Not a Handloading newby

ARE YOU SAYING, you overheated this brass with some sort of cleaning system and it annealed the cartridge brass ??

I'm saying I sonic cleaned the brass as usual, and I have not found information regarding time in the sonic cleaner. Annealing is hardening from heating, do you think it was too hard? It went in ok, and ejected from my snubby ok.

You have your words wrong. Annealing is a process where brass is heated and then quenched fast to soften the brass. If you heat brass and let it cool without quenching, it hardens it. Copper, brass and it's alloys reacts exactly opposite than steel where you let it cool slowly to anneal it and quench it to harden it.


So if you really heated it up , and then pulled it out and let it cool in the air, it could be hardened. Did it get over 150 degrees F. That is a point where you cannot physically hold it with you hand

Is this the first time you've fired hand loads in the SA? Look inside the chambers, are they smooth and polished? Has a significant number of 38 Specials been fired in the chambers without follow up serious cleaning? There can be a ring of fouling left in the chambers from the 38's that will cause a 357 case to extract hard. Sometimes that 38 ring will be big enough to prevent a 357 from being loaded fully into a chamber. Clean every chamber thoroughly and inspect using a bright light. Look for scratches, fouling or any other anomaly.

What did the primers look like on the stuck cases?

Best regards,

Brass annealed or not, it should not have been that difficult to extract the cases from the cylinder. First and foremost, check your reloads. If you have any unfired rounds from that hand loading session, pull the bullets and re-weigh your powder charge.

I had been shooting 38sp.for a while due to the fact the range I was using wouldn't allow mags, and try to preserve the gun's integrity. Now I joined a private one. I did load these down to use in LCR C/T 357, hurts to shoot.I use Magsafe ammo in it, 75gr frangible .I want to practice with more than 38sp.I haven't used the SAA lately with 357. Thought I'd try these reloads 110gr.with minimal powder, and I wouldn't have to go back and tighten the screws. I've had the gun since '78 and it's used many reloads. I have 2 Colt DAs in the same caliber and the Ruger, so they get the brunt. I used to reload Winchester Lubaloy spent brass, and would occasionally have to force them out with the extractor, but nothing lately. I actually cleaned it twice before this use, last time I used it and the day before yesterday. I haven't used it in a while. Nothing failed to go boom. The primers had the normal hits.

It sounds like too much pressure to me.

Colt-SL said:

Brass annealed or not, it should not have been that difficult to extract the cases from the cylinder. First and foremost, check your reloads. If you have any unfired rounds from that hand loading session, pull the bullets and re-weigh your powder charge.

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I concur the only thing i have seen that makes the casing get stuck is too much pressure = hot loads re-weigh if you have any left over rounds.

Browning said:

...Thought I'd try these reloads 110gr.with minimal powder, and I wouldn't have to go back and tighten the screws. ...

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Sounds like pressure to me also. You stated "minimal powder", what powder and load were you using? With a lot of powders it's not safe to go below the minimum recommended.

Best regards,

When Ruger first brought out their 32 H&R mags I bought one. I had a similar experience with one chamber out of six that we very hard to get the cases out. I sent it back to Ruger and they polished out that chamber and all worked fine. The brass that came out of that chamber was scuffed up compared to nice smooth brass from the other five.

Browning said:

I had been shooting 38sp.for a while due to the fact the range I was using wouldn't allow mags, and try to preserve the gun's integrity....I want to practice with more than 38sp.I haven't used the SAA lately with 357....

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I know that you said that you cleaned the cylinders after shooting .38 specials but is it possible that there is still a ring of powder residue left after shooting the .38s? It can be hard to get out and it is possible that the sized/resized .357 brass chambered over the residue ring but after firing was held in the chamber by the ring, after the brass expanded from firing. Just a thought... Since you said that you shot those same loads in other handguns ok.

using 8gr WW231,Winchester brass, how many times these were reloaded? CCI sm pistol primers. What are the rules of thumbs regarding How many cycles in the sonic cleaner and/or how much time?

YOU ARE GIVING US INFORMATION IN CIRCLES !!! If you were using that 231 load in 38SPL brass is is a stunningly high overload. IF you loaded it in 357MAG brass it is still a 36,000PSI load even though one manual gives that as a "starting" load. YOUR GUN DOES NOT LIKE THIS LOAD PERIOD !!
Cleaning the brass does not have a damn thing to do with anything !!!
YOU ARE DEALING WITH FAR TOO HIGH PRESSURES, nothing else.

I agree with Mr. Terry, this is not a load for this gun. I really like 231, but only for target/plinking loads. Also, and please I don't mean any disrespect, are you sure that you're using a 110 gr bullet? With a fast powder like 231, pressure will go up sharply with heavier bullets.

Best regards,

What would you suggest? The loads were 110gr .I didn't load these for that SA, but I assumed they would work. I have a lot more handgun powder, and bullets. Sometimes I choose the powder by which I have the most of. I've used 148 wadcutter reloads in 357 for Trooper as an example. Maybe I should shoot 38sp. only?

I WOULD SUGGEST STRONGLY you get and read the newest loading manuals. DO NOT take any loading data off the internet without checking it against the written data in those loading manuals.
I never use any data I've not checked against seven[7] sources of printed data [ toss out the low, toss out the high, average the low and then the high of the five remaining sources.] I did this when i worked for two different mamunition companies and worked in the ballistics lab; NEVER EVER NEVER GUESS !!!
YOU SHOULD TAKE THE LOAD YOU NOTED ABOVE OFF THIS POSTING so someone else who sees it does NOT try it.
ALSO, just because you go now and get data off the Hodgdon propellent site do not use that without checking it the same against printed data; THINK: the internet data from anyone can and has been hacked.

I would measure the case head expansion and compare it to the case that was stuck. It could be wrong powder or residue left from the .38 Spec. loads. It could be a defect in the chamber. I am leary of both starting loads and max loads unless I can read that the test firearm was actually a revolver or a pressure gun. I have always relied on Ken Waters data and compare his loads with current data. I can always find a safe and accurate load.