Stuck Case Repair

I have dealt with projectiles lodged in barrels and the occasional stuck case in a chamber. Recently I had my first experience with a jammed up single action revolver cylinder. It could have been avoided on the shooter’s part with a bit more research—and truth be told he knew better, but forgot. There are times when a cartridge case will stick or rupture because of excess pressure. Most shooters know about this type of thing and avoid overly-hot handloads.

An improper cartridge loaded in a chamber may also cause problems. As an example, one time a gun scribe in the popular press noted that the 9mm Largo could be fired in the 38 Super. At least he warned about doing the other way around! While perhaps this is true to an extent, the unfired 9mm Largo cannot be extracted from the chamber as it is too long, however, the spent case We preserved the finish and returned the piece to working condition. may eject.

By the same token, attempting to fire 32 Smith & Wesson Long in older 8mm Lebel and similar caliber European revolvers can lead problems. Even with the proper caliber and cartridge case, a too-light "puff" load may result in the case not adhering to the cylinder wall and backing out due to no case expansion, pushing out against the recoil shield and tying the gun up. This seems most common with 9mm Luger and 45 Automatic Colt Pistol revolvers when used without moon clips.

On that subject, for many years since their invention there has

been a general warning not to use 45 ACP shotshells in 45 ACP revolvers. Without proper case adhesion to the chamber the case may back out of the cylinder and tie the revolver up. After all, there is no chambering case rim and the 45 ACP headspaces on the case mouth. Perhaps more compelling, CCI factory shotshells use an aluminum case with an over-length cartridge case and upon firing the case mouth opens a bit.

This doesn’t matter in a self loading pistol as the cartridge case is being pulled from the chamber and ejected immediately after firing. A shooter I know experienced a locked up revolver firing shotshells. His experience included 1917 and Taurus Tracker revolvers in 45 ACP but not in firing shotshells. After acquiring a Colt Wiley This base pin is possibly the tightest the author has found in forty years experience with single action revolvers.

Clapp edition Single Action Army 45 ACP revolver, he started using it as his go-anywhere gun. While the 45 ACP isn’t quite as stout as the 45 Colt, Buffalo Bore 45 ACP 255 grain loads exit at about 1025 feet per second, about 70 fps faster than their 45 Colt 255 grain standard pressure offering. A button ejecting revolver isn’t dependent on the case mouth or cartridge case rim for headspace and the shooter had fired a good number of cartridges in this excellent revolver with great results— until the incident.

The shooter’s son had made up a number of shotshells using cut down 308 Winchester brass. They worked fine in a 1911 pistol and performance was a on a par or better than the factory CCI loading. The shooter had a few of these shells in his range bag and, think- They are made for straightalong work, not tapping at an angle. ing there wouldn’t be any issues, test fired them in his Clapp SAA revolver. The result was a locked up revolver.

The cartridge case could be seen pressing hard against the recoil shield and the shooter knew what happened immediately. Un-Sticking The Revolver I was tasked with the work of putting the revolver back in operating order. At least the shooter had not tried to force the hammer to the rear with excess force to attempt to rotate the revolver cylinder as the hand could easily have been damaged. I carefully considered the situation.

While the gunsmith doesn’t wish to damage or mar anything in his care, sometimes it may unavoidable in the case of a blown cartridge case. Then again, this is a $2,000 revolver… It turned out a problem was the base pin. The Colt base pin was so tight that it could not be pulled out in the normal manner. Plus, there was alive shotshell remaining in one of the chambers to make things interesting. I know what it takes to set a primer off but considerable inertia would be involved in some of the steps.

I do not like working on a firearm with a cartridge in the chamber but at least this one wasn’t under the firing pin. Still, every precaution was taken. I am not certain a double action revolver would have been any more or less difficult, but the single action revolver design offered a unique opportunity. Loosening the cylinder was accomplished in two distinct steps. First, the Colt SAA revolver was laid on the work bench and secured. The loading gate was opened. A small punch

that would fit proved too light for this type of work, bending during use but not before the job was accomplished. With the loading gate opened, a tiny Real Avid punch was carefully placed against the cartridge case with a little leverage and tapped with a padded hammer. By aiming the tip of the punch at the cartridge case—which was pressed against the recoil shield— I was able to carefully break the case loose and push it back into the chamber just slightly.

This freed the case up slightly but not enough for the cylinder to turn. I was very careful in attempting to rotate the cylinder, just barely moving the hammer back and attempting to budge the cylinder by hand. You can see how the expanded case stuck in a revolver chamber. The revolver was placed in a padded vise. This is an important step, especially with a nicely-finished gun and I wanted to preserve the deep Colt blue as much as possible.

Realistically, the owner had taken as much as 25% of the value off the gun when he fired it but he is a shooter who appreciates Colt revolvers and there was no need to damage the finish. The revolver was upside down. I kept my hands well away from the loaded chamber side and the barrel pointed at a heavy wall. I placed a heavy wadding of tape about the point of a screwdriver. Angling the screwdriver in order to avoid scratching the frame, the base pin was carefully tapped forward and then pushed out.

It’s worth noting that Brownells offers a removal tool. Far The cylinder was tapped just slightly and was free out of the right side of the frame. The unfired shotshell fell out of the chamber and the spent case was tapped out. The expanded brass case had tied the revolver up. As it turned out, nothing was damaged by this incident. The base pin was a product of the vagrancies of even modern manufacture, although it was quite tight.

Despite considerable firing since, the base pin remains difficult to remove when the revolver needs cleaning. I could probably fix this with a bit of polish. The owner states the revolver is superbly accurate and credits the super tight base pin on this regard and will not stand for the base pin to be polished. He decided to order the Brownells base pin removal tool. I have encountered stuck base pins for various reasons.

If the base pin runs against the base pin latch and produces a burr in the notch for the base pin latch, it may present a problem. When a base pin sticks another means of removing it is to cock the hammer and line the base pin up properly. Of course, be certain the revolver is unloaded! Then, release the base pin latch and bump the base pin to the rear. You may then drop the hammer. The base should be bumped forward enough to grasp solidly and remove. Sometimes there are burrs.

In this case there were none; the base pin was simply very tight from the factory. While this is an inconvenience in cleaning, the revolver’s accuracy is excellent. The Colt SAA was salvaged with a bit of thought and improvisation. In the end, a sheepish owner went back to firing the proper ammunition. AG