Very first round

[Iowa Fox]

Good to hear you have it out without difficulty.

[georgeld]

Getting lots of splits like that sounds to me like there's
too much space around the neck/chambers. Are they splitting in all
the cylinders or just one? Next time you shoot it, fire one and check.
if it's split, mark that cyl on the outside, then fire the others one at a time.

It could also be caused by too tight a neck. I found that to be the problem on the NEF .17x28 conversion I made up. 70% split, neck was .195", had Paul ream it out to .203" and haven't had one split since.

IF new ammo splits, I'd sure call Ruger and ask. Bet they'd have you send the cylinder back and might either replace or ream it out.

Hornady would likely replace that ammo too if it's split unfired depending on how many you have. I've heard they'll send a coupon to get a box at the local store.

Good luck. Damn it, stay safe too!

One time I had a full 5 gal bucket of .38's given to me by a former commercial loader. Said they were rejects. Way too many to pull down. Fired a coffee can a night 3 nights a week for months. Half didn't have any powder in them, many others were weak, had lots of stuck bullets in the barrels and some in the gap like yours. I just used a bp starting rod to knock them out. The one's that didn't fire at all, I pulled down. Dozen different powders. I weighed each charge and took good notes. Dumped it all in one can and shook it up good. Since none were over 5gr, I reloaded the mixed powders at 3-4gr and fired a few hundred until it was all used up. Plumb good shooting. I figured all those duds were great trigger control training. Shared them with a couple other guys. Funny thing, a couple months later we joined about 20 others in a shooting match. All three of us were the top 3 shooters. Imagine all that trigger practice helped. I used a 6" K-38