Cartridge stuck in 66 action

[Buffalo Bruce]

Does anyone know why a cartridge will occasionally get stuck in the action or what the fix is. This happened to me with a 44spl and twice to my pard with a 38spl. Doesn't happen very often, 3 times in several thousand rounds. Seems to happen in the middle of a stage and requires taking the side plate off to get it unstuck.  Thanks   Buffalo Bruce

[Major 2]

Factory Ammo or reloads ?

[Pettifogger]

You are not explaining what you mean by "stuck".  You need a better explanation of what you are talking about.  Since you have identified the gun as a 66 and mention having to remove the loading gate it sounds like the loading gate finger is bent or broken.  66 loading gates are junk.  It doesn't matter who you buy a replacement from they are ALL of the same poor design.  The fix is to solder a metal reinforcement tab behind the finger.  Otherwise, as previously noted, it doesn't matter who you buy a replacement gate from or what they claim, it WILL bend or break unless it is reinforced.  It's not a question of IF it is a question of WHEN.

Top - Old style welded top.  Discontinued MANY years ago.
Middle - current bent finger gate with finger broken off.
Bottom - bent finger gate with reinforcing tab behind the finger.

[CyNickel]

This just happened to my 1866 rifle which is not short-stroked and has a stock lifter block, I shoot 158grRN lead 38 Special hand loads and have put a fair number of rounds through this rifle with no problems.  It happened while shooting a stage during a match that a fresh cartridge entered from the cartridge tube into the lifter block and apparently passed the stop tab on the back of the loading gate, which allowed a second cartridge to enter the lifter block from the tube - hence causing the action to no longer operate.  When this occurred, the loading gate was slightly pushed out beyond the side plate of the rifle (to the outside) because the 1st cartridge was in a position directly behind the loading gate tab - while attempting to push the 2nd following cartridge back into the loading tube so as to push the over running 1st cartridge back in front of the loading gate tab - the 1st cartridge went totally past the tab and into the lifter arms space interior of the action  - upon removal of the side plate, the tab of the loading gate was not broken nor showed any wear point - side plate was removed to access the stuck cartridge.  Once reassembled the rifle works flawlessly once again and has not reoccurred - yet.   How/why did this happen, because a similar scenario happened to me about 10 years ago while shooting an 1866 carbine, also in 38 Special, but that time the over running cartridge went all the way into the action space void without first sticking behind the loading gate tab?  Do not recall the load, but was shooting 147grTC Flat Point lead at the time - but no matter - after removing the side plate, the offending cartridge and reassembly - the carbine worked fine from then on until I sold it.  Any ideas?