gun frame, thus 'locking' the cylinder. After sitting for those few minutes, the metal cooled and contracted and that's why the final five rounds were fine.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
In retrospect I should have done some testing with the 357 ammo, but I didn't. My working theory is that because the gun was so hot perhaps there was just enough expansion of some metal to essentially pinch the 357 round to the gun frame, thus 'locking' the cylinder. After sitting for those few minutes, the metal cooled and contracted and that's why the final five rounds were fine.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?