Southpaw_spouse's 92/ Why I am not a Gunsmith

[Southpaw_soldier]

For Christmas, the DW received a set of Ruger SASS .45's and a matching 52203 (Blued/Case hardened Oct. 20").

Following advice, the first thign I did was a limited teardown and cleanup as per Marauder's instructions. No polishing, stoning, or spring adjustments; just a deburr and heavy lube.

Following that, the rifle would intermittently let two by; the rim of the next round would catch the front of the carrier. Seemed to happen more often with cowboy loads than the Hornady LeveRevolution ammo, so I thought it was a OAL issue. Only seemed to present when the tube was fully loaded; 5 or less was fine, but a full tube meant more magazine tension, meant a jam.

After a ton of searching and disassembly/reassembly, I determined that the issue was how I'd reassembled the rifle; I'd put the spring for the interrupter in backwards, so it wasn't under enough tension. No more jams, and the rifle shoots close enough to POA for gov't work. Slicker'n snot now, too, after all the disassembly, cycling, etc. trying to troubleshoot the issue.

However now we have a new problem; out of the three full tubes cycled and shot the other day for a function check, each tube had 1 round wher the nose caught on the edge of the chamber and was mashed further into the case. Thankfully none of them were fired, so no kabooms. Glad I was watching carefully, and when I felt the hitch, I opened the chamber and examined the rounds.

Doing some more research, I figured it's one of two things; short stroking and not fully lifting the carrier (unlikely, as the carrier is either all the way down or all the way up; it pops right up when cycled) or an issue with the guide rails.

I know it's something I did, since this is a new issue. The rim grooves look aligned to one another. I tried slightly loosening the screws and moving the rails to check it, but there's no wriggle room. The stove-piping issue fixed by shimming seems to only be related to .38's in a .357, and that's generally a factory issue.

Are there specs I can check to determine if the spacing or alignment are off?

[akuser47]

What brands of ammo are you useing what bullets are in them as well?

[Southpaw_soldier]

Some factory LRNFP cowboy loads. HSM, 200gr .45lC (yes I call it "long" but not "Long" Colt; best article on the subject I've read).

This stuff, but 200 gr., not 250 gr. REALLY mild on the hands, especially compared to the Hornady.


It was relatively cheap ($30/box o' 50), and more importantly, it was available. If nothing else, it has served as a source of brass for when my reloading bench is stood up. Got a passable supply now.

[akuser47]

I forgot to ask can u get a pic of the damaged rounds as well need to see exactly how they are damged as well sorry half asleep

[Southpaw_soldier]

Not immediately; I can post after I get home.

Basically the rounds look like they've been seated too deep. Probably set back about 1/4 of an inch or so. Came from trying to close the action; turned the bolt and lever into a reloading press. Gave it a wiggle and they chambered, but I cycled again to inspect them just in case.

Only happened to 1 round out of each tube of 13. Gonna give it another try this weekend, see if it happens on a particular round or has to do with how I'm cycling the lever.

[akuser47]

Did the nose of the round catch on the top or bottom of the chamber throat,it has me thinking the throat may be tight and causeing this. Some r92owners have had chamber throat issues. Keep us posted.

[akuser47]

Also try to watch how u cycle the rifle some tend to turn rifle sideways this can cause issues try to keep upright while cycling see if issue still is present

[pricedo]

Some factory LRNFP cowboy loads. HSM, 200gr .45lC (yes I call it "long" but not "Long" Colt; best article on the subject I've read).

This stuff, but 200 gr., not 250 gr. REALLY mild on the hands, especially compared to the Hornady.


It was relatively cheap ($30/box o' 50), and more importantly, it was available. If nothing else, it has served as a source of brass for when my reloading bench is stood up. Got a passable supply now.

I've used HSM ammo for years and have nothing but good things to say about it.

[donhuff]

Well, with no crimp groove in those bullets, and just a mild taper crimp, they could get pushed back pretty easy. But that aint the problem is it.

Short stroking "sounds" likely as the carrier "could" be part way between the up and down detent notches in the receiver. If the lever was not pushed all the way forward like would be possible when trying to go really fast. The carrier hitting the bottom of the right cartridge guide, is actually what limits the levers forward travel. The bullet nose touching the bottom of the barrel can stop the lever from going all the way forward rather easily. Put your thumb in there a little lower than the bottom of the right guide, to stop the carrier from going all the way up, and now work the action. See how much force you have to put on the lever to move your thumb any at all? A bullet snagging for just a second would make you think that you had cycled all the way forward. And then once you remove the forward pressure to the lever, it takes very little force to make the carrier drop back down then with the bolt coming forward and catching the rim, it's gotta jam.

It's hard to believe that the bullet you are using could misfeed at all as that is a perfect shape for feeding. That's the traditional 45 colt bullet shape. I have a lyman mold, 452190 and it looks just like that, and it too does not have a crimp groove. I don't like that, I like a big deep groove so I can get a big deep crimp!

Yeah, the problem of the 357s throwing a bullet past the guides, stove-piping and sometimes completely out of the gun. Is caused by too much clearance between the guides and cartridge. I can see how if there was too "little" clearance, it might cause the round to be really hard to come up through there, and get lined up with the chamber. Try dropping a round in from the top and seeing how tight those guides are. I recently tried neck sizing only, on my 45c brass, and quickly found out that they would not come up between the guides. The other day I had an empty somehow get below the guides and I had to get it back out through the loading gate cause it would not go between the guides.

[7.62 Precision]

I've used HSM ammo for years and have nothing but good things to say about it.

I have used it in the past and had nothing bad to say about it until this happened to me:
http://762precision.wordpress.com/2012/ ... m-ammo-14/

After this happened I did some research and was able to easily find instances in which several law enforcement AR-15s (different agencies, different states) had been blown apart while shooting HSM ammo, as well as several cases of hunting rifles and pistols of several calibers that were damaged shooting this ammo. This is enough to convince me to approach HSM ammo with caution.