Be gentle fellas, I am a Sig freak and a wheelgun newbie.....

Of course I will clean it, these pics were taken at the range. Fired 50 rounds (total 100 thru gun now) and when I loaded it up with carry ammo the cylinder would not close all the way. Took the ammo out and it will still not close. Notices some wear on the frame where it looks like some AL has worn off as shown in the pics. Is this a common problem and how might I fix it?

Come on, everyone knows wheelguns never jam!

I would like to know as well, actually. I kinda want a snubbie.

What type ammo?

Lead bullets gave me a fit one time like this, shot more than that though.

Danny

I suspect you have some type of debris between the extactor 'star' and the rear of the cylinder. Clean this area and you should be good to go. This is a common problem with ammo loaded with Hercules/Alliant brand powders. Charles the Gunsmith.  

Quoted: What type ammo? Lead bullets gave me a fit one time like this, shot more than that though. Danny

FMJ's.

Check under the extractor star for debree. I had a similar problem a few years back, turned out to be several flakes of unburned powder. If that is not it make sure that the guide rod is all the way screwed in. It is left hand thread I think.

Quoted: Check under the extractor star for debree debris. If that is not it make sure that the guide rod is all the way screwed in. It is left hand thread I think.

Yes, it is left-hand threads. Put in an empty case or two to prevent the ejector rod from bending when you unscrew it.

I recently had a similar problem with my S&W 442. I carried it for a few years with a hip grip. The finish was somewhat discolored due to sweat. I clean the weapon regularly--no powder flakes. Turns out the locking bolt was rusted due sweat and my IWB method of carry. The ejector rod was hanging up on the bolt when I tried to close the cylinders.

Must have been stuff under the star. There was some unburned poweder looking stuff, but not nearly enought to give the impression it would interfere with function. Guess I was wrong, soon as I hit it with a brush and CLP it would close like new....

Glad my auto's don't have similar tolerance issues. Guess it could have been the crappy Magtech ammo....

I have only had that problem when using flake type powders. Ball posders seem to burn up completely. Also be glad your revolver has close tolerances, otherwise you will be eating alot of lead and copper out the side of the cylinder gap.

Quoted: Must have been stuff under the star. There was some unburned poweder looking stuff, but not nearly enought to give the impression it would interfere with function. ...

The tolerance is surprisingly tight.

When I assembled the requisite revolver in S&W’s revolver armorer school many years ago, the cylinder was fitted to the frame by pounding it in with a babbit (lead) bar and then twisting with both hands on the cylinder to loosen it up enough to turn freely.

Also, my agency used to carry Super Vel ammo in its revolvers, which used what appeared to be Unique powder.  Our revolvers were forever freezing up from as little as a single flake of unburned powder underneath the extractor star.

We got into the habit of ejecting empties straight down so any powder flakes would also fall straight down and not onto the backside of the star.  We also kept the star free from oil so powder flakes wouldn’t tend to stick to it.

Damn.

I have been trying to decide between a Kahr PM9 and a S&W 642 as a new back up gun. I thought the #1 advantage of the Smith would be "always" reliability, which is important in a last ditch weapon. I am really starting to wonder if I should bite the bullet on carrying a slightly larger weapon and get a GLOCK 26.

Quoted: ... I thought the #1 advantage of the Smith would be "always" reliability, which is important in a last ditch weapon. ...

Nothings perfect!  This is not a common issue and I’m sure there are plenty of folks here who’ve never even heard of it!

However, having seen it repeatedly in my younger days, I’m very aware of it.  Thus, whenever I carry a revolver I very carefully do this check after loading and closing the cylinder:

1 – point the revolver in the safest possible direction with the finger well away from the trigger

2 – thumb the hammer back just enough to disengage the bolt and let the cylinder turn freely.

3 – turn the cylinder gently to insure that it’s not binding (no cowboy spin!).

That should guarantee that you’re not going to have the above problem – at least with that cylinder full of ammo.

Unfortunately, you can’t realistically do this with a concealed hammer revolver.  However, you could safely do much the same drill immediately before loading the revolver by pulling slightly on the trigger and insuring the empty cylinder rotates freely.

Keeping the revolver clean and free of oil underneath the extractor star and shooting clean ammo will also help.