Colt saa chambering issue

[2010flhrc]

Took my new Colt SAA in 44-40 to a CAS event this past weekend; got to the loading table and guess what...not one round out of the hundred I had with me would chamber. :-( The matching revolver which I've acutally had for awhile would chamber every one of the same rounds. The rounds would go in about 99% of the way but not seat properly so the cylinder could not rotate to load the next one. When I got home I checked to see if the cylinder throat would let the bullets I'm using (.427) pass and they all do. Next I measured the rounds to make sure I didn't screw up when loading and they all fell well within published specifications. Any ideas or recommendations before I send the gun back to Colt?
Sandy

[AggieEE]

Take a magic marker and mark the mouth, shoulder and base of a cartridge that doesn't fit. Insert into cylinder, remove cylcinder from revolver first, rotate case if you can then remove. Any bright ring is the interference point. What you have to do to correct the problem depends on where the problem is. Good Luck.

[Love Life]

Your other SAA probably has different chamber dimensions, and your dies may not be sizing them enough to fit the other revolver's chamber.

[btroj]

So you never tried a single round to see if it fit before going to a match with a new gun?

[runfiveslittlegirl]

it's the shoulder.
some dies and chambers are much different.
i had a 38-40 revolver/rifle combo and my die set worked perfectly with the rifle.
the revolver maker had a different idea of what the 38-40 was.
i ended up having the die ground off .0010 to make everything work the way it was supposed to.
i could have ground the shell holder down but my neighbor owned a machine shop at the time.

oh and what brad said, even with brass i just took out of a gun i re-check to see if it chambers before i go along filling the cases.

[2010flhrc]

So you never tried a single round to see if it fit before going to a match with a new gun?

Never occurred to me that it wouldn't work... Won't make that mistake again. I've actually had the revolver for months but was waiting to be able to afford the matching rifle (Brush Popper Deluxe arrived last week) so I didn't have to shoot two different calibers. Now have three pairs of 45LCs and one pair of 44-40s with rifles to match. The intention is to shoot BP on the 44-40s when all guns are up to snuff. Called Colt and they sent a FedEx label to send the revolver back to them.

[2010flhrc]

it's the shoulder.
some dies and chambers are much different.
i had a 38-40 revolver/rifle combo and my die set worked perfectly with the rifle.
the revolver maker had a different idea of what the 38-40 was.
i ended up having the die ground off .0010 to make everything work the way it was supposed to.
i could have ground the shell holder down but my neighbor owned a machine shop at the time.

oh and what brad said, even with brass i just took out of a gun i re-check to see if it chambers before i go along filling the cases.

Thanks for the help. Gun is going back to Colt because the ammo feeds in the rifle and other revolver fine. I adjusted my dies and could get empty brass to chamber but still had the same issue after it was loaded. My uneducated guess is that the cylinder is just too close to the minimum specification. I failed to mention earlier that the gun is overly stiff to cock (way harder than my other Colts so maybe this will be an opportunity for Colt to fix this also.

[MtGun44]

My bet is you have the title to this thread backwards. I think it should
probably (not yet proven) say: "My ammo chambering problem"

If empty brass will chamber, you probably have a boolit hitting the throat.

Colt isn't going to give a rats butt if YOUR ammo doesn't fit or does fit. If
the pistol will chamber a factory round they will NOT do a thing, and neither
would I if I were in their shoes. Check and see if factory ammo will chamber.
If it does, it is YOUR problem, not Colt's.

I'll bet you $5 it is your ammo.

Bill

[Piedmont]

My bet is you have the title to this thread backwards. I think it should
probably (not yet proven) say: "My ammo chambering problem"

If empty brass will chamber, you probably have a boolit hitting the throat.

Colt isn't going to give a rats butt if YOUR ammo doesn't fit or does fit. If
the pistol will chamber a factory round they will NOT do a thing, and neither
would I if I were in their shoes. Check and see if factory ammo will chamber.
If it does, it is YOUR problem, not Colt's.

I'll bet you $5 it is your ammo.

Bill

+1.

It might be your crimp holding up the ammo from chambering too. But if it chambers empties and factory ammo, your loads are defective for that gun.

[John Taylor]

The 44-40 chambers are all over the place for shoulder placement. Factory ammo has the shoulder close to the middle so it will fit some of the old originals. Once fired in a modern chamber with the shoulder closer to the end the brass will have a different shoulder placement. Both of your modern Colts should be in the same place so Colt must have messed up on one. Also it sounds like the neck area is a bit small if the brass will not chamber with a bullet. Your rifle ammo may not interchange with the pistol ammo with just neck sizing. If you push the shoulder back each time the brass is sized the brass will not have a long life.

[2010flhrc]

The 44-40 chambers are all over the place for shoulder placement. Factory ammo has the shoulder close to the middle so it will fit some of the old originals. Once fired in a modern chamber with the shoulder closer to the end the brass will have a different shoulder placement. Both of your modern Colts should be in the same place so Colt must have messed up on one. Also it sounds like the neck area is a bit small if the brass will not chamber with a bullet. Your rifle ammo may not interchange with the pistol ammo with just neck sizing. If you push the shoulder back each time the brass is sized the brass will not have a long life.

Thanks John, If Colt comes back and says there isn't a problem with the gun I'll have to futz around with my reloads to see if I can adjust them enough to feed in this gun. The brass I'm using is all new Starline that was sized using Lee dies and like I said, I don't have an issue with the other revolver. They are both gen 3 but manufactured several years apart; one is S/N S060XXA while this one is SA 94XXX.
Sandy

[PS Paul]

So you never tried a single round to see if it fit before going to a match with a new gun?

Although some of us would never admit doing so, I can bet we've almost ALL done something similar. Just once. he he.....