Bad Day At The Range With 500 HandiI had my first

[Retsof]

I had my first opportunity this past weekend to check the zero for my rifles for deer hunting season. I've been on an out-of-town project and was only back in town for a few days over the Thanksgiving Holidays. I'll have a longer break over the Christmas Holidays and that is when I should get a couple of days to hunt. Anyway, I was attempting to sight in my 500 S&W Handi. However, after every shot, the barrel popped open. Now I'm well aware of degreasing the latch and latch shelf. I also degreased the pin to which the latch is secured during lockup. I did this after each shot but the problem persisted. After last season, I had used Eezox to protect the metal. I used denatured alcohol to attempt to remove the Eezox. Maybe I need something better. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I was using factory ammo (ie, Federal Vital-Shok with 275 gr Barnes XPB).

Thanks.

[quickdtoo]

Make sure the frame and barrel are clean, if nothing has changed since you last shot it with no problems, something is interfering with complete lock up, you aren't closing the action with enough force or something broke. If this is the first time shooting it, it may need to go back to H&R for repair due to insufficient latch engagement. If this is the first time you've shot it since the forend change, it may take more force to get it to lock up good.

Tim

[Retsof]

Tim,

I had not cleaned the barrel nor frame. So, maybe that was the problem, though Eezox leaves a dry film. I also did not try to shoot it without the forearm installed. This was not my first time shooting it, though it had not been fired since the past hunting season. When I did shoot it the past season, I initially had problems with it popping open but, after degreasing the shelf and latch, it worked fine.

When I get back home, I'll clean the barrel and frame and, if needed, I'll also try removing the forearm. When you say to clean the barrel, do you mean the inside or outside of the barrel near the latch or both?

Thanks.

[Retsof]

Tim,

One other thought. My Handi's barrel release is always loose, whether the barrel is locked up or open. I had mentioned this a few months ago and the general consensus on this forum was that this shouldn't be a problem. I really don't know if this could be causing this.

[quickdtoo]

Clean the outside of the barrel where it mates to the frame and the frame itself including the breech face. I've used Eezox for over 20yrs, never had a problem on Handis, I apply it to the latch shelf, then wipe it off. Your recent post on experimenting with the 500S&W indicates you changed the forend, if it's tighter, it will affect the force required to lock it up, did you swap the stocks back after the experiment?  Smoke the latch shelf and check latch engagement per the barrel fitting info, if it looks fine, I wouldn't worry about the release lever.  

Tim

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,217356.msg1099178678.html#msg1099178678

[STUMPJMPR]

When I first got my 500 it popped open alot.  Then one day it quit.  Never had it happen again.  It could have been oil on the latch.  I shall never know.  It was before I found the forum.

[Retsof]

Tim,

I had the new forend with me but never got to try it, since the barrel popped open while I was using the factory forend. So, I didn't see much sense in trying to swap at that time. I'll follow your advice to see if I can solve the problem.

Thanks to you and STUMPJMPR for taking the time to respond.

[gcrank1]

With the gun unloaded, snap it briskly shut, close your eyes and concentrate while slowly depressing the latch. You can feel it sliding off the shelf from lock-up and get a sense of the latch engagement.
Then load in one of the fired brass and redo the test. I expect you will feel very little engagement. You can also try this with some unfired loads, just do it safely.
If it is very little engagement you have your options from the factory to the FAQs.
I had to decide this too, and went with a little stoning of the latch shelf (verry little) to increase the engagement to about half of when unloaded, and shooting it more to break in.
It hasnt popped open in a long time now and the engagement got better over time.
All this is assuming you are starting with all the previously mentioned cleaning of the potential contact sufaces first.
You might also want to take an appropriate scraper to the inside of the rim seat to be sure it is very clean where the brass rim bottoms out

[tacklebury]

Are you using the same ammo or your handloads that you had previously and are they the same OAL?  I loaded up some .45-70's with a new bullet and ran things with my same basic setup and when I got to the range, the Ogive on this bullet was about 5 thousandths further forward and meant that I was having to press the loads into the rifling slightly to get lock up and if I didn't really snap it shut, it'd do as you describe.  I stopped shooting and checked a shell by hand and discovered the rifling marks prior to it being seated completely.  Might not be the same situation for you, but if you changed ammo and it isn't reloads, check the brass thickness on the rims.  I bought some Magtechs and they were a couple thousandths thicker and caused some cylinder bind in my blackhawk also.    Good luck and hope you figure it out.

[Retsof]

Tacklebury & Gcrank1,

Thanks for responding.

Gcrank1, I will do as you suggested. I haven't fired many rounds out of my Handi, so maybe it just needs more break-in, though I didn't have this problem when I first fired the rifle a couple of years ago.

Tacklebury, I have to this point only used the same factory ammo in my Handi (ie, Federal VitalShok w/275 gr Barnes XPB) with which it is scary accurate,when of course the barrel doesn't pop open. Interestingly enough, for the box of this ammo that I have, I measured the COAL with my calipers and only noticed a couple of thousands of an inch difference between the shortest and longest. I was measuring from the bullet tip, which could easily account for this small difference. IIRC the loaded round lengths were within the SAMMI specs.

When I get back home, I have some things to try, thanks to all of the advice I've received.