Posted: 10/20/2016 9:12:23 PM EDT
| Anybody use it in a Ruger Gp 100. I know its steel cased but just want blasting ammo. Any issues with the ruger running it?Thanks Rob |
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I was close to buying a case of 1000 rounds, but budget dictated a case of 500 .38's in stead for now. Steel case isn't my preferred option, even in revolvers, but my stock was getting low and I was to the point where I didn't care and all the brass cased options were too expensive.
ETA: I found the case of Tula for $229, I can track down the link if you need. Also, $0.09 per round is crazy cheap. I'm looking forward to reloading, but it'll be a while. |
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Quoted:
They're hard to eject from mine. Very hard, almost stuck Steel gets a bit sticky if there is any carbon or soot blow back into chambers , yeah , this is more or less a given as steel tends to not seal as well as brass. brush out the chambers a bit more often . Rugers tend to have chambers that are a bit rough , it might pay to polish them with a bore mop chucked in a drill and some flitz or other polish. Most of my shooting with 38s and 357s is reloads , I am still working through cast lead I bought years back for stupid low prices. |
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Till the Frog Lube gums up the gun....
Another plus for reloading, especially 38 and 357. Quoted:
If you shoot .38's, make sure you clean out the "ring" in the cylinder before firing steel, as it will definitely make it hard to eject. After a good scrub, I use a patch with some frog glube to further clean the chambers.. tends to make extraction easier. |
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I use it all the time. I think it's my favorite 357 practice ammo. More accurate than I expected and produces a basketball sized muzzle flash that I quite like. So, don't use it at night. What revolver are you using? I'm hearing a mixed bag of "works just fine" and "gets stuck in the chamber to the point of using a cleaning rod or dowel". |
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tl/dr - Tula 357 repeatedly locked up 686SSR on each reload. Difficult to clear lockups. Gun ran perfectly on brass cased ammo.
A family member bought a case of it to use in his 686SSR. I took him to the range this weekend to try that ammo for the first time and he had several bad lockups with it - cylinder was bound and extremely difficult to open. He had me over each time to clear it - once I was able to open the cylinder (which took some effort each time), the cases were very tight in the chamber - I had to avail myself of a wooden block against which to press/hit the ejector rod as it was poking a hole in my hand if I just tried to use my palm. He then switched to some brass cased ammo that I had brought and it worked smoothly and flawlessly in his gun, even without any cleaning after the problem Tula ammo. The cases were obviously swelling and binding within the chambers. I'm assuming they were also being pushed back against the breech face and blast shield and dragging heavily - something was preventing the cylinder from turning, or even opening. I checked the forward end of the cylinder for backed out bullets, but that wasn't the case (typically maybe only one loaded cartridge remaining when the lockup occurred, and no sign of bullet creep). I checked the front locking bolt (pressing it in with a tool while trying to open the cylinder) as the cylinder would not budge when trying to open it as I'd had similar issues with the extractor rod backing out on other revolvers. Of course in those cases I could still rotate the cylinder, but not in this case with this ammo, which led me back to the cases binding in the cylinder and against the frame. I also checked for pierced primers as that area was where I felt the strongest binding and I've had a fp stuck in primers before when something has gone wrong (it's been mechanical in my cases, but as this was new to me ammo I was also concerned it might be an overpressure issue, which it thankfully wasn't). So - I would not purchase or use it in my revolvers. My personal approach is to use steel cased ammo only in guns that were designed to use it, or in guns that are pure range toys that don't endanger me if they lock up. I've had otherwise flawless semis lock up using steel cased ammo (and aluminum cased ammo) as well. Of course finances or other reasons may dictate otherwise. I know one argument with FA stuff is that the ammo savings more than offset more frequent barrel replacements if the steel in fact accelerates wear, but even then I'd at least want the steel cased stuff to be reliable. YMMV. And another recommendation for reloading, although that's pretty much another hobby unto itself. I of course reload, so can roll my own cheaply (was stacked deep long ago and was reloading at 0.04/round for a long time - of course that would be significantly higher were I to purchase components at today's prices). But I'd purchase brass cased ammo if I wanted something new today (plus then the cases are available for reloading once you get into that). |
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I bought both Tula 38 spcl & 357 mags for my S&W Super Tuned 686P. (Amazing what can be found in a pawn shop & for $570) Yes, I went to the bottom of the barrel for ammo to just bang away. I got the Tula from Lucky Gunner and did not notice either the "steel shell" in big letters on the box or made in Russia until I had it my grubby hands.
The shells develop a bulge when they are shot. 357s are worse of course both are difficult to eject. I had to push them out one at a time. A few shells in both calibers actually split. The bulge is readily visible, at the primer end, when doing a side by side comparison with one that hasn't been shot or brass. I also experienced a jam where the cylinder would not index ... all related to the same issue. I don't know if this is dangerous or not, but with things that make big bangs I don't want to find out. Not interested in a flame war, but I use FrogLube exclusively on the 686P & Sig Legion 229. Using per the directions, there is never goop left. It is called wiping excess off per the directions. I don't think I know something others do not. But, by nature of my business I have to try new things, methods, whatever ... now, going for something different is automatic & FrogLube had my name on it, so to speak. I have shot some friend autos that oil sprayed out when shot. I have no jamming with better ammo (Remington, Winchester or Federal) as recommended by Davidson's. As a result, I don't bottom feed anymore for ammo. My wife & I don't shoot often enough to be reloaders. I would like to, but we each have our own businesses that we also like. Last, some gun ranges don't like steel mixed in with their brass. Of course with a revolver, they are easier to catch in a bag. These especially so when they have to be pushed out 1 at a time. |
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What revolver are you using? I'm hearing a mixed bag of "works just fine" and "gets stuck in the chamber to the point of using a cleaning rod or dowel". Quoted:
Quoted:
I use it all the time. I think it's my favorite 357 practice ammo. More accurate than I expected and produces a basketball sized muzzle flash that I quite like. So, don't use it at night. What revolver are you using? I'm hearing a mixed bag of "works just fine" and "gets stuck in the chamber to the point of using a cleaning rod or dowel". GP 100 Match Champion. Odd considering when I first got it it was really difficult to kick out 357 length shells. And I am not the only person who had that compliant about the Match Champion. |
| Well, count me in as a "never had a problem." Ive bought cases of both .38 and .357 and use both through my 686 and just the .38 out of the wife's 642. Never had a hangup or an issue. It's a tad dirtier, and the flash is large, but both guns have functioned 100% with the steel cased stuff. |
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Well, count me in as a "never had a problem." Ive bought cases of both .38 and .357 and use both through my 686 and just the .38 out of the wife's 642. Never had a hangup or an issue. It's a tad dirtier, and the flash is large, but both guns have functioned 100% with the steel cased stuff. I'm in this camp. I haven't tried the .357 but bought a case of .38s for taking classes where I knew I couldn't recover the brass. I took Spenser Keeper's excellent AIWB class with my pre-lock .357 649 J frame and it worked fine. I plan to use the same revolver and ammo for ECQC next year. The key is to have smooth chambers and to brush them out when you can but that also applies to the dirty reloads I used to shoot in matches. If you are set up to reload and can recover the brass I wouldn't bother. If you have a revolver with rough chambers I wouldn't bother. If you need to use the ammo for real life defense I wouldn't bother. But for me it was the right solution. |
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Clean chambers or not, bulging and occasional burst shells at least speaks to significant quality control. I guess I have to be a paying member to upload a pic??? Or, maybe I am blind and don't see how to upload a 357 shell with bulge and split. I didn't take a pic of the 38 that split.
OP was asking about a problem relative to the Ruger Gp 100 which I don't have. I have a S&W 686P, a gun of similar quality. Yes, with sparkling clean chambers, the first load can generally be ejected. Second, maybe ... the third, sticks. I thought about cleaning the shells. Not that important to me and I didn't buy that many boxes. But, I am certain whether it might be the 1st load or the last, all of the shells bulge as I described in my earlier post. A cheaper gun of probable less quality might be an argument. |