I took the cylinder out and carefully checked it out. The live rounds all fit in the chambers very slightly proud of the rear of the cylinder, the chamber throats are all the same diameter which according to my calipers is .435, the bullet end of the live round will go all the way in the front of the chambers with room to spare.
I am really hoping the problem isn't oversize throats causing the casing to be blown back instead of swelling in the chambers.
That's how they should fit. The rim is what headspaces the rounds. The cases should fit with the rims sitting up. Blackhawks don't use rebated cylinders. When in the gun you should be able to see a thin sliver of daylight between the case heads and the recoil shield face.
.435 seems a touch large but because of the size it means there was no bullets sticking in the throats. So it points directly back at overcharging and excessive pressure from the ammo being the issue.
Just to put this in perspective. If you look around on the web for images of "primer flow images" you won't see any examples that are as extreme as yours. Or at least yours will match the worst you'll see. Once again the ONLY thing that can cause the metal of the primers to swage out and form like that is serious pressure.
Another thing to consider is 'are the cases oily?'......
This was only ever an issue in revolvers with the rare cases where shouldered rounds were used. With straight wall cartridges it's not an issue. And in fact the smooth operation of a revolver requires some movement. When the shot occurs the first action is that the primer goes off and the primer sets back slightly out of the primer pocket. Then the main charge goes off and the pressure forces the casing back. If the walls have a slight oil film the casing simply slides. I suppose if the walls were bone dry the brass might simply stretch a little. But in any event the case does come back and press against the recoil shield. Once the pressure drops the walls of the casing spring back a little and the casing is free to float in the chamber. It has to do this or the head of the casing will lock up against the recoil shield. Which was exactly the issue that occurred with the rare cases of shouldered rounds.
.44-40 doesn't count. Yes it's a shouldered casing. But the amount is so slight and the length of the taper so long that when the casing springs back there's enough play to let it slide forward just fine. The examples which produced troubles were much more extreme.
Did you notice any unusual level of recoil or muzzle flash from shot to shot?
Have you tried running the cases through a de-capper/resizing die to see if the primer hole is larger or if the cases appeared unusual?
With new brass I would hope that Federal could at least get THAT part right. But even so the regular hole is still large enough that we will see full pressure at the primer. It IS a little larger than 1/16 inch after all. For a small volume such as a primer that's like a roll up door on a garage being open.
Primer cups are pretty tough little beasts. It takes a LOT of pressure to swage them out like this and even push the edges down into the small notches around the firing pin bushing.
And let's do the math. I see 5 casings with obvious signs of serious over pressure. But there's only 4 rows of five empties. Assuming the OP loaded only 5 rounds at a time that means he shot 4 times. But there's 5 bad casings. So it sure points to the idea that it's not a single chamber.
Besides, other than the possibility of a tight throat, which we've eliminated now, there's simply nothing that can be messed up with a cylinder chamber that won't be easily seen by the naked eyeball which would produce this sort of flowed primer issue. It keeps pointing right to the ammo being badly loaded and producing far over spec pressure. Especially when all the other primers are fine and the number of flowed primers doesn't tally up with the single chamber flaw idea.
Skinny, I don't know what you paid for this ammo but you should really get into reloading your own. First off you have more control over the quality and second it'll cost you much less. Reduced power sport loads will be down around 23 to 25 cents and the full house rounds that use H110 or similar only a few of cents more for the added powder. The brass is good for at least 10 to 15 full power shots. And far more loadings if you load down a little to the mid range level in the loading data. So all in all you really cut your costs. Pretty much ANYTHING that starts with a ".4" or has "Magnum" anywhere in the name is far less costly to reload yourself. A modest single stage setup that can reload around 150 rounds an hour can be set up for a couple of hundred bucks. I'll leave it to you to figure out how often and how much you shoot to do the math on how long it would take to re-coup the cost of the reloading gear and begin seriously saving money.




























for forgetting about the possibility of a loose crimp. If the bullets are setting back in the casings due to the recoil the last one or two could easily produce serious over pressure due to the lack of initial volume. 






















