This was a little different.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I was out on the ranch yesterday and I took a number of sixguns.

However, when I got there I started shooting that little 97 in .38/.357 and really didn’t want to shoot anything else.

I was shooting an 8 inch plate at 25 yards, just seeing how many times I could hit without missing it. But it was like popcorn, hard to stop once I started. It didn’t help that I had a couple of buckets of .38 loads with me.

I put so many rounds through it that it started to bind up like a cap and ball pistol will do after a while. I’ve never had a cartridge revolver shooting smokeless bind up like that.

There are limitations to shooting a gun this tight.

[JimT]

I have done that with Single Six, but not on one day.

[Walt]

Nice gun and great shooting, Scott! Thanks for the picture.

I probably haven't shot that many rounds in a session to run into that problem with mine.

[Bill in Oregon]

Wow! And quite the accuracy test, too!

[Scott Tschirhart]

Nice gun and great shooting, Scott! Thanks for the picture.

I probably haven't shot that many rounds in a session to run into that problem with mine.

I did not shoot this group. (Wish I could shoot like that)

The group is the test target that came with the revolver.

[GunnyMack]

How many rounds before you noticed ? Now you know at what point you need to clean it.
Only gun I ever had that happen with was a S&W 422. After about a half brick it would stutter while feeding.

[TedH]

I can understand how it would be hard to put that one down!

[Ysabel Kid]

I can understand how it would be hard to put that one down!

Ditto!

Scott, the grip on the 97 looks like it is as large as the 1860 Army. Looks like it would be very comfortable!

[Scott Tschirhart]

How many rounds before you noticed ? Now you know at what point you need to clean it.
Only gun I ever had that happen with was a S&W 422. After about a half brick it would stutter while feeding.

Only around 60 rounds or so.

[Galloway]

Is poi a problem for you with those fixed sights and magnums? Ive always wanted a fixed sight 83

[GunnyMack]

60 rounds, yup those are tight tolerances!

[Scott Tschirhart]

Is poi a problem for you with those fixed sights and magnums? Ive always wanted a fixed sight 83

I had to file quite a bit off the front sight to get it to shoot to the sights with my loads, but it’s not a problem.

The sights are filed for a 158 gr jacketed bullet over 14.5 gr 2400. Point of impact is the top of the front sight at 25 yards. At some point ill work out to longer distances.

Fortunately .38 Special loads of 158 gr bullets over 3 gr of Bullseye or 5 gr of Unique pretty much hit pretty much the same point at 25 yards.

[gcs]

Had a Ruger security six that would bind up like that, Ist time was during a qualification shoot, armorer looked at it and cleaned it up enough to finish, said the Rugers had a tight tolerance...

[Woodtroll]

That's always been my reservation about the Freedom Arms revolvers, as I've read of several instances of this happening. The finely tuned craftsmanship really appeals to me, but like most folks here I use my guns in the field, and we both are usually gritty or grimy at the end of the day. I really, really want a 97 in .45 Colt, and could almost swallow the cost, but it would be for field use. And I'm not real fond of that high spur hammer, either, for field use. So I continue to sit on the fence and watch the prices go up, as I have for years now...

I do have one FA, a 7.5" .475 Linebaugh early production (I believe it's labeled a model 757 or some such, definitely not an 83) I bought years ago that has the typical tight cylinder/barrel gap and fine fitting. I haven't shot it often enough at one sitting to bind it up.

[GunnyMack]

So Scott, is it binding up due to tight barrel cylinder gap getting carbon build up?
I suppose a guy could open the gap a couple thousandth (at most) and get more rounds down range or just clean after every 20 or so?

[Scott Tschirhart]

I’m not sure. Might need to try a different recipe.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I shot 42 rounds this morning with no binding at all. 3 gr of Bullseye and a 158 gr TC flat point. It might be that the 5 gr Unique load was the culprit.

[marlinman93]

I've had cylinders begin to bind on some of my older S&W revolvers after a lot of shooting. They usually have .003" clearance from cylinder face to forcing cone and doesn't take a huge amount of fouling to slow the action down a bit.

[Walt]

Scott, you may find that Unique is the culprit.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Could be. I just used the Bullseye loads today and it was so easy to clean up. No hard fouling at all and the bore looked clean. A dry patch took all residue out

[GunnyMack]

So I woke up this morning and your Unique load was on my mind, yeah my brain is always thinking guns &ammo.
Anyhow after walking and feeding the dogs I was in my 'office ' looking through the latest hodgon data magazine. They list unique in the burn rate chart but not 1 load for min/max for the 45 Colt . So I looked at all the others that use unique and there is not a single cartridge listed with a load using unique. They sure are pushing universal. Yes I know it's not a hodgon product but unique is a staple for most people.

Also irks me that hodgon did not include daa for every cartridge, some of the missing stuff I load .

[Scott Tschirhart]

Everyone tells me that I need to try Universal Clays. But I have never seen that powder on the shelf.

I like Unique and I shoot a lot of it. Pretty much all I load in the .45 Colt and.44 Special.

[Walt]

Although Universal is supposed to be Hodgdon's version of Unique, it has some advantages over Unique. It meters a bit more easily, provides more consistent pressures and is cleaner burning.

Good luck finding it.

[GunnyMack]

I found Universal for my 28 as 800x has been discontinued and it has worked splendidly. It's my go to now for the 41mag with cast as well !
It's clean,does meter well too.
Get a pound and you won't be sorry.
Another is cfepistol, it's clean and it's miserly for charges so a pound goes a long way. When I first tried it I wasn't impressed but the more I tried it the more I liked it.

[JDL]

Really like Unique in .38 Spl., 9mm, .45 ACP, .30-30, .30'06, .300 Savage, and .45-70. Used it 60 years ago in 12 ga. ounce and a quarter field loads. Yes, it has some warts but, I started with it and it has always performed for me. One of these days, when I run out of Unique, I am going to try Universal.