I'm experiencing difficult ejection with my S&W 627 revolver. My load is 125 grain coated bullets over 3.5 grains of Clays in new Starline .38 Short Colt brass. It takes a serious smack of the palm to eject a spent moonclip. The force needed is enough to cause the ejector rod to carve some cute little donuts in my palm. Any thoughts about how to rectify this issue? Thanks.
I'd start like this:
Clean the chambers of the revolver thoroughly - first.
Then, remove and clean the extractor star, the extractor rod, the interior of the extractor rod sheath, and check the springs for binding/crud; replace both springs if the gun has a significant round count on it. Lightly oil the extractor rod and the flat sides of the star. A very light coat of oil is all that is needed and more will just attract crud.
Reassemble and check extraction with empty cases of your fired rounds. If you're still exhibiting sticky extraction the next step is to check your cases and see how much they are ballooning out. I would guess at that point you need to start looking at more complex solutions to your problems, such as polishing chambers or switching to a thicker wall brass.
PS: Oh yea, since you're using a moonclip, check that your clips are aren't bent that there isn't gunk building up on the edges of where the clips contact the cylinder. A little bit of stick there can cause a lot of extraction issues. Check if you have extraction issues without moonclips too, that can help you narrow it down.
Rob - I've done all the routine maintenance and checks. An unfired moonclip will fall from the gun when the muzzle is vertical. It seems that when fired the Starline brass is expanding and inhibiting ejection. I'm puzzled.
I would mic your fired brass and see if there are any cases that are noticeably larger than any others. That would allow you to start narrowing it down to see if it is a specific chamber in the cylinder.Originally Posted by Wyoming Shooter
If not, then you might need to try thicker brass or maybe a different sizing die? I'm not sure here this seems like a good call in for @Lost River and @willie
Shoot the Short Colt rounds without the moon clip. Punch out each with a cleaning rod. Are any sticking? If so there is a burr on one or more chambers at the front end. If you attach a bristle brush to a rod and spin it at the top in each chamber.
I hate moon clips, though my discontent pertains to using the 3 shot half moons in Smith or Colt 45 ACP revolvers.
Last edited by willie; 04-13-2022 at 05:43 PM.
Postwar S&W revolvers have rough chambers, especially in stainless steel.
Get an MR73 or a Korth.
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You mean WW2?
3.5gr of Clay's in short Colt brass maybe sounds hot to me... is that a book load?
Quite hot. I know it is common for USPSA and ICORE shooters to treat .38 Short Colt as 9mm Auto Rim but a cast 125 + 3.5 Clays is above the Hodgdon maximum for 9mm P.
Code Name: JET STREAM
This is probably the problem, more than anything mechanical with the gun, IMHO.
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