I got trouble with my 44 Rossi

[Sixgun]

I got my Rossi 92 in 44 mag for shooting cowboy silhouette last winter.  I have been shooting very light loads with cast bullets to meet the requirements of not doing damage to the targets at my range.  This weekend I decided to load some hotter loads for shooting at the turkeys and rams.  I loaded a charge of 10gr titegroup under a 240 gr cast bullet and stepped out the back door and shot into my test range.  I had a very hard time extracting the case.  I went back and loaded the same case with 9 gr of titegroup and stepped out and shot it.  The case totally seperated and only 1/2 of it came out.  I extracted the rest, which came out very easy with a chamber brush.  

I went back and loaded a medium load of AA9 and shot it.  It had hard extraction and a bright ring around the case, in a different spot from where the other one seperated.  I backed it down one grain at a time and finally got good results (easy extraction) at 16.5 gr of AA9.

I checked each case that was hard to extract and there was a crack on the inside of the case, all the way around on each one of them.

Now the question, what am I seeing?  Excessive head space?  How can that be in a rimed case and does this mean that the frame is streched?  Can it be fixed?  If you have any ideas please help me out.  

Thanks, Sixgun

I am posting this on the reloading forum also.

[Flint]

Might be a balooned chamber, excess pressure expanding the threaded portion tighter into the receiver threads.  How old is the brass?  10 gr of Titegroup is a load for jacketed bullets, maybe too heavy for lead.  Headspace is the rim, excess headspace would be the web being outside the chamber, which I'm sure it's not.  I expanded a chamber years ago in a Marlin 44mag with an accidental double charge that would have been 14 to 15 gr of Unique.  I had to replace the barrel.

[Sixgun]

Some of this brass could be old.  I haven't kept track of how many times it has been fired, but shooting the light loads, I have not had to trim it.  

I got the data for tightgroup from the Hodgen web page.  It lists 10 gr of titegroup for a cast 240gr SWC.  I have always considered the powder companies to list their loads pretty light so I didn't think too much of useing the ten grain load.  It surley was to much for my gun.

Sixgun

[EDG]

Try a factory .44 Mag round if you have any (not those aluminum cased Blazers though). If it hangs up you have problems. If you don't have a factory round load a few with a starter load of your favorite powder using some known good brass. If it hangs up with mild loads and good brass you
may have a significant mechanical problem.
Ed

[Lloyd Smale]

that load is none to hot. You have a problem and I wouldnt be shooting it again or you possibly could be wearing part of that gun get it to a gunsmith NOW!

[Sixgun]

I think that your advice, Loyd, is the best recieved so far.  I think I better get it to a gun Dr. and see what the heck is wrong.

Sixgun