R & D Cylinders

[Presidio]

I have a pair of 45LC R&D cylinders for my 58 Remingtons.  At first, no problem at all.  But, at the last shoot I was at, the Firing Pin Plate would not fit right up against the cylinder with the ammo loaded.  Had about a 1/64" gap between the plate and cylinder with ammo loaded.  This made it difficult to load the cylinder back into the gun.  BTW, these are Pietta Remington's.

Of course, after I finally get 'em back into the gun with a little strain of the muscle, they would still fire as usual.  I also noticed that the new bulletts would sometimes not drop right in and had to be encouraged a bit.  Not sure if their seating all the way up into the shoulder, (could be some of the Winchester bullets are "shoved" too far into the casing causing the casing to swell up just a mite too big ).  Tried swapping cylinder and guns around with no change in the problem. (Even swapping firing pin plates around on cylinders, too)

The ammo I'm using is factory loaded Winchester 45LC Cowboy.  These are your standard 45LC.

Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.

[Yankee John]

While I don't shoot CAS,  I do quite a bit of "plinking" with my Pietta 5 1/2" with R&D.  I probably have 500-600 rounds thru it and have not had the problems you describe. 

If it make a difference,  I have only shot Ultramax 250 ammo thru it- which is also Winchester brass.

FWIW,
John

[Marshal Will Wingam]

The only thing I've seen that is close to what you're describing is if I drop the hammer on an empty chamber, the firing pin will stick and need to be unstuck before I can load a live round under that one. I believe this is why they caution against dry-firing them. This may not be your problem, but it's the closest I've seen. I have Ubertis, if that makes any difference.

[Presidio]

Thanks fer the replies there, Pards!  Well, Marshall, the pins aren't the problem, it's was the first thing I looked at.  they're nice and sharp and where they're supposed ta be.  And nope, I don't ever dry fire any of muh guns.  Still ain't got it figured out.

johnrtse, like I said this is standard Winchester Cowboy Action loads 45 LC, the ones sold in stores in the brown box.  Believe they're 200 grain.  Been shootin' those since day one in both my Pietta's and in muh rifle as well.  No problems with the rifle loadin' and ejectin' either.

Like I said before, some bullets slip right in there like they're supposed to; while sometimes they stick a little on the way into the cylinder and have ta be encouraged.  Think I may havta try a different brand and see how they fit up.  Winchester has had some problems with their shotgun primers, kinda wonderin' if'n they don't have some problems with their brass as well

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Have you tried reloading, Presidio? That gives you good control over the loads. You may want to check to make sure the loads you are using don't have a little lead that's still hanging on to the case from the bullet being shaved when it's pushed into the case. That can happen to a reload, but no reason that a factory load couldn't be done with the same problem if the case wasn't flared enough when they loaded them. The only other thing I could thnk of is you may possibly have a bit of leading in the cylinder where the chambers neck down. Hope this helps.

[Presidio]

Thanks, Will!  I'll check out the lead scoring/build up.  Keep 'em pretty clean.  don't or haven't started re-loading as of yet.  With little space fer set up and a highly active and keenly imaginative 3 year old boy, has made it pretty difficult to set up a reload areea.

Think I'll have the cylinders re-polished and see if'n that helps.  BTW, I have noticed a bit of abnormal swelling on some of my bullets where the lead is seated into the opening of the shell casing.  Some noticible - some not.  This is what makes me question the Winchester factory loads.  those R & D cylinders don't leave have much room fer forgiveness if'n know what I mean.  Of course, the only time I see this is after I have tried to load 'em up and they get stubborn about it.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy!

It would be a bit time consuming, but you could purchase a Midway (or other brand like Wilson) case gage.  They are made to SAAMI specs and if the factory bullets all chamber in that , they SHOULD work in your gun.  Last I noticed, those gages are about $8-$9.

[jiminy criquet]

I've got a couple Kirst cylinders in .45ACP, and I've encountered what you're talking about...certain rounds in a batch of store bought ammo not freely dropping or fully seating into the cylinders.  The problem is with the ammo, not the cylinder(s).  And it is something that you will more frequently encounter if you purchase reloaded once-fired brass.

If I were you I would try a different manufacturer's product and see if their quality control and/or specifications better match your gun.  Not all ammo is created uniformly, despite the manufacturer's claims.

[Presidio]

Thanks Jiminy, that's kinda what I was suspectin'.  Winchester's quality control over their primers pretty much spoke for all - guess ya shouldn't discount the primers bein' the only problem.

Steel Horse, I thought about those things, but, I ain't that familiar with such things, so I'd probably screw up somehow or another.   Thanks fer the hint anyhow!