Sticky Primers

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Captain Ron

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I have been lurking for some time now and this is my first post on this site.
Recently purchased an antique Christy Colt .44 Spl. Bought some Winchester cowboy ammo and hit the range. I had a problem with the primers protruding out and not allowing the cylinder to rotate if I fired about three rounds off. Each round causing more friction until I couldn't rotate the cylinder for the next shot. My question is are the Winchester primers quite soft and is there some other primers that would not be prone to swelling back out. The cylinder is very tight no movement at all when locked up. When you look at the fired primer it dose not appear to protrude out but it seems to cup around the firing pin.
This baby is gonna be a great shooter when I get the primer situation sorted out. The first five rounds were in a 4" bull at 25 yd. Had to help the cylinder turn, but a few more rounds and a total jam up so I loaded only single shot and could shoot it that way. Using sand bag rest I decided to do an Elmer Keath and using a full front sight hold over went for the 200 yd gong and found that 3/4 front sight hold over started ringing it consistantly, now that is sweet music to my ears!
Thanks in advance for any help with my primer problem. :D
 
I have had uncrimped bullets back out in a wheelgun but never well seated primers. I have no experience with the commercial cowboy ammo but I have reloaded tons of Winchester primers with no issues. I won't procalim to be an expert here but it sounds like a powder load issue(too warm ? too cold?), kinda sound like the primers are flowing back into the firing pin, ? or maybe excessively loose primer cups?(this would be weird with new brass). You should look into working up some of your own loads, probably the only real solution.
 
It sounds as if you have a pressure problem combined with a large firing pin hole. What you seem to be saying is that the cylinder turns smoothly when all rounds are loaded but that the primers start protruding after firing. You might try using trail boss powder because I think it gives very low pressures. In terms of primer hardness, I think there is a fine line between too soft and too hard as applies to pistol primers. A lot of pistols will not fire hard primers.

cheers mooncoon
 
The firing pin hole is perfect in size with the pin its not that.
That gun was pretty tight i never seen one lock up so tight.
id try a Reload load of 5 grs of unique or a trail boss load.
Try federal Primers and use them 250 Gr bullets with a 5 gr load.
The Winchester cowboy ammo is about 740 Fps and has soft primers.
I think reloads should solve the problem while the gun can handle the Winchester ammo id try the federal primers.

I gota try ringing the 200 yd gong with mine thats pretty neat ;)
 
Check for erosion around the firing pin if its indented around the pin What you are descibing can happen
 
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