Wheel gun problem

[ancora]

Went to the range today with my Blackhawk .44 caliber single action revolver and fired off 150 rounds of .44 Specials. Switched over to .44 Mags and the cartridges would not seat in the cylinder, sticking out about 3/16". Tried field cleaning with no success. Went home and tried cleaning the cylinder with the same lack of success. Finally, I took an unprimed case, and seated it with a mallet. Removed the case and I could now seat a .44 mag cartridge in the hole. Did the same with the other five holes and was able to seat all six cartridges. I'm stumped

[Red-Osier]

Pics of the cylinder?

[Powder_Keg]

Fouling from the shorter cartridges?

Can you describe in greater detail you cleaning process for the cylinders. Are you using a bore brush?

[kemasa]

It is fouling from the shorter cartridges, same issue with .38/.357Mag. You are better off to have light loads in the longer brass.

[ojisan]

This is common when shooting any short cartridge in a longer chamber.
Same for the .357 mag in a .38 special, etc.

You have lead and fouling build up at the front of the chambers, starting from where the .44 special case ends and going forward from there.
The longer .44 mag cases are hitting and wedging on this build-up which is what stops them from going in.
It's best to use a one size over bore brush (in this case .45 cal) when scrubbing the chambers out.
There should be no dark areas in the chambers when you are done cleaning them.
The whole chamber length should be shiny and smooth.

This might take a bunch of scrubbing and elbow grease.
On a really badly fouled chamber, I sometimes put a copper bore brush in a hand drill and slowly spin the brush in the chamber, moving it in and out gently, keeping everything lubed with WD40 or solvent.

[G-forceJunkie]

Lead or carbon fowling in the front of the cylinder. Get a .45 cal cleaning brush, wrap a bit of Chore Boy copper (not steel!) scrub pad around it and scrub the chambers. Could probably speed the system up with a section of cleaning rod in a slow turning drilll.

[ancora]

I believe you guys are correct about the lead build up in the cylinder bore, as I only use hard cast lead bullets with light powder loads.

[ar15barrels]

There are de-leading reamers that will quickly cut the lead out.
Be careful though as they will also cut the chamber deeper if you actually cut into the steel.

https://mansonreamers.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/de-leading-tool-instruction.pdf

[Dvrjon]

Lewis Lead Removal Tool -- have had one for years. Simple and easy.

https://www.brownells.com/gun-cleaning-chemicals/patches-mops/lead-remover/lewis-lead-remover-prod21587.aspx