38 spec length

[cephas]

just measured some factory soft points and they are 1.44.But that got me looking at the profile.I believe the lead bullet is a much shorter bullet.It's shape seems to be dictating the shorter OAL to accommodate depth of seating because it is wider for a shorter length.Dam I hope I explained that right

You may be onto something.
Since the chamber tapers the bullets may be too "fat" and gets hung up at a certain point.
Is this a home cast bullet? (I'm guessing the Lee 125 gr. ?) If you have a micrometer check diameter.
One test some do is drop the bullet into the chambers. Clean chambers, oil very lightly.
Do they fall straight through?
Do they catch but using a wooden dowel or unsharpened pencil can be pushed through?
Do they catch, can't push through and tempted to use a mallet? Try not to get them seriously lodged and push them back out.
This will help rule out one variable.

[Delkal]

just measured some factory soft points and they are 1.44.But that got me looking at the profile.I believe the lead bullet is a much shorter bullet.It's shape seems to be dictating the shorter OAL to accommodate depth of seating because it is wider for a shorter length.Dam I hope I explained that right

Re read my Previous post

Dam,forgot to mention it was a 125 gr lead round nose flat point.OAL is listed on Hodgdon site at 1.445.Tried it in the pistol and can't close the wheel and turn it freely unless they are OAL less than 1.41

So everything works fine if the bullet is seated 0.035 shorter? Then the rounds will all freely drop flush in the cylinder?

Again..... Reread my previous post. There is no problem. You can not get into trouble seating a 125 grain bullet too deep in a .38

[M77MKII]

I thought so too.Fired the loads today.All was fine.Up to 6 grains of CFE pistol.No pressure signs.Fired some factory loads,and then the wheel got tight.Took the gun home sprayed the gun openings with cleaner.Sprayed out with bore blast,dirt oozed out.Guess the previous owner never cleaned it.had to do it twice more,now seems better than when it was left to me.Action is much smoother,I thought it was lousy because of age not misuse.Wheel is nice and free now,can be fired very quickly if you want.Just a nice old revolver.

[Delkal]

While your at it give the cylinders a good cleaning. The throat is probably covered in lead. Sometimes a little ring of crud starts to build up and can prevent longer bullets from seating.

If you can find a military .223 stripper clip take out the thin brass insert, and use it to scrape the lead out. Brass won't hurt the cylinder and this works much better then trying to brush it out.

[M77MKII]

I was going to order a lewis lead remover I was told about,they sell it at Brownell's.I will get enough to do all the cylinders and the barrel.Kit comes with brass patches and a jag for the caliber you need.cleaned it again today and got just a very little crud out of the frame so I will wait for the lewis kit to do the wheel and barrel.That should do the trick

[Brick]

I was going to order a lewis lead remover I was told about,they sell it at Brownell's.I will get enough to do all the cylinders and the barrel.Kit comes with brass patches and a jag for the caliber you need.cleaned it again today and got just a very little crud out of the frame so I will wait for the lewis kit to do the wheel and barrel.That should do the trick

Since you're ordering from Brownell's anyhow, get some of their stainless steel .38/.357 chamber brushes to keep your chambers clean once you get the crud out. Don't worry about the brushes being harder than brass, they're still softer than the steel in your cylinder.

[M77MKII]

Good idea

[Xringshooter]

I didn't see it mentioned. Rotate the cylinder out of the frame and with no rounds in it see it the extractor is sitting flush with the end of the cylinder. From reading some of your posts it sounds like it is very dirty (or was). If this is the case, there could be a build up of crud under the extractor star that is not allowing it to sit flush which would cause the rear of the cartridges to stick out and rub on the rear of the frame. A lot of time unburned particles of powder and other crap will get under the star causing this. If the cylinder is very dirty, I would remove the cylinder (this can be done on a S&W without taking everything apart and soak it in a solvent to remove all the gunk. Or toss it into an ultrasonic cleaner and clean it that way. You might even want to take the side plate off and see how the internals look (it might need a very good cleaning/relube of the entire gun).

[M77MKII]

Had a friend tell me that one.He said pretty much what you did,he has an ultrasonic cleaner.he told me to bring it over next week for a good soak.and we will take the plate off and scrub it

[Fred762]

2 ??s.. 1. is it a .38spl or possibly an old .38S&W wh is shorter or .38SWLong etc?

2. is ther lead buildup IN the front part of the chambers of that cylinder from shooting lead ammo?