Oh boy.......

[picksbigwagon]

and not in a good way either.

was shooting my 357 this weekend, and I was shooting 38 special reloads. I had run 11 rounds through and the on the 12th round, I pull the trigger and it sounds like a small sparkler. I layed the gun down, barrel down range and walked away for 10 minutes. I came back, and could not get the cylinder to open. RUH OH......I take a quick peak down the 6" barrel and there is the bullet lodged in the barrel. I have narrowed it down to either a bad primer, bad case, or no powder. Currently I am leaning towards the bad primer more than now powder since the sizzling sound to me wouldn't be indicative of a no powder case.

My biggest concern right now is not being able to open the cylinder. Has this happened to anyone and is this something I should attempt or do I take it right to the gun smith? The lodged bullet I feel I can get out, but the stuck cylinder is not a good thing......

Thanks for the help

[96trigger]

picks. my concern would be that there is unspent powder still in the case. Even a primer will make a good pop, not sure you even got that. Is there any way you can get the barrel off? Could try and push the bullet back down the barrel, but that would be dangerous. Let us know what you do.

Is the bullet lodged in the barrel and the cylinder

[Archerysniper]

Bring it too Keelers and have him fix it for you.

[picksbigwagon]

the bullet is about an inch away from the barrel end (6" barrel). I left that gun sit for ten miunutes, and nothing happened. It sat all weekend (friday to sunday) in the case in my truck bed. I would take it to keelers, but it is a trip to get there and time is not something I have a lot of.......I will be taking it to a gunsmith for sure though.....

[Brad B]

and not in a good way either.

was shooting my 357 this weekend, and I was shooting 38 special reloads. I had run 11 rounds through and the on the 12th round, I pull the trigger and it sounds like a small sparkler. I layed the gun down, barrel down range and walked away for 10 minutes. I came back, and could not get the cylinder to open. RUH OH......I take a quick peak down the 6" barrel and there is the bullet lodged in the barrel. I have narrowed it down to either a bad primer, bad case, or no powder. Currently I am leaning towards the bad primer more than now powder since the sizzling sound to me wouldn't be indicative of a no powder case.

My biggest concern right now is not being able to open the cylinder. Has this happened to anyone and is this something I should attempt or do I take it right to the gun smith? The lodged bullet I feel I can get out, but the stuck cylinder is not a good thing......

Thanks for the help

first off what brand is the revolver. my guess would be you either had very little powder on no powder. if you had a full powder charge even a slight spark from a weak primer should set the powder off plus if it didn't then you would see powder coming out of the gap betweenn the barrel and cylinder. a primer would have enough force to push the bullet into the barrel. any remaining gas would exit the cylinder at the gap between the cylinder and barrel. this then leads me to believe something interally did not reset or it broke thus causing the the cylinder to lock up and not be able to be opened. look at it and at the bottom of the frame the should be a locking lug that locks the cylinder in place when the hammer is cocked. it may be that this is still in the notch in the cylinder(even when not cocked) and keeping it from being rotated and opened. when I had my taurus 66 it would lock up if I shot heavy 357 loads in it so I backed down to running reduce 357 loads and 38 special loads in it and it wasn't a issue anymore.

[SmilinBob]

Picks, Happy Birthday! Now the rest of the story: You had a primer do what is called a "slow burn". Instead of having a nice little explosion and ingiting the powder it burned slowly and the relative lack of oxygen in the cartridge allowed the powder to do the same, hence the sizzling sound. This will create just enough pressure to push the bullet out, typically clear of the barrel, but in the case of a revolver with the barrel/cylinder gap the pressure bleeds off before the bullet clears. Take it to a gunsmith, I've seen these get really stuck in the chamber because of the temps it reaches during burning and you don't want to bend the crane trying to open the cylinder, and that bullet may be a bear to drive out of there. Wish I was closer man, I guess Ahlmans looks like your closest bet at this point, or give Keelers a call, he will be in the shop after breakfast and a shower, he he.

[picksbigwagon]

Thanks everyone, I will have to figure out where to take it....