So, my most recent acquisition is a Taurus .454 Casull Raging Bull. I took it to the range and tried it out last night.

When I fired Magtech ammo, it worked totally fine. When I switched to Hornady ammo, I had a weird problem. Basically, after firing a round, something would cause the cylinder to get stuck, and I'd have to pull the hammer back (as little as it'd go) and try and twist the cylinder to free it from whatever was jamming it. Also, I could not get the cylinder to swing out while the gun was jammed.

I don't think it was a matter of the bullets getting pulled out of their cases by the recoil, as I don't think a little wiggling would have pushed them back in.

My gut tells me the gun "thought" the cylinder had been swung out. That would account for the hammer not moving very far, but I"m not sure. So, the going theory is that heat, coupled with, say some congealed bit of stuff they used to prevent rust on the internal workings of the gun, was causing parts to stick and have to be wiggled loose.

What do you guys think?

So, my most recent acquisition is a Taurus .454 Casull Raging Bull. I took it to the range and tried it out last night.

When I fired Magtech ammo, it worked totally fine. When I switched to Hornady ammo, I had a weird problem. Basically, after firing a round, something would cause the cylinder to get stuck, and I'd have to pull the hammer back (as little as it'd go) and try and twist the cylinder to free it from whatever was jamming it. Also, I could not get the cylinder to swing out while the gun was jammed.

I don't think it was a matter of the bullets getting pulled out of their cases by the recoil, as I don't think a little wiggling would have pushed them back in.

My gut tells me the gun "thought" the cylinder had been swung out. That would account for the hammer not moving very far, but I"m not sure. So, the going theory is that heat, coupled with, say some congealed bit of stuff they used to prevent rust on the internal workings of the gun, was causing parts to stick and have to be wiggled loose.

What do you guys think?

I was discussing it with Mike Blank, and he pointed out that Hornady has a history of occasionally overloading cartridges. So, in addition to seeing if I can give its internal workings a good cleaning, I might see if just avoiding Hornady might help.

Ko,

Mine has done that a few times. I probably was using Hornady ammo when it happened too. It didn't do it often enough to let me figure out what was causing it. I'd be most interested in hearing what other have to say about the situation.

Have you checked the gap between the cylinder and the forcing cone? That's what I'd try first. Sometimes the cylinder will hit the forcing cone causing exactly what you describe. This will have to take you to my second suggestion.

My second suggestion is shoot it with on round at a time til it locks up with Hornedy Ammo and leaving the fired case in the cylinder send it back to Taurus. They have one of the best warrrentee's in the business and they will fix it. It will cost you some postage though.

I've got two Taurus's and a Rossi which Taurus owns now and they fixed the Rossi for free when I broke a firing pin in it. Both my 41 Mag tracker and the little 38 special ultra-light work great.

Have you checked the gap between the cylinder and the forcing cone? That's what I'd try first. Sometimes the cylinder will hit the forcing cone causing exactly what you describe. This will have to take you to my second suggestion.

My second suggestion is shoot it with on round at a time til it locks up with Hornedy Ammo and leaving the fired case in the cylinder send it back to Taurus. They have one of the best warrrentee's in the business and they will fix it. It will cost you some postage though.

I've got two Taurus's and a Rossi which Taurus owns now and they fixed the Rossi for free when I broke a firing pin in it. Both my 41 Mag tracker and the little 38 special ultra-light work great.

Well, I forgot to mention that the Hornady cases had two signs of overpressure. Their primers were flattened and there was noticible cratering. Basically, until Mike said that thing about occasional overpressure, I just thought that the extremely high pressures of .454 Casull was going to do that under normal conditions. The Magtech brass doesn't have those signs, but it also produced less recoil.
Now, couple this with the fact that the Raging Bulls have two catches you have to manipulate to open the cylinder because the single-catch system resulted in the cylinder popping open with heavy recoil ammo (at least, this is what I am told is the justification for an extra catch).
It seems to fit the symptoms.

But, as to your first suggestion, I'll try to remember to check that if it happens again.

I'm a little hesitant to send guns in if there's anything I can do to resolve an issue, especially after the NAA thing. If it is indeed just a problem with Hornady ammo, I'd prefer merely avoiding Hornady ammo to sending the gun in.

Ko, one of my shooting buddies has an RB and it shoots everything we have put through it just fine. We have not shot Hornady ammo through it as far as I can remember. We have however shot some custom heavy "backpacker" ammo through it that he did not like one little bit. 365 grain hardcast lead at some zippy velocity I don't remember right now. But it was a hummer and they slapped the steel plates with REAL AUTHORITY! :D So I would look at the Hornady ammo and the forcing cone to see if it might be binding any. Taurus's warranty is solid so don't worry.
I think something in 454 Casull is somewhere in my future. :)

I remember reading another discussion on a thread somewhere about this same problem. It's been awhile ago, and I don't remember where it was. What was suggested there was that the firing pin may have been sticking in the primer, and not rebounding, thus locking up the cylinder.

It hasn't happened to me in quite awhile, but I know it's really annoying. In fact, it's the one thing that's shaken my confidence in a gun that, otherwise, I really like.

I never thought about the problem being ammo related. The Hornady ammo always seemed to shoot so well in mine. I think I still have a couple of boxes of the Hornady ammo stashed away. I'll have to pick up another couple of boxes, and take mine out to see if I can get it to do it again, and try to see if it could be the firing pin. I'll keep you posted.

Hello, i'm a long time reader but a first time poster. Very sloooow dial-up but I had to comment. I've had a RB 454 for awhile and have found that if the primer craters any ,which it does on some brands or if the web expands as the cartridge is forced back on firing it will bind up the cylinder. Tolerences on the RB are tight and it does not take much to lock it up. It happens more with hot reloads or soft primers for me.

well, I used to own one too in the past. I had the same problem with Hornady ammo. I sent it back to Taurus for them to check it out with a detailed letter of what was wrong with it. When it came back (after a month), the problem was apparently fixed. I guess they must have replaced my cylinders or overbored them slightly?? I dont know. I think you shoud think about sending it to them.
Tom.

I have had this same problem with hornady ammo in my SRH 454. I sent them back one box of ammo cause I couldn't eject them out of the cylinder after shooting them. They said they had some problems with soft brass in the 454s. I have reloaded the hornady brass and have had no problems. I also have a Taurus raging bull in 480 and have shot hornady ammo in it with out any problems. The ammo sent back was overloaded in my opinion, they had a lot more bang to them.

Well, it took a while, but I went to the range with this gun again. We loaded up a variety of handloads to try in the gun, and all of them worked flawlessly. The primers were a little flattened on some of them, but no cratering, and the cylinder didn't get stuck.
I would have had to buy some Hornady ammo to shoot during the same session to know if it was the same amount of recoil, and I didn't want to do so for fear of breaking or bending the firing pin trying to free the cylinder.

I am a much relieved Ko.

As a possible theory: Is it possible that Hornady, for whatever reason, was using small magnum pistol primers instead of small rifle primers? Would small magnum pistol primers provide the excessive softness that would allow the firing pin to get stuck?